Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

I was wondering if anyone had any tricks they'd like to share for pressing in new bushings into leaf spring eyelets. I have rubber bushings that have both an outer and inner metal sleeve, so it looks like its going to take some force to get them into the eyelets of the leaf springs. I'm thinking a vice should do the job (if I just padded both ends to protect the bushing and just squeezed them together, maybe even use some grease) but wasn't sure.

Thanks!
George

 

Ky jelly!! It'll get the tightest holes to let just about anything in....

 

Use soap and water. Grease and oil will cause the rubber to break down faster. Your vice should work fine. I laid mine on the ground and used a hammer but that didn't work very well so I used a press to get the other ones in.

 

Greased mine up, then picked up some threaded rod and floor plates at home depot. Hooked those up to the air impact and zinged them on as far as they could go. Finished up with a hammer.

 

 

I threw my bushings in the freezer overnight, then used a vise to get them in and used a hammer to even them up.

 

Freezer for the new ones is great advice.

As for the old ones, I ended up using a 10-ton press with adapters from a ball joint kit to get them out. The sleeve rusts to the eyelet :thumbsdown: Buddy there with his F350 doesn't have any clue what rust is. If you decide to torch the spring and heat up the eyelet (a decent idea), make sure to stand upwind and do it outside lol

 

I used my clamps

 

BFH...