By J.G. Pasterjak
Jan 3, 2020
On this episode of GRM Live! Presented by CRC Industries we're exploring a few different methods for removing troublesome suspension bushings, including the right way, the easy way, the safe way, and the best way (not necessarily the same).
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1/3/20 12:43 p.m.
If it's anything like my datsun mustache bar bushings, the correct answer is set ablaze and go have dinner where the smoke isn't.
1/3/20 1:01 p.m.
I always press them in and out, got the right tools for the job for like $50. Did the Miata last year, relatively painless. I am sure was way easier than motor mounts, oxygen sensors and catalytic convertor are going to be. Just time consuming.
1/3/20 1:43 p.m.
Hmmm, when I did my NA Miata bushings the advice I was given was to heat the metal around the bushing until it started to smoke, then knock out the bushing with a deep well socket. It isn't as dramatic as setting the whole thing on fire but it was much quicker and less stinky. And due to the conduction of heat I don't believe I got the metal any hotter than you did.
1/3/20 1:47 p.m.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
I did my NB by using a Harbor Freight heat gun and a homemade sleeve with a bunch of long bolts. The sleeve was a 3" piece of roll cage tubing.
1/3/20 1:50 p.m.
When I did the bushings in my NA, I tried heating around them, but after 25 years, they were in there good. I ended up having to resort to setting them mildly on fire while pushing on them with a punch to get them to pop loose. Dirty, smelly, sticky work.
1/3/20 2:15 p.m.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
Oh FSM! I can't imagine the heat gun was doing you any good at all.
BTW, I did try to press them out using a 12 ton HF shop press. It did not have enough grunt and ended up bending the push shaft. I tried the drillbit trick and it failed for me as well. "Heat it till it smokes" worked beautifully.
1/3/20 4:35 p.m.
Pushing new bushings in is several orders of magnitude easier than pushing an old one out. I have the factory supplied tools to remove several different Volvo suspension bushings, and I think I'd be lying if I said they worked 25% of the time for removal.
Flame wrench to the rescue.
1/3/20 4:40 p.m.
Soak them in a bucket of gas overnight and then set on fire. Spectacular!
1/3/20 5:10 p.m.
I thought wielding a sledgehammer while screaming at the offending part usually worked.
1/3/20 7:39 p.m.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
The heat gun is good for 800-900 degrees. The bushings were getting gooey on the surface. I could put the bushings under tension with the bolts and sleeve and then hit them with the heat . You could hear them release from the steel A-arms. A torch would have been quicker, but I don't have one.
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