Easy front torsion bar removal

[hal7600]

I stripped my '83 TL all the way down to the chassis with just the front torsion bars left in place. I then read the posts on torsion bar removal, and even had advice that they were dangerous to remove with the body and engine off.

Being a bold sort I ignored it all....and gingerly removed first the single small and then the two large bolts that hold the rear of the bar, and away they came easy-peasy.

They must have been under some tension, as the image shows. So any ideas why it all went so smoothly?

 

[malcolm]

There's not much tension left in the torsion bars after the driveshafts have been removed and the lower wishbone disconnected from the upright and the forward stay. You can reduce tension to nothing by removing the lower bolts where the brace under the engine is fitted and loosening (but not removing) the upper bolts. This allows the lower wishbone to drop to an untensioned position.

Be sure to mark the spline positions at both ends in case the mountings come off when the torsion bars are in storage.