bushes

Jules · Post by **Jules** » Mon May 30, 2011 9:24 pm

Has anyone got any good tips on removing the bushes from the chassis please? We tried making a mobile press from an old hydraulic jack and a drop plate and .... we bent the drop plate!

88 stage1 · Post by **88 stage1** » Mon May 30, 2011 10:15 pm

Burn the rubber out, push the centre tube out then hacksaw through the outer tube in 2 places opposite each other and use a chisel to tap it out. It takes a while but was the only way i could get mine to move. Anyone know an easier way cause i still have 2 to do!

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Mon May 30, 2011 11:07 pm

That's pretty much it. Be very careful not to cut into the chassis tube however.

There is also the Bushwaka. Very expensive but does the job well. Have a mate who has the kit and it saves heaps of time:
http://shop.dingocroft.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh ... #aZZBSWK01

Or you could make your own like this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN6YQT8UV_k

5988 · Post by **5988** » Mon May 30, 2011 11:20 pm

a hole saw the to cut the rubber out apparently works ... less flames and toxic smoke ... not tried it myself but will be doing when I next need to do one

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Mon May 30, 2011 11:30 pm

I have heard of people attempting it with a reciprocating saw. I would be very cautious of using one given the possibility of damaging the chassis.

5988 · Post by **5988** » Tue May 31, 2011 11:28 am

disco2hse wrote:I have heard of people attempting it with a reciprocating saw. I would be very cautious of using one given the possibility of damaging the chassis.

ye that has potential for damage

Once the rubber is out I have found an air chisel a very god way of removing the outer part. No need to cut it or anything, just need a decent compressor (and be careful they are powerful

)

map1275 · Post by **map1275** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:45 am

There is an expensive after market tool for the job which I think originates from South Africa. Otherwise the best way is to use a length of threaded rod and either thick wall tubing or a large deep wall socket plus a selection of washers. Load everything up as much as you can and then belt one end of the rod with a hammer. As soon as tension is lost on the washers, tighten up and repeat the process. This will eventually extract the bushes from the chassis.

Unless your chassis is rotten, the only damage from this process will be some minor fretting where the socket rest on the chassis.

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:20 pm

map1275 wrote:There is an expensive after market tool for the job which I think originates from South Africa.

That's the bushwaka, I think. See previous post.

Post by db » Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:32 pm

I've just today finished doing all my bushes using a bushwaka to remove the old ones and replacing with polyurethane ones. The tool coped but it was quite some effort. It has taken me several weeks on and off, certainly several 10s of hours.

That is apart from the front chassis bushes. I couldn't shift these with the buskwaka. I managed to distort one bronze nut with the forces I was applying (it belled out where it was pushing against the drive plate and the threads were also worn). So I resorted to drilling out as much rubber as I could, burning the rest and cutting the outer casing. Finally the bushwaka was able to drive out the casing with difficulty, though without the inner to centralise it I did manage to bend the threaded bar due to the steel disc slipping inside the casing on one side and twisting. It was then that I read the instructions for the polyurethane bushes for this location - which said to leave the outer casing in place and clean out the rubber! Needless to say I had to fit original specification elastomeric bushes instead of the polyurethane ones.

disco2hse · Post by **disco2hse** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:49 pm

Sorry to hear of your problems. I wonder if the application of heat and/or penetrating oil might have helped. Did you do that already?

Personally I much prefer the rubber bushes.

Post by db » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:22 pm

disco2hse wrote: Sorry to hear of your problems. I wonder if the application of heat and/or penetrating oil might have helped. Did you do that already?

Yeah I did. It probably helped but it's hard to tell for sure.

disco2hse wrote: Personally I much prefer the rubber bushes.

It wanders a lot less with the new bushes, but of course that's a comparison against old worn out ones and I'm sure that new rubber ones would also have been a great improvement.

It'll be interesting to see how the polyurethane bushes perform in the longer term and at least they should be easier to remove when the time comes.

5988 · Post by **5988** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:32 pm

I much prefer polybushes
I've had them on my 88 for three years and they are absolutely fine

Even with the Bushwaka tool I've never got a bush out of the chassis with it,
good for fitting them though

but im not putting polybushes in everything