torsion bar suspension

[chvtrkman]

A true novice here...I have changed coil springs before on older vehicles,but I am not familiar at all with the front suspension on my '02 Suburban.
Here's the issue... I'm replacing front brakes (rotors and pads)...did the right side yesterday,everything was really tight..had a bear of a job breaking loose the torx screws that hold calipers on,and the 18mm bolts that hold the brake pad carriers (don't know what they're called)..today I went out to do the left side...as things typically go for me, I got the torx out fairly easy, as did the lower 18mm bolt, but the top one near the upper a-arm and brake hose wouldn't budge..went thru half a can of PB blaster, air wrench wouldnt break it loose.. smacked the heck out of my breaker bar and all I managed to do is round off the bolt.I want to disconnect the spindle from the upper a-arm so I'll have better access to grind off what's left of the bolt head and use an easy out.
So, my question is: What kind of tension is the torsion bar under? I don't want to injure myself when loosening the ball joint.

[finch]

use a floor jack to lower it while the frame is supported with a jack stand. another thing to do is mark your forcing screw on the rear torsion bar crossmember and back the screw out, making sure to get it in exactly the same place as it was prior to removing it. either way, there is quite a bit of force on the t-bars even wit the tire off the ground.

[bighaas79]

you aren't gettin it out with an easy out. use heat to make the thread locker on the bolts soften up then loosen bolt. There should be no reason you need to take the spindle off to get these out. Don't make more work for yourself that isn't needed.

[truckdude239]

use and round off tool on it no need to remove the spindle

[chvtrkman]

Thanks for the feedback guys.. I need to get this thing back together ASAP for a road trip,so when I hadn't seen any replies yesterday I kinda scratched my head and thought removing spindle wasn't necessary.I got it apart but it wasn't easy. Like I wrote in OP, things typically go wrong for me whenever I have to wrench on stuff. If I wasn't hurtin' financially I would've just took it to my regular mechanic and let him do the job.BTW: both front rotors were toast.I would post some pics, but this crusty old dude is technologically challenged.