Bushings and presses
 

Hello Everyone

well I have finally got my spare suspension and I need to press in new bushings (all new bushings) anyone know of a place with a press....?

bump

Jay i thought Buddah was gonna do it?

Midas, Speedy and joints like that, if you go to them and try to work out a deal with them - when it's slow season they'll usually do it pretty cheap for cash.

my understanding is they don't have a press ...but if they do muahahahahahahaa I'd be over there in a second

Altech can do it surely, and with the TCC discount it'd be relatively cheap.

Any machine shop would have one

if its gonna be pricey head over to princess auto and pick up one when there on sale, Ive seen them very cheap.

I've got a hand press (not hydralulic you use your strength), if your will to drive to carlisle (north of burlington) you can use it!

how much force gets applied to the bushing with one of those?

I've heard that 400 ft/lbs of pressure still makes for hard to press in bushings

Jay, I used a hammer and block of wood on mine lol :D

foot pounds??? - that's torque - pressure is measured in pounds per square inch, and in terms of pressing equipment it's measured in tons - like a hydraulic press usually has a minimal rating of 3 tons - all it is, is a bottle jack put into a frame. I have a bottle jack at home that does 3 tonnes of lifting, I could make my own press.

:thumbup:

Jay have a look at some of the ones at princess auto, bottle jack like BB mentioned on steel frame

Guys, when would you know if the control arm bushings need to be replaced? What are the signs? My car's been running for close to 200,000 km... should I be on the look out? Thanks. :)

the decay is so gradual that you wouldn't notice... it just has to get done :shrugs: Look for excess play, look for wandering alignment, look for cracked bushings (visually), etc...

What bushings do you need a press for anyways? When i did mine they all went in pretty easy. The only ones you really need to press are the trailing arms.

all of the bushings for the civic suspension

I found that all the control arm bushing went in with minimal persuasion, as long as you grease them up good

Bushings are a bitch ! ! !
 

Bushing needs to be replaced when there is physical damage or when the rubber and metal don't bond anymore. But there's no point changing just 1 or 2. I suggest replacing with urethane bushing kit, from Prothane or Energy Suspension. It does make a noticeable difference in handling. The hard part is to press the old bushings out. Be ready to buy new bolts cuz. some of them are sized up and the only way to take it off is by using an angle grinder w/ a cutoff wheel. I took off the whole suspension sys and all arms, took it to a machine shop used a hydraulic press. On one lower control arm I applied over 50 ton of pressure but it still won't come out, then I torched it and saw a slit on the outer ring. Installing is easy. The project took about 15 hrs. (2 ppl. working on it). Depending on how many sized bolt u have. I had six, compensator arm and lower control arm-to-shock. Good luck

well thanks for the advice but in the racing class I wish to stay in I need to remain in stock trim so I will be replacing with stock bushings .... but they will all be replaced like you said