Hey guys. Needing some help in the worse way right now. Working on my wife's 02 Durango SLT 5.9l 4x4. Got a 10 piece front end kit from TRQ ( upper/lower control arms w/ ball joints, tie-rods, boots). Got the upper arm replaced no problem. The problem is the lower control arm/torsion bar. Looked in the Chilton's book, Dodge service manuals, YouTube, etc. on how to remove the Torsion Bar. I have a jack under the control arm to take some weight off. Marked the bar to frame with chalk to install it back the same way. The rear end of the bar (the "key" side) I have loose (this didn't require the tool other keys require to remove the little retainer block up in the frame) and is hanging. PB Blaster on the adjustment bolt and it came out like a champ. The pin is still in the lower control arm that keeps the bar from shifting forward. Here's my problem - all info just says to remove the key and pull the bar out...... HOW?!? There's an inch gap from the back of the bar/key to the frame, midway along the bar it goes thru a hole in the cross member that spans left-right that the tranny bolts to and then goes into the lower control arm. Am I missing something? Every pic, literature, everything just says to take the wheel off, jack it up on stands to the rail, take some pressure off the control arm, count number of threads or make mark on adjustment bolt and remove it with the swivel nut, then just remove the bar. But how, when you can't pull it down far enough past the frame ( key side) due to it hitting the bottom of the cross member hole? Are you supposed to remove the pin in the control arm and go out the front? Surely you don't have to remove the cross member in any way in order to do this job. Any help would be very greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Lower control arm should be hanging loose. If you have a jack under it, likely that is putting some tension on the torsion bar, and it will NEVER come out.....

 

Ah ok. I didn't think about that. I was going by the Chilton's book instructions for lower control arm removal and step 4 just says remove the torsion bar. But when you look at the torsion bar removal instructions, it just says to remove the adjustment bolt and swivel, remove the anchor from the bar and just remove it from the control arm.

 

Did this work out for you? I'm at the exact same stage with my '03 Dakota 4.7L 4x4 except I haven't got the keys removed off the back (they are hanging loose now, bolt removed, held by rust). I'm also battling rust, but cannot understand what direction/angle I'm supposed to go at to remove these lower control arms off the torsion bars (and keys off the back..)?

I also have the bolts removed from the lower control arms to try and pry them away from the frame and beat them forward, but cant seem to get the right angle this way either.

Thanks!

 

It was a pain in the *** but I got it figured out. It doesn't say/show in any material/pics that I came across nor did it say anything in the Chilton book but you must remove the transmission cross member that spans left-right to which the rear part of the transmission bolts to. I used a cinder block with a 2x8 on top of it and a scissor jack (they're skinnier than the normal floor jacks and won't be in the way) to just take some of the transmission weight off the cross member (didn't lift it too much so I didn't mess up the transmission/driveshaft). Should be (4) 15mm bolts on each side (so 8 total) for the cross member and the (4) nuts that mount the transmission to the member. I did one side at a time but I'm sure it wouldn't matter if you removed the cross member completely to take care of both sides so long as you have the transmission supported. Afterwards, I popped the lower ball joint out from the steering knuckle and then removed the front and back control arm mounting bolts. Then just wiggled it out of its normal position, still with the torsion bar attached. I had no choice but to take it out like that due to it being so wedged and rusted in the arm. Now this part sucks - I had to take mine to a shop and have them air hammer it to break it free. Took about 20-30 mins of messing with it. Tapped out the retainer pin in the control arm, sprayed the hell out of it with some PB Blaster and air hammered it on each end, back and forth. At first didn't budge either way but we put some heat to the control arm all the way around the torsion bar area ( didn't use high heat, just little Snap-On mini torch) and then air hammered it forward past the retainer pin hole. Wire brushed the hex head of the bar, rubbed a little lubricant on the end and air hammered it out the other way and done. As far as the key went, I just took a hammer and tapped it some on each end and it came off quite easily. Make sure you reinstall the bar the same way as it came out ( if the letters/numbers are upside down taking it out, reinstall it the same way). Idk if it really matters but the passenger side didn't want to install back easy/properly until I took the torsion bar out of the arm and turned it to match the left side. I know this is a lot but once I got the passenger side put back together, the left side came out 10 times quicker. Hope this helps.
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Thank you so much for the detailed reply, this is EXTREMELY helpful! Glad things worked out for you too.

I guess I'll drop that cross member and work at it. Only variation I'll have to your notes is I'll probably grab an angle grinder and cut the lower control arm off the torsion bar once I have it out (I've read others have had to go this route). I didn't want to cut it until I knew how to take it out as I had doubts about getting the new one in!

Thanks again! Talking