Removing Lower Control Arm

[Redguy]

I'm trying (seemingly in a fruitless effort) to replace the ball joints on my 94 K-1500 Suburban. I've got everything apart but can't remove the rivets from the ball joints. So the plan was to take the control arms off and take them into a local machine shop to have the ball joints removed from the control arm. However I can't get the torsion bar out of the lower control arm! I have the tension from the bar released the control arm unbolted however the torsion bar will not come out of it's socket, even with putting a puller on it trying to push it out. Any suggestions? I'm really pulling my hair out with this project, nothing has gone the way it should.

[gmtech4]

well ,some things are worth paying for,but I have had success in cutting a groove across the top of the rivet with a cut off wheel,and air chisel the top off and poke them thru ,Im sure other guys have ways ,but the with all the tension off the torsion bar it may need a bigger hammer to push it thru the control arm,your in for some work either way,good luck,

[Redguy]

Well I pretty much came to the conclusion that I'll never get the torsion bar out of the control arm, it must just be rusted in there to solid. I tried pressing it out with my ball joint press, got it as tight as I could with a breaker bar then beat on the control arm abit with a hammer, no luck. So I put the control arm back on and started fiddling with the rivets abit more. I ended up getting one out, so now I'm working on another. It's very tedious since even with the head ground off it won't just punch through. I drilled the one I got out about half way out then punched the rest of the material out. I'm pretty sure now I can get the other three out, it's just going to take awhile. And yes this is definately a job worth paying for the PITA factor is 10+!

[gmtech4]

| forgot ,drill a hole down thru as well,oops