I am in the process of upgrading to polyurethane bushings on the rear leaf springs and shackles. Shakles and bushings came out fine but on the front of the springs the old rubber bushing is stuck. I already tried massive force using a puller to press it out driving it with my impact gun, however no luck. Anybody know of any spray or so that will disslove the rubber? Or any other method other than cutting the spring out and replacing it. Thanks.

 

Torch'em they'll burn out. Only way I got mine out. Watch out for the gas tank.

 

x2
Stuck Bushing removal technique:

 

x3, burn baby burn!

I used a MAPP Gas torch. 45 second later, the bushings just fall out on the ground like a rotten plum.

Smelly though....

Unless your kit came with the spacer/hardstop/tube for the front eyes, you will need to re-use that. My OME bushing kit did not come with the part, so I had to get it out of the old springs when I put new springs in.

Fire! Fire! Yessssssssssss!!!

 

get an old chizle or flathead you dont like and bang it into the the gap on the ring to try and open it up a little more too. i had to burn some out and some came out after i opened it up more.

I also used on of those cone shaped drill bits that are supposed to be "any size hole"...i dont really know what they are called, but it fit perfectly onto the hole and i was able to bore out all that burnt rubber and clean the hole for the new bushing.

 

If I remember, I used a chisel and a wire brush to remove mine. Just don't nick the spring.

 

Heat up the rubber, melt it and then push the inner insert out.

Then you can cut and pound out the outer insert.

Don't waste your time and effort trying to muscle them out, work smart, not hard!

 

Roger, torch it is! On the front eye, the thin metal collar in between spring and bushing stays in though, right?

 

Yes, you will need to re-use that part, unless you kit came with a new one. My OME kit did not.

In the back, the bolts peform that function, there is no sleeve in the assembly.

 

Just to reconfirm: Not the sleeve around the bolt, that came new with my kit. The collar inside the eye but outside of the rubber (now ploy) bushing.

On the rear I need to find new bolts somewhere, the old ones are rusted and have a rough surface that will wear through my new bsuhings rapidly. Where do I get those? Toyota makes you buy the whole shackel and bsuhings and all for $130 per side. And I need the slevees that go on those bolts as well, they were not in the kit.

 

Not sure what collar you are talking about, I put new springs in and just had to swap the sleeve that was in the stock springs.

As for the bolts, a boneyard would be your best bet.

 

Sometimes when I'm in a pinch and need bolts, I'll go to home depot or lowes and buy the next grade up.

 

Operator is talking about the thin metal collar that is inside the eye of the spring. That's what all the old bushing is stuck to on the inside, and then that is rusted to the spring itself on the outside. I'm going to try to stick a sawz all or something in there to cut a couple lines and try to hammer them out piece by piece. I bought new poly bushings from Energy Suspension and it says when using urethane bushings to remove that collar. Anybody else have other tricks for this part?

 

Nice 3 year old thread bump...you probably won't get a sawzall blade in there..you can also use a small bit and drill a series of holes in the rubber..

 

this is my first post so hopefully pics will work! hope its not bad etiquette to revive an old post, this would have helped if i thought of it sooner.

Here's my solution. Less messy, and if your bushings are reusable this will save money. It's just like a simple bearing press. get washers and nuts the same size as sleeve that goes inside the bushings and drill out the wood block to large enough hole that only the sleeve fits. it simply presses the inner sleeve out then you should be able to slide out bushings, they take a bit of wiggling.

 

Not a bad idea per se. But, based on previous experience, I don't see it working in all cases. The one time I tried replacing one I had to use a cold chisel to open up the eye a little bit before the bushing could be pressed out. I guarantee I would have snapped that bolt if I'd have used your tool without doing that first.


EDIT: Shoot! I didn't realize until looking closer. We aren't even talking about the same kind of bushings. You have no clue. Some of them have an outer sleeve. Gives a whole new meaning to the term PITA!

 

[QUOTE=


EDIT: Shoot! I didn't realize until looking closer. We aren't even talking about the same kind of bushings. You have no clue. Some of them have an outer sleeve. Gives a whole new meaning to the term PITA![/QUOTE]

Mine have an outer sleeve, they are old man emu. Perhaps I have no clue, however I didn't need to torch a good set of rubber bushings. My logic was the inner sleeve (that the bolt goes through was forcing the bushings to fit tight and removing it would remove pressure, and it worked, all but 2 of 8 slid out of the outer sleeve with almost no effort.

 

I didn't word that as well I could have. Sorry. Let me rephrase it. You must not be talking about the stock/OEM bushings that have the inner and outer sleeves bonded to the rubber. I say that because you ARE NOT going to press the inner sleeve out of those with any kind of press for one thing. For another the outer sleeve is also IMPOSSIBLE, for all practical intents and purposes, TO PRESS FROM THE EYE OF THE LEAF SPRING.

What you have is another type. Which by comparison are obviously child's play as far as installation and removal. OME has nothing to do with it BTW. It's all about the difference between pre-89 OEM leaf springs and 89+ OEM leaf springs. OME is not the same as pre-89 OEM or 89+ OEM...evidentally. But much closer to pre-89 OEM by the looks of it. Which can be removed and installed by hand.

And if you carefully read(or just carefully reread assuming you did, which I don't) this thread, you might catch on that you missed the point of it entirely.

Yep. That's about as nicely as I can put it.

 

I can`t ever get the bolts out without cutting both ends off and spreading the hanger .

For me the only time the springs come out they are worn out or broke.

 

I replaced the bushings in the shackles and leaf springs on my 94 2 summers ago with the Energy Suspension pieces and you do not reuse the shells with those. The stock bushing in the shackles have no shell, so that part is pretty clear. To press out the leaf spring bushings I just used my El Cheapo Harbor Freight press.


If you do not have a press it is one of those tools that comes in sooo handy, relatively inexpensive, and even though it may spend a lot of time unused taking of space in a corner somewhere, it is there when you need it. Definitely a great tool to have in ones collection.


Cheers
Andy