Reindexing torsion bars is not a mysterious task requiring a lift and professional tools, it can be done in your driveway or garage at home with hand tools and the stock jack, if necessary.
"Why would I need to reindex my torsion bars?" you ask?
Stock t-bars will sag over time. This results in a lowered front suspension ride height, especially compared to the rear. One simple solution is to crank the torsion bars up to fix this drooping problem. However. If your torsion bars are sagging to the point that they still do not give you enough ride height after adjustment, (the adjuster bolt runs out of threads after a certain point, of course) you will need to reindex the anchors on the bars to allow for more adjustment of the ride height.
Re indexing means to remove the anchor from the t-bar, rotate it "down" two or three splines and then reassemble. This gives the adjuster arm more of an angle downward and allows you to crank it up more than you otherwise would have been able. Basically, you will now have pre-loaded the torsion bar more. The overall spring rate of the t-bars do not go up AFAIK, they simply start compressing earlier than they used to, which results in the desired effect; lift. The choice of two or three splines is up to the owner, two will give a little less adjustment than three will so position them according to your needs. IIRC when I did mine I rotated them two splines. Three simply looked like a little too much to me at the time.
Note: it's also possible to remove the front anchors, reindex them and reassemble. It would work the same way. The only reason I don't want to go there is that the front anchor bolts are notorious for rusting and being very difficult to remove. Some people find it just as easy to do the fronts as the rears, some do not. This article is only covering rear anchor and adjuster removal.
Tools required:
Two 19mm box-end wrenches
One 3/8" or 1/2" drive ratchet with a 19mm regular socket
Large C-clip pliers(if you have them)
If no c-clip pliers: one or two flat-head screwdrivers with at least 8" shafts, a pick or icepick (may help), and a small hammer.
Cleaning supplies(wire wheel on a grinder or drill, WD-40, sandpaper if needed, rags, etc)
Grease (regular white lithium grease would work, I used axle bearing grease)
Anti-seize compound
White-Out, a Sharpie or mechanic's paint (typically yellow, used to mark fasteners to prevent tampering)
PB Blaster, WD-40, Liquid Wrench, KrOil or similar penetrating lubricant
Here are the basics:
This is the torsion bar rear anchor arm.
This is the torsion bar adjuster bolt, nuts and pilots arranged in order.
Here's where the crossmember is, looking from the rear of the truck to the front. (Pardon the rag on the end of the trans and lack of driveshaft.) I've circled the adjuster bolts sticking up through the crossmember.
This is what the adjuster and anchor look like inside the crossmember, fully assembled. (Pardon the rust)
Let's Get Started!
1. Jack up the front end so that the wheels are just off the ground. Support with jackstands if possible. Safety first!
2. Get under the middle of your Pathy where the t-bar crossmember is. At the front side of the crossmember, pull the little rubber boot off of the anchor and slide it up the t-bar and away from the anchor. Use a rag and clean everything off at the anchor end so you have a good view of what you're working on. Don't use lube yet, you need to mark something, OK? Here's what that should look like.
3. Using mechanic's paint, a Sharpie or simply good old White-Out, mark both the end of the t-bar where it enters the adjuster and the adjuster in the same place, (somewhere easy to see) so that when you remove the anchor you know where it used to be. If you take the anchor off without marking it first you'll have no idea where it used to be and you'd have to guess at where to put it back on. It wouldn't be the end of the world if you did, but it definitely helps with reinstall. I used an un-installed Sway-A-Way t-bar and a spare anchor for demonstration purposes.
4. Apply some penetrating lube to the t-bar adjuster bolt, nuts on top and the anchors that hold the aft end of the t-bars. Also apply some to the c-clips on the front of the anchors.
5. Using two 19mm wrenches on top, loosen the locknuts on top of the adjuster, then unscrew the top locknut about 2" up the bolt. Use the ratchet on the bolt head at the bottom of the adjuster and a 19mm wrench on the adjuster nut on top to unscrew the adjuster bolt until it sits loosely. IE, no tension on the t-bars.
6. At this point, I removed both nuts, the adjuster bolt and adjuster pilots(the one on top is hemispherical, the bottom one is u-shaped with raised edges on the 'u', as pictured above) from the adjuster and crossmember. I cleaned them all up and got them ready to reassemble with a bit of grease on the pilots and a little bit of anti-seize compound on the bolt threads. I'd recommend greasing the pilots simply because of possible future rust or corrosion issues and I believe it makes it a little easier to crank the adjuster up.
7. Now remove the c-clip that holds the anchor on the t-bar. C-clip pliers can be used if possible but I had to use two flat screwdrivers with a hammer to gently tap the c-clip out. The ice pick helps if you have the clip partially pushed out, you can use it to hold the clip out while you reposition the screwdriver(s). You may not need to use two screwdrivers at the same time so adjust according to taste, mmk? The green arrow points out the clip in this pic.
8. Tap the anchors toward the rear of the truck until they come off the t-bars. At this point I completely removed the adjusters by finagling them out of the crossmember (which is a bitch also) and cleaned the splines out because they REALLY needed it. If your adjusters come right off and can be put back on with no problem, go for it. Rotate the adjuster arm downward by two or three splines, so that the adjuster arm points down more than it used to. That would be clockwise on the driver's side(left) t-bar and counter-clockwise on the passenger side(right). Slide the anchor back onto the t-bar and verify the number of splines you moved it just to make sure. This is what the match-marks look like after rotating two splines.
9. Reinstall the c-clip.
10. Reinstall the adjuster bolt, pilots and the large nut. Screw the lock nut on but don't tighten it down to the large nut yet.
11. Hold the large nut with a 19mm wrench and tighten the adjuster bolt until it starts to tension the t-bar. Try to tighten both t-bar adjusters the same amount initially. Then tighten the t-bar adjuster bolt one turn at a time, counting the turns, until the anchor is mostly sucked up into the crossmember. Tighten each adjuster an equal amount.
12. Lower the jack and front end to check suspension height. If it's not high enough yet, crank the adjuster bolt up another two turns at a time until you get it to where you want it. Adjust t-bars side-to-side as needed to achieve levelness.
13. Take a short drive to let the t-bars settle down a little bit. Adjust t-bars as needed to level and set ride height.
14. Get a front-end alignment or eyeball engineer one.
15. Go wheeling!
I've gone from Salem, Oregon to Martinez, California and the Livermore area. That's about 620-640 miles or so, one way. I was packed to the gills with work gear. I even had the roof rack full with a gas can, two coolers and some other stuff.