Disc brake conversion on '66 Toronado: Bearings and torsion bars...

[Twilight Fenrir]

Hello, I am currently in the process of swapping my '66 Toronado's drum brakes for the disc brakes of a '69 Toronado. I've got all the parts on hand, and know what I've got to do, but I've got a few technical hangups I'm not certain about...

The wheel bearings, for instance. I have the hub seperated from the knuckle, but I'm not certain how best to go about removing the bearings from the hub. Sticking it on my vise and smacking it with a hammer is tempting, but I don't want to damage my parts. There's a special tool for this, isn't there? And I'll need it to put the new ones on anyway, right? Or is there a more... improvised means available to me?



The only other thing that's keeping this job from being smooth... is my torsion bar suspension. I have the special tool for unloading the torsion bars, I actually bought one from an old GM dealership, the exact one specified in my service manual. But I can't get it over the crossmember. I've sat and fiddled with it, there's room on either end, but in the middle the top of the crossmember is right up against the bottom of the floorpan. I can't see any way I can get the tool in there without removing the crossmember attatchment hardware, which my service manual seems to think should not be necessary.

But I'm a bit worried about this prospect. The torsion bars have hundreds, perhaps thousands of pounds of torque on 'em. If I remove the bolts that hold the crossmember in, will that force go somewhere? Also, I can't seem to get a wrench on the nut on top of the crossmember while I take my air-gun to the bolt... I'm sure I can work it out, but any tips might be helpfull...

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks.

[Twilight Fenrir]

Alright, got my bearings out with a combination of an air-chisel, cuttoff wheel, and a big hammer/screwdriver. Huzzah!

Still at the same place with the torsion bars though.

[rocketraider]

Twilight, can you not simply use a floor jack or stand under the lower control arm to keep it loaded while swapping out the ball joints and spindles, and not have to fool with the torsion bars?

I think you should check your rubber body mounts. After many years odds are they've compressed or deteriorated and the body is closer to the stub frame than it was originally.

[Twilight Fenrir]

Twilight, can you not simply use a floor jack or stand under the lower control arm to keep it loaded while swapping out the ball joints and spindles, and not have to fool with the torsion bars?

I think you should check your rubber body mounts. After many years odds are they've compressed or deteriorated and the body is closer to the stub frame than it was originally.

Oh yeah, that would make sense....

And, no, while I've got everything appart I'm rebuilding my suspension. Putting in new tie rods, upper and lower ball joints, and control arm bushings. Plus I'm painting everything with POR15 while I'm at it. I suppose it's not the end of the world if I don't replace my lower control arm bushings... but, now's the best time to do it.