Dodge dakota torsion bar re-index?

[Nissan11]

I bought my brother an add-a-leaf for Christmas and we put it on his truck today. To even up the front I cranked the torsion bars but was only able to get about an inch out of the front. We want to lift the front about another 3/4" -1" but will have to re-index the torsion bar to do it. My problem is that I can not get the torsion bars out of the rear mount. I knocked the pin out of the LCA so that it will move forward but I cant get it to move. Should the tires be touching the ground slightly? Is there a trick to breaking the torsion bars free? I have tried beating them with the tires off the ground, slightly on the ground and with a bit more weight on them but no luck. They are the hexagon type, they dont have splines.

 

[1badz2nv]

yeah, its called a torsion bar unloader.(and i dont mean a gear puller either!) it keeps your teeth and eyes intact while putting bars in and out (there's about 2500-3500 lbs of force in one bar) then hit the bar in the center where it goes in the key. should come loose.
thats for chevy,ford,dodge.

if you turn it one click in the key, you prolly wont get it back together. key will be turned too far.

 

[Nissan11]

How does an unloader work and do auto parts stores rent them?

 

[MarsFab]

You can try unhooking the sway bar and shock from the lower a arm then seperating the upper ball joint fron the spindle. That may get the arm to drop far enough to get the torsion bar relaxed. BUT DONT FOR GET TO KEEP A FLOOR JACK UNDER THE LOWER A-ARM WHILE YOU TAKE THE SHOCK AND UPPER BALL JOINT LOOSE.

I seriously doubt you'll be able to re-index the factory torsion key. More than likely your gonna need new keys. Your gonna need to rotate it about half of what the key will do and if you do get it to work prepare for a new monthly payment to your local auto parts supplier for ball joints, cv boots, and wheel bearings. I'd stick with what the factory bar will do the way it is. Your just asking for trouble going any more.

 

[maddog411]

You can try unhooking the sway bar and shock from the lower a arm then seperating the upper ball joint fron the spindle. That may get the arm to drop far enough to get the torsion bar relaxed.

That works great on a half ton Chevy...in fact you don't even have to take the upper ball joint loose, the sway bar is what keeps it from drooping far enough. I imagine a Dakota should work about the same.