2003 Dakota 4x4 4.7

So I bought a torsion bar lift kit, 3” front with new key and 2” rear with leaf spring block, it also came with Pro Comp es9000 shocks.

Got all the shocks on, front and back, along with the rear 2” blocks. Now I’m moving to the front torsion bar keys.

I started lubing everything up and looking to see just how to get the keys pulled out. From what I can tell once all the tension is off the actual torsion bar will have to be moved forward in order to drop out the stock torsion key.

One thing i noticed was what appears to about a 1/4” roll pin on lower control arm assembly where the bar slides in that will prevent the bar from sliding forward allowing the key to drop out. The dang pin is pretty rusted up and I can tell it’s going to be a PIA to get it out and probably back in. There’s really no way to get a drill in place for removal or a punch on it to hopefully drive it out.

Anybody got any input or suggestions on getting this thing apart I’d appreciate it.

Also, does anyone know what size the head is on the key torsion bolt?

Thanks

Pin doesn’t go through the bar, it’s just a stop. Didn’t want to drop the control arm but may not have a choice and not sure if the T-back can be pulled BACK far enough to drop arm, I believe it will hit the cross member. I’ll have to look closer at it tomorrow.

Posting a picture, hard to see the pin, sorta Mid-way on the right side cutout.

Thanks for the reply. I’ll post my results.

Since you responded I thought I’d give you an updated. I spend several hours trying to get the tension off the key to no avail. The truck came out of the snow-belt and the keys are rusted up pretty bad. I took it up the local truck accessory shop and the guy said he’d install them for $125 which I thought was a fair price. I’m scheduled to take it in tomorrow afternoon. I hate giving away $$ for something I could do but just don’t have the tools to get it done.

Thanks for your reply.
Griff

So the truck accessory shop couldn’t get the key adjustment broke loose either. The guy said he put a 4’ cheater bar on it and still couldn’t break it. I asked did he put any heat on it and he said no, stated he just didn’t want to break anything. Now I don’t feel so bad. I may just wind up torching the bolt head off and go from there, I’ve got a source for the bolts. I’ll definitely trying just heating everything before cutting though. Looking at the diagram it shows a bearing. I’m going to start another thread to see if anyone has info on the bearing, it’s a discontinued item.

Thanks

Are you by any chance doing a diff drop after the level kit is on? Or will the CV angle be okay afterwards?

Not doing a dd and not planning on cranking too much, just trying to level it out a little. There’s a lot of different opinions out there, crank, don’t crank, it will wear all yours front end components or I did mine and have not had any issues. I understand all the geometry aspects however I believe there is some room to move things around a little without causing catostrophic failure. But then again I could be wrong.

Yea theres alot of choices out there. I put a 2.5 in torsion bar key level on my 04 ram 1500. And a 2 inch block set in the rear. Just having cv boot issues and trying to find help of where to look for a potential diff drop