I want her to be my Soul Harvester so I've upgraded her with a nice soul trap weapon and all my empty soul gems. However, I can't get her to unequip her freaking bow. So she won't charge into combat and smack things around.

The other think is, when I trade with her, there is no bow in her inventory.

WTH?

Pickpocket her weapon with that one perk on pickpocketing tree. That's what I do.