Spitballing ideas here that may be more hassle than knocking the bars out of the LCAs.
With the crossmember free, you may have enough wiggle room in the key pockets to get the keys on the bars without knocking the bars from the LCAs.
Hang the LCAs with torsion bars attached, attempt to slide the crossmember and keys onto the bars one at a time. Major downside would be if the key gets clocked wrong and has to come back off after getting them fully seated.
Ok gotcha.
Now, about the keys possibly being clocked wrong, yeah I was wondering where I should set them. I made a mental note of where they were before removal. I should have written it down.
On another note, I went to the yard today in the FREEZING cold, and managed to pull a steering knuckle
from a 1990 GMC Sierra. It was a regular cab, 5 speed, 5.7L. There was also BAD body rot. When the body gets that bad, the frame is usually worse, and not saveable. Ironically, the steering knuckle I needed was still salvageable.
Even though I brought lots of tools with me, what a chore that was to get off in 25° weather. I was most worried about getting the ball joint castle nuts off. Those are usually rusted to death with no chance of non-destructive removal. In this case, I pre-soaked everything in PB blaster, worked the cotter pins out with linesman pliers, and both of the nuts came off surprisingly easy after that.
The actual hardest part about the whole thing was getting the sway bar link out. They are ALWAYS rusted solid. I brought a sawzall blade and a good set of vice grips with me. Had to cut through the link in two places for enough clearance to remove the CV axle, but I got it out and the rest was actually not that difficult - teeth chattering and toes tingling not withstanding.
Now for the tedious part. It is entirely TOO COLD to sandblast. I do have an indoor cabinet but it's junk. Wire wheels may be the way to go in this case. I have a new set on order and they should be here before the weekend.
With that, I should now have all of the parts I need to put this heap back on 4 wheels.
Stay Tuned!