At the very front of the bar is that hex shaped piece, I thought they were black painted. Under that hex piece is the end of the bar, there is a gap inside and then the front is the control arm, all under that hex. You can drive that hex piece back just by tapping on it with a punch and hammer, just on the edge of the hex piece. It'll side back, one the front of the hex piece is off the control arm the torsion bar is free. The original MB pics showed the hex piece with 2 set-bolts to hold it all in place, guess they decided the hex piece ain't going anywhere with all that force twisting it! Once the pressure is off, by backing out the adjusting bolt, it's safe to mess with then.
Gilly

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Gilly, thanks for chiming in!

Do I tap at the front (where it goes into the coupler) or the free end of the hex piece? Do I tap from all different angles towards the back to make it loose? Is that the idea? To put it back in - do I tap it towards the coupler?

Oh, and would you give me a clue how to put the adjustment bolt back in. Thanks! Between You and Ron I KNOW I can do this!

Spray some PB Blaster or something like that where 16a and 16e go together. You might be able to pull 16a out. I could not and used an air hammer. I postioned bit with chisel end where arrow is and it popped right out.

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So, looking at the diagram, I should be able to pound/pull 16b piece out and that will give me room to pound the bar out of the hexagonal sleeve - right?

Or, do I pound on the sleave and make it go out of the coupling and over the bar itself?

Sorry for the million questions.

Hey! Got 16b out! What would happen if I pound on 16d toward the back?

Also, looking at the adjustment bolt setup, I'm getting worried!

Once the loading is removed from torsion bar 16b will drop right out, then 16a is just hanging there. You do not pound on the hex sleeve, you pull on the bar if you can or pound on it (the sides of it) with a chisel. Pound it toward the rear of vehicle.

Possibly screw up something, that is not where the force needs to be applied.

When I pull on the bar, the hex sleeve moves and not the bar inside. Oh well, I'll go pound on the bar some...

Hey guys. I've been following your exchange with great interest since I'm about to tackle this soon. Isn't the torsion bar 16a? The sleeve 16e? Can't figure out how 16b factors into this adventure. Is the bolt you're worried about 16f of 16c?

Thanks for taking the time to document your adventure.

__________________
Jim

Welcome to the show!
Yes and Yes
If you do not remove 16b, there appears to be no room for torsion bar to move back. It can only go down and back one 16b is out of the way.
Yep, that'd be the one.
Thank Ron and Gilly - without 'em, I'd be having a cocktail right now

Back to task - only the sleeve is moving (back and forth), not the bar IN the sleeve, when I pul on it from the back. I tried chiseling at the arrowhead, but again, the sleeve is moving, not the bar itself. Ron, did you actually pull the bar out of the sleeve?

Believe it or not 16I is the biggest hassle of the whole job, trying to get that stupid rubber boot over the top of the hole. I always pounded the collar/hex piece back towards the rear, it can just stay on the round part of the bar until you're ready to put it together,. For adjustment you measure through the hole in the bottom bracket with the "tip" end of a vernier caliper to the bottom of the paddle of the torsion bar, this sets the height. If you didn't do this, just set it the same as the other side, you're supposed to measure and record the depth before unscrewing the adjustment screw. Putting the bolt in I guess I can't describe, doesn't present any great challenge; righty tighty lefty loosey help?
I never had to remove the "paddle" end of the torsion bar which I think is being discussed. Once the adjustment bolt is out the bottom bracket can be removed and all kind of falls apart then (except that front collar piece holding the front of the bar on).
Gilly

__________________
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No not by hand, but when I hit it with air hammer it came out easily.

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Hello again!

I haven't had problems with 16i yet (knock on wood) - it stayed put. I did find that it is easier to thread the bolt onto that moving target of a nut if the nut is tilted all the way towards the center of the truck. And to make sure the threads are clean of the old anti-seize compound.

As for the other end - I am getting mixed signals from Gilly and Ron. It appears to me Gilly is saying that the sleeve is supposed to come out of the coupling and slide over the torsion bar, and it appears to me, Ron is saying that torsion bar is supposed to come out of the sleeve. Which one is it? so I can target the right piece of metal. As I mentioned earlier, when I move the torsion bar around, the sleeve moves along with it - I can even pull it out an eighth of an inch out of the coupling.

And last but not least. Should I mark the sleeve and bar and coupling to make sure they all line up the same way again for the reassembly, or can they only go back in one way?

Thanks all for the extended help - ain't no way I'd be able to do this all by my lonesome!

WOW!! THAT SUCKS...I DUNNO Y THEY WOULDN'T DO THAT. I HAD NO PROBLEM RPLACING MINE. YOU SHOULD GO BACK AND NAG ABOUT IT BC I JUST RECIEVED ANOTHER LETTER FOR THE SAME RECALL AND I CALLED UP THERE AND TOLD THEM I ALREADY HAD THIS WORK DONE!

Thudux,

First, no need to shout. Second - I DID NOT get a personal letter, therefore I and all the rest of the people who didn't are screwed - regardless whether our VIN numebrs are on the tech bulletin.

I'm glad YOU got YOUR cat replaced, but just becasue YOU lucked out, does NOT mean that YOUR generalization that MBUSA will do it for everyone is correct.