..on a 55 beetle? It's got the extended torsion beam that sticks out past the spring plate cover.. I've tried hammering it and jimmying it with a crowbar, but it doesn't want to budge..

help?

yeh, very very annoying arent they mate

yes, they certainly are... so just keep on trying to bash them out then?

Remove the rear guards so you can get better access the spray some kero or similar behind the spring plate to lubricate it a bit use the jemmey or crow bar

they go off with a BANG as well be carefull

i got mine off a few months ago... just pried them off with a bar and they popped off.. found once they cleared the travel stop (had the car on stands and guards off etc) then they came easy.

try lubricant and rust penetrator etc...

A RP7 bath it is then... thanks, I'll let you know how it goes..

You'll have a shed load of trouble getting them off until they've cleared the lower travel stop, because until that happens the torsion bars are still under tension and are therefore tending to grab hold of the spring plate (internally). You're also in danger of doing yourself some serious damage if you try and clear the lower travel stop without the spring plates being gently lowered past the the "stop" as they will still be under considerable tension - there are a couple of threds on this site I think relating to how you can achieve this safely, such as:

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=36586#pid350174 

Had the same trouble myself the first time, and the general concensus of opinion regarding why they were so difficult to get off was lack of lubrication on the actual torsion bar splines.

I convinced the plates to come off the torsion bars with a lot of hammering with a mallet from the medial side. turns out that the outter splines didn't have any grease on them at all! The inners were a bit greasey, but they were a bit cruddy. So I wire brushed both ends and regreased them and now they slide in and out with the minimum of fuss..

I'm doing a drop of 3" or one inner spine - does anyone know/remember where the spring plates sit with no load? Is it under or above the stop-lip of the shock support member?

You should have measured the degrees B4 u took the plates off.

I scribed a line on the member coz I didnt have a protractor.. I also measured the true vertical distance from the upper shock mount bolt to the sprng plate, and that measurement was only 5mm less after rotating it one spine... but it may have moved a little since the bush isn't pushed back in all the way..