Ok so I am trying to replace the transfer case in my truck but have not been able to get the old one removed the bolts on the torsion keys are in the way. I have been told previously when looking into some lift kit options that these do not require a special unloading tool because they are self unloading but I don't want to take them out and have them not be self unloading and figure that out the hard and extremely expensive way so I figured I would ask here and see if anyone had some input to help me out

 

Why do you need to remove them? I took the transfer case and transmission out of my 98 Dakota without removing the torsion bars.

 

​​​​​​Well because a 93 is a first gen truck and a 98 is a second gen and the second gen has miles of room to remove the transfer case and transmission however the 93 only has about half the length of the studs before you are backed up into the crossmember that is welded in so not removeable and to get the transfer case out you need to remove the torsion bar bolts and remove all cab mounts then jack the cab up to place a 2x4 where the mounts are in order to give you enough room to jack up the transmission to be able to get it back far enough and then be able to turn it to go back far enough to get the input shaft clear from the transmission and then you can maneuver it out of the vehicle believe me I tried everything else I could think of but I did finally get it out had to get a buddy that works for dodge to get me the tech manual for that job luckily the dealership he works for still has all of their old microfish manuals which is the only way I would have been able to get it done.

The reason the second gen has so much room is because they realized how poor their design was and they fixed it with the new body style which was great but still doesn't help us first gen owners

 

Well I did get it figured out and the first gen Dakota does in fact have self unloading torsion keys no special tools required