Thread: Size of press for Bushes

Have just done this job on my 2004 130 DC. Thought I might tighten up the front end a bit after 300K. And had no need for a press at all. Which is just as well as I don't have one.


To remove them all I used was a hole saw on a 240V drill which was just smaller than the inside of the external steel cylinder of the old bush. Just drilled the rubber bit out. Then half a dozen strokes with a hacksaw and prise the shell out with a small cold chisel. Five minutes per bush tops.


Cleaned up the housing with a small ginding stone and emery paper. Bit of lube. New bushes in the freezer for a couple of hours and then hit in with a 3/4 drive socket going over the outside of the new bush and with a collection of washers so that the load was only on the outside of the bush and always square. And added washers as the bush went in. This got it 3/4 in and then a large and thick washer with a hole which cleared the centre sleeve on the bush but was wider than the bush on the outside and higher than the internal shaft on the new bush. A few more hits and the bush was in. Again, only several minutes per bush.


A tad agricultural but very effective.

For what it's worth, I've just done the bushes and rose joints on the back of the L322. All the bushes wouldn't have worried a 20 tonne press, but for 1 part of the job, I was glad to have access to a 50 tonne unit - which I maxed out trying to get the drive shafts out of the hubs so I could access the rose joints. The rear drive shafts are like any other IRS vehicle with a spline running through the hub, and a big nut of the end. I couldn't move the spline in the hub with it on the car (and found later I never would have), so removed the driveshaft with the hub assembly and stuck it in the press to give it a nudge....

50 tonnes later, the sucker hadn't moved. Subsequent soaking in rost off plus and repeated pressings finally saw it shift. As there is nothing to stop water getting into the back of where the splines meet the hub, it had rusted solid.

Took ages to clean everything up, and a good coating of copper coat when reassembling so hopefully they may stand half a chance of coming apart a bit easier next time.

We have a 30 tonner at home from the old workshop, personally I wouldn't want anything smaller, if not just for accuracy and the solid build of it. Much easier to de-rate a big press than it is to phaff around trying to make a little one work. You have to remember they are very dangerous if used incorrectly... So you want to have good tooling for it, and work within the limits of the machine.

IMO all those supercrap/autobarn/total tools units are not up to the task, most of them only have a bottle jack loosely sitting in them.