Torsion Bar Removal Tool--Make it yourself

Trace 300 Hurst

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A long time ago I made a tool very similar to what I've sketched here, using scrap I had around the garage. Some beefy bar stock, some all-thread or a muffler clamp, nuts and washers....and a method to bend that bar stock 90 degrees.

The reason this cheap, shoddy, rickety tool works is that it's "self-tightening" when you hit it, instead of sliding down the torsion bar and annoying the bejeeebus out of you while cursing me for my stupid device. That self-tightening, leverage action is why you must chamfer that corner that touches the bar....that could be a gouge point.

If you find that it does slide on you, shorten the horizontal leg towards the clamp to get more leverage when it's whacked.

If you want to get fancier, add another U clamp. Can't hurt, might help. You're on your own.....

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Hey that’s a great design! I’ll make one at work

I suspect your skill level is way too high to properly make this crude shadetree tool. :D But maybe you want to make lots of 'em and sell them to the Mopar world.

You should have seen how spectacularly ugly the one I made was. I was in a panic to get my newly bent control arm and pivot removed (an off road excursion in my late teens in my 68 Dart) so I could slap new parts in and get to work. Necessity was clearly the mother of my invention and I was a looooong way from getting a Miller tool.

The most expensive part was the OxyAcy used to heat and bend the bar stock. I didn't even use all-thread....I took a muffler clamp, reshaped it accordingly, and had to run a die up each leg to get enough threads for it to tighten on the T-bar. I guess I used it 10 times on my Dart and cuda over the years and it DIDN'T fall apart. Amazing.

I kept that damn thing until about 5 years ago, when I never thought I'd own an old Mopar again.
 
I like it! I'd suggest running some rubber hose over the clamp and a pad on the bar stock to avoid gouging from those areas too.

You could, but the forces here would probably cut that hose or cause the whole thing to slip (just my guess). Maybe some aluminum sheet here and there, but the hardness of the T-bar is greater than the bar stock and the soft all-thread, whereas the teeth of [non-junk HF knockoff] Grips are pretty hard. And sharp.

But yeah, you're right to worry about damaging that bar, however my crude tool never made a mark on my bars.
 
I like it! I'd suggest running some rubber hose over the clamp and a pad on the bar stock to avoid gouging from those areas too.

Yea I'd think the length of ACE Hardware threaded rod may just dig into the bar.
I would still wrap the area with some aluminum or brass.
I think when ever I did a removal I used the worse worn out jaws on the oldest pair of ViceGrip pliers I had. Ya know the ones you would use for welding purpose only.
 
Yea ya know ya got some experienced years under your belt when you got some vicegrips where the jaw teeth are all flattened out, and maybe a little twisted & misaligned from over tightening on the real stubborn stuff.

:lol:
 
I suspect your skill level is way too high to properly make this crude shadetree tool. :D But maybe you want to make lots of 'em and sell them to the Mopar world.

You should have seen how spectacularly ugly the one I made was. I was in a panic to get my newly bent control arm and pivot removed (an off road excursion in my late teens in my 68 Dart) so I could slap new parts in and get to work. Necessity was clearly the mother of my invention and I was a looooong way from getting a Miller tool.

The most expensive part was the OxyAcy used to heat and bend the bar stock. I didn't even use all-thread....I took a muffler clamp, reshaped it accordingly, and had to run a die up each leg to get enough threads for it to tighten on the T-bar. I guess I used it 10 times on my Dart and cuda over the years and it DIDN'T fall apart. Amazing.

I kept that damn thing until about 5 years ago, when I never thought I'd own an old Mopar again.
Dude...you ARE high-tech. I was just going to cut a short piece of angle iron with a dull hack saw :lol:
 
My previous life as a Tool & Diemaker is loving the simplicity of the tool. Thanks for sharing.
 
Oh, damn. Seeing this at work was bad. Now I'm gonna spend my lunch in the fab department as a torsion bar change is in my immediate future.

Thanks!
 
My previous life as a Tool & Diemaker is loving the simplicity of the tool. Thanks for sharing.

Oh....it's simple all right. Pathetically so!

In my previous life as a pretty good draftsman with a defense firm while I was in college, I must also note how pathetic my sketches are!
 
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