Bushing Party

[towerymt]

DIY bushing too, less than $14 in parts from Home Depot. I already had some 1/2" threaded rod and old lugnuts, one of which Mike welded onto the all-thread.

My daily driver, then in the background, Patches the Corolla, and behind that under the cover, a PV444.
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mtowery/konica/PICT2015_bushing-cars.jpg

The deceased
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mtowery/konica/PICT1997_bushing.jpg

http://mason.gmu.edu/~mtowery/konica/PICT1994_bushing.jpg

In order to press out the bushing shell, the all-thread (or bolt) has to pass through the steel insert in the bushing. That insert was so far off center in my badly worn bushing that we had to pop it out before pressing out the shell.

http://mason.gmu.edu/~mtowery/konica/PICT2002_bushing_c-clamp.jpg

The innards
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mtowery/konica/PICT2007_bushing.jpg

The bushing on its way out. It's tapered, so once it got to this point, it just fell out. The tool worked great, once Mike noticed the new bushing was in fact tapered. Can't press it out the other way...trust me.

http://mason.gmu.edu/~mtowery/konica/PICT2008_bushing.jpg

The piece used to press the shell was a little too small to press the new bushing in (since it was now having to press on the larger end of the bushing shell). So Mike cut a hole in a piece of steel plate and I used that against the bushing shell to press it in. Worked great.

[Volvorules]

Nice tool...

But not much of a party with only the two of you...

Too bad mikep isn't coming to SE5, we could show him a party :)

[mikep]

Maybe the missus and I will have a knock-down-drag-out and I will have a reason to go play and shirk my duties..

Oh, and it was in fact a party. Donuts and paperwork for me, Michael's FSP car broke down the night before we were supposed to get the rear axle ready for SE, and he paid almost 100 bones to get towed 2 blocks. So he brought the HS whip.

[towerymt]

The axle problem was just a rock in the brakes, so better off this way. At least we got something accomplished that really needed to be done. I wasn't comfortable with driving the '87 100+ miles with a noise like it had, not knowing where it was coming from. So actually, it would have been better to not break down, since I was on my way home to tear down the drivers side axle. Oh well, first time it's been towed in ~5 years.

[mikep]

On the way out, the grey car still had a bit of dog-tracking. the rear was offset to the right a few inches.

[towerymt]

On the way out, the grey car still had a bit of dog-tracking. the rear was offset to the right a few inches.
Good. Because it torque steers as bad or worse than it did before. Doesn't vibrate when taking off from a stop, but the right rear clunks still. Better, but not finished.

[Morley]

Can't press it out the other way...trust me.

Yes you can. I used an hydraulic press/puller to get mine out...had to weld the new bushing in.

Not very smart though, but now you know: everything's possible given big enough tools and minimal understanding.

[blkaplan]

Damn my wagon needs an bushing part....

The only two bushings left on the thing are in need of replacement

Waiting on the axle bushing to show up from Canada..... Dale!!!

[mikep]

If you are going with urethane, get out the torch.
If rubber/steel, go borrow Plow's new tool.

[blkaplan]

i am going poly....

I torched the axle in my 242... I am hoping to not have to do that...

Do you think using a hole saw to break up the rubber bits would work?

Or would it just catch everytime i make contact...

[towerymt]

Do you think using a hole saw to break up the rubber bits would work?

Or would it just catch everytime i make contact...
Probably wouldn't work that well. Might be better with a smaller bit, like 3/8" to 1/2"

If you could handle the torque required to power through the rubber, it would work. But the last time I saw Dana drilling through control arm bushings, it didn't look easy and he was using a small bit (<1/2").

Could press it out, then try the hole saw on a drill press. You can have my old bushing shell for testing if you like. It's in decent shape, might even be able to clean the rubber out of this one and press it in.

[945ti]

If you heat the OD of the shell area patiently you can avoid most all of the smoke and simply push the rubber bushings out like a marshmallow and deposit them into a bucket of water. It takes a while if you go for the brute force aproach and actually try to burn all of the bushing material out. It also produces a lot more heat near the gas tank and gross smokw. It still can take a while (depending on torch), and there is still some smoke, but if you get them to be just a little bit on fire and just hot enough to sustain flame on their own and then blow them out just after sustaining flame, it can really be pretty painless to remove them.
Nifty extractor invention. I will probably be burninating since I will likely get polys from dale without the shells instead of polys from IPD with the shells.

[adrianpike]

If you heat the OD of the shell area patiently you can avoid most all of the smoke and simply push the rubber bushings out like a marshmallow and deposit them into a bucket of water. It takes a while if you go for the brute force aproach and actually try to burn all of the bushing material out. It also produces a lot more heat near the gas tank and gross smokw. It still can take a while (depending on torch), and there is still some smoke, but if you get them to be just a little bit on fire and just hot enough to sustain flame on their own and then blow them out just after sustaining flame, it can really be pretty painless to remove them.
Nifty extractor invention. I will probably be burninating since I will likely get polys from dale without the shells instead of polys from IPD with the shells.

Does that work on the axle bushings too?

[945ti]

Does that work on the axle bushings too?
I tried it on a junk axle to see what I was in for. It works, more effort and more time under/near the car (and gas tank) during the burnination, but effective. The gas tank had also been removed in this case. I am not sure if I will swap axles and bushings into the beater before the trip. Re-doing the axle seals and bushings and tossing a G80 in is vaguely tempting, but I am not sure I have that much time or energy.

[towerymt]

Try 20min at high heat in the powdercoating oven. :e-shrug: Like I said, I have a test bushing shell...