Thread: Hydraulic press - 6T enough?

I would have thought around 15-20 T would be more suitable.

Space and budget are the limiting factors but I understand the concept of poor man pays twice...

Having just done some suspension bushes in my FIL's 12 ton press (with difficulty) and having done ALL of my LT77 and LT230 rebuild work with nothing more than manual pullers and a small hand held ram kit, I would say go hard or go elsewhere. For a normally infrequently used floor standing tool, one which takes up the same floor space and still can't do the job is less than useless.

I have a supacheap 6t. It's ok for bearings. But struggles read can't cope with bushes. It was useless trying to press out the A frame ball joint. Ended up using a large hammer.

Same press as mine. The jack died and I use a 4t jack.
I personally have done 3 full sets of bushes with it, usually the rear trailing arm bushes put up a fight and need a little heat.

Thanks guys.

Any advice on what press to go for in the 10-20T range?

Like Landy indicates, I'd go for something better, even better than 12T if tackling the A-frame - otherwise it is mallet time. I have a 12T SuperCheap, but at its max it starts to bend the support rails underneath the ram rather than applying that force to the job. While on the A-frame, its the rust and crud that makes it hard to force out. Once the receiver is cleaned up the new ball assembly goes in with little effort - my experience with an MR Automotive serviceable unit.

Go for the one with the heaviest/stiffest frame.
It's probably more important than the ram tonnage.
Flex is hard to control. You can slowly built up pressure, and then it all moves suddenly as the frame springs back.

Another detail I like is having 4 separate upright members.
The ones with 2 channels don't allow long parts to go through them sideways.

I once used a 5 inch cast iron vice to press a 500cc motorcycle bigend apart and back together again - worked great. Surely couldn't have been even 1 ton?