Removing Spring Bushings

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Date: Mon, 18 Nov 96 17:33:39 EST
From: "Eric Miller" 
Subject: Help!!
To: tlcal@tlca.org

        I know you solved your problem, but I though I would comment.  I 
     have removed stock springs on a 60 and few 40's and I have developed a 
     reliable system.  I live in salt country so, believe me, if I can make 
     it work, you can.  First I remove all the bolts.  I usually don't mess 
     with the U-bolts, just cut them.  Then, I light the bushing on fire 
     with my torch.  (this is the fun part)  Get the shackle pin or spring 
     pin cherry.  This heats it all the way through.  Then, pound the stuff 
     out with a heavy hammer.  Usually, the bushing loosen up with the 
     heat.  Then, once you have the springs off, you can pop the bushings 
     out of the eyes with a big flat head screwdriver.  My experience is 
     that they are always 2 piece.  Of course, make sure you have a window 
     open before doing this.  Either that, or don't plan on operating heavy 
     equipment immediately afterwards.  :D

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Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 20:25:01 -0800
From: Scott Wilson 
Subject: Help!! / Spring Bushings
To: TLCAL@tlca.org

My experience is
>      that they (BUSHINGS)are always 2 piece.  

Alright, I'm back!  My account started bouncing list messages so I haven't gotten any 
since Friday!  Good to be back.  Anyway...

I'll put in my 2 cents incase anyone will be trying this soon on a similar vehical to 
mine.  Friday when I started this message...I was removing the original rubber 
bushings from the original leaf springs on my '88 4Runner, in hopes to replace them 
with poly bushings.  I was having trouble removing the rubber from the spring larger 
spring eye (the front most one).  Turns out, for these springs the factory rubber is 
actually molded into a thin metal sleeve, and the the whole thing is put into the 
spring eye.  Since it's molded into the sleeve, your chances of removing the rubber 
|from the thin metal sleeve are zilch!  Of coarse you could still melt it out, but our 
solution was actually much easier thanks to the fact that you need to get rid of that 
little metal sleeve to install the new bushings anyway, unless you ~LIKE~ the smell of 
burning rubber.  ;)

Because the spring eye is very strong and will return to it's natural position if 
moved, (just like the rest of the spring) we decided to hammer a screw driver into the 
space where the eye closes. (wish we tried this first, instead of after several hours 
of trial & error frustration) This makes the eye open up enough to (with minimal 
effort) just pop the entire sleeve (with the rubber inside it)  right out of the eye. 
 The poly bushings I replaced this with were the exact size to fit in the eye, and 
they were two pieces, not one as the factory design was.  For those of you with the 
factory "bushing in a metal sleeve" type bushing, this has got to be the easiest way 
to remove them!!  To remove this bushing on the first spring I tried, it took us over 
2 hours if you include all the T&E time.  To remove the same bushing on the other 
spring took less than 5 minutes.

The rest of the bushings, (on the shackle side of the spring), were all two piece 
bushings, and they were pulled out with VERY little effort.  


- -- 
Scott A. Wilson            __o          __o          __o         __o
Santa Clara, CA          _'\<,_       _'\<,_       _'\<,_      _'\<,_
swilson@pacbell.net     (_)' (_)     (_)' (_)     (_)' (_)    (_)' (_)

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Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 10:35:03 -0500
From: Jeff Murray 
Subject: Stuck Rubber Bushings
To: "'TLCA Mailing List'" 

Stuck rubber bushings can be easily be removed with heat. Apply heat =
(propane or oxy-acetylene) directly to the eye of the spring. Apply heat =
evenly around 360 degrees of the eye. The bushing will start to smoke, =
bubble and eventually burn. At this point just push it out with a screw =
driver. It will slip out just like it was greased.

As I said before, anybody with a vehicle more than 5 years old need a =
set of welding torches.

Jeff Murray (jmurray@atlantis.com)

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>Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 12:00:05 -0800 (PST)
>From: Jonathan Albrecht 
>Subject: Help!
>To: TLCAL@tlca.org
>
>On Fri, 15 Nov 1996, Scott Wilson wrote:
>
>> Yea!  we won!  Ended up using a flat head screw driver as a wedge to open 
>> up the eye of the spring, just enough to get the old bushings out.  Due 
>> to the flexibility and stregth of the metal we guessed it would pop right 
>> back into place once the screwdriver was removed, we were right!  Feels 
>> good to win.  :)  Plus the truck looks great with the poly bushings, and 
>> w/o the rear butt drag.  (It's an 88 4Runner)
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 	Scott
>> -- 
>> Scott A. Wilson            __o          __o          __o         __o
>> Santa Clara, CA          _'\<,_       _'\<,_       _'\<,_      _'\<,_
>> swilson@pacbell.net     (_)' (_)     (_)' (_)     (_)' (_)    (_)' (_)
>> 
>Man, you lucked out...the last time we changed bushings, (on my friends
>'90 toy p/u), they were so stuck you wouldn't believe it!  We couldn't
>even get the _shackle bolt_ out of the bushing...major pita.  The bushings
>had somehow glued themselve both to the spring eye and the shackle
>bolt...meaning that we had to remove them in *chunks*...
>
>ja
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 23:43:35 -0800
>From: "Andrew H. Litkowiak" 
>Subject: Help!
>To: TLCAL@tlca.org
>
>> >
>> Man, you lucked out...the last time we changed bushings, (on my friends
>> '90 toy p/u), they were so stuck you wouldn't believe it!  We couldn't
>> even get the _shackle bolt_ out of the bushing...major pita.  The bushings
>> had somehow glued themselve both to the spring eye and the shackle
>> bolt...meaning that we had to remove them in *chunks*...
>> 
>> ja
>
>
>We found an interesting method for removing bushings. Apply heat from a 
>propane or MAPP gas torch to the spring wrap until the bushing is 
>billowing that nasty smoke so unique to burning rubber. Then, simply push 
>the bushing out with a broom stick or any other handy similar object. 
>They come out like grease through a goose.
>
>The idea here is to not cook the spring wrap cherry red, just warm a bit.
>
>Andy Litkowiak
>2598
>Tried this on the 4th after chiseling out the first 3.
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 22:47:07 -0800 (PST)
>From: Jonathan Albrecht 
>Subject: Help!
>To: TLCAL@tlca.org
>
>On Sat, 16 Nov 1996, Andrew H. Litkowiak wrote:
>
>> > >
>> > Man, you lucked out...the last time we changed bushings, (on my friends
>> > '90 toy p/u), they were so stuck you wouldn't believe it!  We couldn't
>> > even get the _shackle bolt_ out of the bushing...major pita.  The bushings
>> > had somehow glued themselve both to the spring eye and the shackle
>> > bolt...meaning that we had to remove them in *chunks*...
>> > 
>> > ja
>> 
>> 
>> We found an interesting method for removing bushings. Apply heat from a 
>> propane or MAPP gas torch to the spring wrap until the bushing is 
>> billowing that nasty smoke so unique to burning rubber. Then, simply push 
>> the bushing out with a broom stick or any other handy similar object. 
>> They come out like grease through a goose.
>> 
>> The idea here is to not cook the spring wrap cherry red, just warm a bit.
>> 
>> Andy Litkowiak
>> 2598
>> Tried this on the 4th after chiseling out the first 3.
>> 
>Does anybody know if this does any damage to the spring??
>
>JA
>http://uidaho.edu/~albr9619/
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 11:19:43 +0000
>From: "Mike Graham" 
>Subject: HELP!!! Need advice quick!
>To: TLCAL@tlca.org
>
>> > drilling out some of the rubber (a lot of good that did).  I've
concidered swearing at 
>> > it, but I'd probably make the bushing mad, and then I'll never get it
out.  
>> > 
>> > 	ANY ADVICE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!
>
>  Have you tried treating it like a rivet?  Cut off both ends and use 
>a socket of the right size to pound it through the eye.  There *are* 
>various solvents that you can try, but it's an ugly situation with 
>acid dripping and globs of steaming rubber oozing.  Yuckers.
>Try the socket thing first.  If that doesn't work, then you'll need 
>to drill out enough rubber that you can use a blunt awl to seperate 
>the bushing from the eye (slide it in between them and move it 
>around).
>
> /---------------------------------------------------/
>
>Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 19:13:19 +0000
>From: "Mike Graham" 
>Subject: Help!
>To: TLCAL@tlca.org
>
>> > The idea here is to not cook the spring wrap cherry red, just warm a bit.
>> > 
>> Does anybody know if this does any damage to the spring??
>
>  Well, you shouldn't have to worry about 1% spring steel distempering 
>until you hit about, oh, 300 degrees farenheit or so. 8-)  Seriously, 
>an automobile spring is tempered to about 600F.  If you raise the 
>spring to a higher temperature than this and let it cool down slowly, 
>then you will soften the metal.  If you cool it down too quickly, you 
>will harden it.  Generally speaking, if you heat it to less than 
>1000F and you cool it down with a spray bottle of water, or air from 
>a compressor, then it will end up pretty close to where you started 
>off.
>
> /---------------------------------------------------/
>
>  Mike Graham, TLCA #5047
>  , 
>
>  1981 BJ42 24V Diesel Land Cruiser "The Chew Toy"
>
>  Find the ORDFAQ at 
>
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Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 14:06:27 -0800
From: Scott Wilson 
Subject: stock or poly bushings?
To: TLCAL@tlca.org

> 
> >> I've got an '87 FJ60 and it seems my front shackle bushings are shot.  Any
> >> opinions on whether to replace them with stock rubber ones or to get
> >> aftermarket poly ones and which ones to get?
> >Yes.. go with polyurathane.. should last a lot longer. Make sure you lube
> >them up good before you put them in, as they will be noisy otherwise.
> 
> I've seen this before about lubing poly bushings... Lube with what?
>     Lube them with a grease that is waterproof and won't melt.  Don't know the 
specific name for this grease.  Performance Products sells one brand called "Formula 
Prelube 5."  I've never had to buy just grease, it always came with the sets of 
bushings I bought.    

	I would also recomend going with the poly bushings.  I have them on the rear 
leafs and shackles of my '88 4Runner.  To put it mildly, I love them.  You will be 
amazed at how much body roll is reduced.  They also absorb a lot more of the unwanted 
vibrations and bumps that good rubber bushings can't.

	Take into concideration you will loose some (not much) articulation when your 
crawlin' around off road.  In my opinion what you gain from poly greatly outweighs 
what you loose, but for some people this is not the case.  I read in a magazine a 
pretty good rule of thumb for poly.

If you do all street driving                - definately get poly
If you do a a fair amount of street driving - you probably still want poly
If you do mostly serious off road           - you probably should stick to rubber

	You also should concider, how stiff you want the poly.  I've heard from a 
couple of people to stay away from yellow poly.  (it's usually the stiffest)  I also 
learned from the guys at 4WPW that (at least for Energy Suspension Bushisngs)  the 
black bushings contain graphite which will also help them not to squeak.  I still went 
with the red.

	If you've never tried to get the rubber bushings out of the spring eye before, 
or haven't heard of how to do it, ask before you start.  I wish I had, would have 
saved me a few hours of headache!

- -- 
Scott A. Wilson            __o          __o          __o         __o
Santa Clara, CA          _'\<,_       _'\<,_       _'\<,_      _'\<,_
swilson@pacbell.net     (_)' (_)     (_)' (_)     (_)' (_)    (_)' (_)

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