Club 80-90 Forums

I bought 2 rear swing arms off e bay as my present ones are rotten where the spring sits but having a right job removing the bushes which i thought id replace. got one out with a drift, lump hammer and brute force bet the next one wont budge. Any suggestions ?

Saw both ends off the bush and fabricate a piece of threaded rod, 2 large washers, 2 nuts and a suitable socket or piece of pipe. A squirt of WD round the edges may help.

Ian

I use a saw to cut off ends, then a combination of blowtorch to heat and then twist remove the steel sleeve using a vicegrips, then an old wood chisel or electric drill to remove enough material across the old bushing length to 'collapse' the pressure and then push it out with a drift and hammer. I use poly bushes from Brickwerks as they dont need a press to insert.

Yep, Marcus and I burn them out. Much quicker.

Thanks for the suggestions if all fails i have a decent blowtorch

keep the heat/flame in the centre (metal sleeve) part of the bush as this will hold the heat without damaging arm in any way. It should soften enough to pop out with a small hammer.

I'm always nervous about burning out rubber bushes, (and any other rubber components for that matter). I always drill my bushes out.

Some automotive rubber components contain fluorides, which produce hydrofluoric acid when burned. If you get that stuff on your fingers, it eats right down to the bone. Only cure is amputation. Honest.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge could give a definitive answer, but I try to err on the safe side.

managed to get them out heating aroud the sleeve, slight problem not sure how big is that the 2 outer bush sleeves have a hole through them i assume caused by water getting in the arm behind the sleeve and corroding them. The one shown is the bigger of the 2. the rest is solid so i dont think this will affect the job the new bushes will do.

You'll be needing new arms then.

Sleeve corrosion isn't always a problem (depends where it is and how you deal with it), and you could make up a new sleeve depending on your skills (if you want to go that far). Do get the arms grit blasted though - so you can see exactly what you've got there. I'm slowly replacing my swing arms with assistance from MercDoctor but I'll be refurbing the old ones too.