Rear Suspension Removal

[californiabristol]

Peter,
thank you for your reply. I do have your article on the adjuster bolt replacement, and your description of the torsion bar and torque arm was the most representative of the situation with my car. I did not understand that the torsion bar is fixed merely by the retaining strap on the rear end which fixes it to the suspension control arm. Once removed, the torsion bar was
easily pulled backwards freeing the front end of the torsion bar to come out from the floating bearing which literally flops around in its hole in the chassis.
Also, removing the torque arm was exactly as you described. I removed the split pin from the bottom of the torque arm using a suitable drift, et voila, it slid off the splines.

It was possible to push the torsion bar backwards through the splines on the rear control arm, but was blocked by the forward end of the boot floor reinforcement section. Removing(i.e. lowering) the rear suspension unit allowed enough angle change on the torsion bar to slide under the boot floor and free of the rear suspension unit. To remove the 6 nuts securing the suspension unit to the chassis, I used an 18mm socket with a hefty breaker bar after scraping dirt off the bolts and spraying them with a rust penetrant.

As far as the the axle is concerned, I believe it has no effect on the position of the suspension unit which is fixed to the chassis.

To recap Removing the torsion bar and rear suspension unit(axle removed):

Scribed position of the torque arm relative to the torsion bar.
Scribed position of the rear of torsion bar to suspension unit control arm.
Remove the retaining strap from rear of the torsion bar.
Remove the torque arm by removing the split pin in base of torque arm.
Pull the torsion bar backwards. The front will come out of the front floating bearing.
Slide the torque arm forward off the splines and away from the torsion bar.
Loosen the 6 nuts securing the suspension unit, remove all but 2 lowering the unit on its studs until the suspension unit is almost clear of the studs.
This should be low enough to allow the torsion bar to slide back out of the
suspension unit below the boot and free of the car.
Remove the last 2 nuts holding the suspension unit and remove from car.

Again,
thanks to you and Clyde

[Peter.Kent]

Excellent. So glad you`ve got there. Clyde (what a loss) and I did this from scratch ... which was fun! I wonder if you can add your post to our artcle? P