A few winters ago I replaced the TA bushings in my '71. At that time, I
bought a set of heavy-duty rubber bushings from TRF. They are harder than
stock rubber bushings, and come with a steel bushing through the centers.
Initially, installing these bushings with a vice was a major, repeat major,
pain in the booty. The problem I had was that during installation, the new
bushings would flex-out wide, making them larger and larger with the more
force I applied to push them home. The old immovable object/irresistible
force deal.
To get them in, I relied upon my father-in-law who has a machine shop in his
basement. First he made a "funnel-like" adaptor out of a piece of
thick-walled pipe about the same OD as the bushing, about the same ID as the
trailing arm holes, and about the same length as the bushing. On a lathe,
he machined a large radius into the ID of the tube on one end. The plan
being to place the tube between the trailing arm hole and the new bushing to
help compress & slide the bushing home using an arbor press or if needed the
hydraulic press. The tube would compress the bushings as they were pressed
into the arms.
We used lots of silicone grease, and the adaptor worked extremely well using
only a hand arbor for leverage. The bushings easily slid right through the
tube adaptor and into the arms. Only one of the bushings required the use
of the hydraulic press, but if I remember right that was to free a stuck
bushing on the way out. We also made a set of tools from old bar stock to
push-out the old bushings using the hydraulic press.
A friend of mine used the tube adaptor with a threadded rod and had great
luck too. But before going with rubber bushings, check with others who have
used polyurethane bushings. The poly bushings I used in the front of my TR
installed very easily.
The results you can expect from replacing these bushings are a more
predictable, contolled car with a much more refined ride. You'll be happy
with the difference new bushings will make.
HTH, Kevin
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