I took the bolt all the way out for the torsion bar, but the key seems to be wedged into the crossmember. Will it just come out with some force or does something else have to be done to remove the torsion bars?

 

In a perfect situation it is a slip on. But with dirt rust ect it can be a pain in the a$$. Use penetrating oil and try to **** it around to brake up the junk.

 

Those cross members are pretty vulnerable to rocks and such. My guess is it has been hit and the gap for the torsion keys has been closed a little. I took a huge rock on a trail to mine and there is no way those torsion keys are coming out with out moving some metal.

 

Not too sure if this is your problem. But when I did mine I just had to bend the torsion bar down to get the key off. I used a few bars and my side steps helped greatly. Once it was low enough just a few taps with the hammer got it off

 

do you remove the bar and key together or take the key off first?

 

I did not remove my bar at all. It probably was not the safest way of doing it but I could not get the bar out. I was just able to pull the bar down far enough to take the key off then again to put the new one on

 

I did what Sauxon did. Just loosened the bolt, sprayed up the key with oil. Smacked it a couple times til it was loose. Then had a buddy pry the bar down and slipped old one off and new one on.

Probably not kosher, but those bars were stuck fast.