spring plate help

[57rubindub]

So I'm trying to remove my spring plates off my 57.... they will not budge off the torsion bars. Any suggestions on how to get these off? I've been heating, prying, spraying with no luck.

[notchback]

I found that a small propane torch won't do the trick. I had to use a way hotter torch to get it to expand

[Geoff]

If you can remove the spring plate with the torsion bar attached, take it to a press and it should come apart easy.

[57rubindub]

Thanks guys, got them off. 

[notchback]

Awesome!!!!

[BUSDADDY]

So what finally worked?, others may learn from your experience

[Geoff]

What Busdaddy (Mark) said.

[josh]

Those can be a bear if they've never been apart! Do yourself a favour and really clean the splines good with a small wire tooth brush and some brake clean. Dry fit and repeat till they pull out without a fight.....trying to adjust one spline at a time when you have to reef them off every time Sucks cause you lose your place
Then put a nice coat of never seize on when they go back together.

[bagged oval]

Hows the project coming along ?? Pics would be sweet to see !

[josh]

Who me?

[57rubindub]

So an update on the spring plates and torsion bar removal. It took roughly 3 days of messing about with heat, hammers and wedges to get the spring plates off and the torsion bars out. The spring plates took alot of heat and alot off beating with a rubber mallet to get them out. The torsion bars where a whole different animal. I soaked the cavities inside with WD40 Break Free for about a day, then I ended up going to Princess Auto and bought a 5ton slide hammer kit and a pulley removal tool. I was able to peice together the slide hammer and the pulley tool into 1 unit and fasten the pulley tool around the outer spile of the torsion bars. The passenger side took about an hour of straight pulls to final come free and the driver side took about 4 hours of straight pulls to finaly come free. the biggest problem i think I had was because I have the motor and tranny out and the pan is sitting on jack stands it was hard to get a good solid pull on the hammer. I think it would of been easier if the motor was still in giving it some weight. oh well its done now and ready to go to blasting and powder coating.