Date:         Tue, 12 Jul 94 17:10:00 bst
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         A.C.Erskine@lut.ac.uk (Andy Erskine)
Subject:      Re: How to remove torsion arms, bearings?


>1.  How do I remove the sway bar?  The nuts came off OK, but the bolts are
>intractable.

If the bolts are rusted in the torsion arms, try lots of release fluid 
and/or whack them with the biggest hammer you can find then put in new 
ones. I found the trickiest part was removing the V shaped clips that hold 
together the clamps around the rubber bushes. I had to chisel these off 
and make new ones (I went to buy some but VW wanted 2 pounds. EACH!)

>2.  How do I remove the torsion arms, bars, and bearings.  Muir indicates
>that the torsion arms should just slide out after loosening the set screws
>in the center of the torsion tubes and on the torsion arms.  I did this and
>(suprise!)  - no sliding.  Is it time for Mr. Sledge Hammer?  How about the
>needle bearings - do I need a special extractor to get these out?
>
I don't know about removing the bearings, my arms looked fine when I got 
them out so I left the bearings alone. If the arms don't slide, it could be 
friction caused by the torsion bars holding them hard against the rebound 
bump-stops. Again, a hefty hammer (soft-faced preferably) works wonders :)
Take off one side, then loosen the screws in the centre of the tubes and 
remove the others complete with torsion bars. The bars themselves should 
slide easily since they're covered in grease (should!!) but they can be 
difficult to grip and the leaves fall apart if they aren't attached to the 
arms.

Andy E.