Struggling to fit bushes to control arms

[sgtBerbatov]

Hi,

My first posting here, although I've came to the site many a time when faced with a problem that this place managed to solve. So please be gentle

I have a 1998 Toyota Corolla E11 3-Door Hatchback that I'm in the process of working on the rear suspension, changing the bushes from perished old rubber to some new rubber while I save up for a set of polyurathene bushes.

I managed to get the bushes out from the control arms, but yesterday I went to fit them to the arm. In the process I broke 3 G-Clamps and a vice! They do fit inside the arms, so I'm not fitting bushes that are excessively big. I tried the trick of using some washers and a bolt and tighting it up, only for the bolt to break and the bush basically flopped out.

I've gone to work today and sourced a high tensile steel bolt and some washers and I'm going to try and do it again. I've also put the bushes in to the freezer tonight just to see if I can shrink them down a little bit to make it easier. I've also got a few bottles of fairy liquid to help lubricate them.

I'm wondering, after all I've mentioned above, if there's another technique I could try in order to get the bush in the arm? I've got four bushes to do and two trailing arms, although the arms are a different story altogether.

Thanks for the help

[Andy 308GTB]

You need a press... or find someone who has one.
I suspect that any light engineering outfit would be able to press them in for you - and I doubt that they would rip your arms off for doing so.
I actually bought a 12 Ton press, it was a little over £100 delivered. I have pushed bushings and bearings out - and back in, with it, I've also use it to flare brake pipes - it gave a much more even pressure than using the little tool you wind down.

Edited to add... I was robbed:
https://www.manomano.co.uk/workshop-press/hydrauli...

[paintman]

^^^^^What he said.

I've got a huge vice - ex NCB - & it simply can't generate the pressure required - I've tried using a tube over the handle & it just bent the handle.

I've also got one of that type of press - makes removing & fitting bearings, bushes,balljoints etc easy - and going on that price I was robbed as well!

Edited by paintman on Monday 10th July 14:30

[steveo3002]

if theyre just rubber i would try soaking in boiling water to make them flexible

[sgtBerbatov]

Someone else suggested the press. At £70 I suppose it'd pay for itself, or I could sell it on at some point. I don't know if I have the space or not, I'll have to check.

steveo3002 said:

if theyre just rubber i would try soaking in boiling water to make them flexible

I'll try that with the other two that aren't in the freezer, see what works best.

[Evoluzione]

Don't use washing up liquid, its a minor point I know, but it has salt in it.

[GreenV8S]

Sure pressing in shouldn't take any more force than pressing out - are you sure the new ones are the same dimension?

[Andy 308GTB]

sgtBerbatov said:

Someone else suggested the press. At £70 I suppose it'd pay for itself, or I could sell it on at some point. I don't know if I have the space or not, I'll have to check.

I've got to say that putting it back on Ebay was a line of thought that I went down. But I found space for mine.
If you take the feet off then it's a fairly flat piece and it could be tucked away behind or under stuff.

I found that most light engineering places that could help me were only open Monday-Friday at times when I should be at work. So buying a press saved a ton of messing about.

Mine's a 12 Ton model but I've seen guys using the smaller 6 Ton presses for bushes - but I think it's worth going for the biggest you can manage.
When mine was delivered, it did occur to me that 12 Tons referred to the weight, they aren't light...

[sgtBerbatov]

GreenV8S said:

Sure pressing in shouldn't take any more force than pressing out - are you sure the new ones are the same dimension?

I held an old one with a new one together and the only difference really were the ends. The new ones are slightly bigger than the old ones, so they will sit a bit proud of the arm. I got the bush in 95% of the way in, but then it wouldn't go anymore. That's when things started to break. They were, however, a royal pain to get out in the first place anyway.

But, that said, I also bought trailing arm bushes. The bushes are 1cm too big for the trailing arm I have. So I wonder if, at some point in the cars life, the arms have been replaced so aren't specifically Toyota OEM ones. So I'm sticking after market bushes to after market arms.

I'll give it another go again tonight anyway. I won't use the fairy liquid, I think I've got the Red n Tacky stuff at home somewhere and I'll use that.

[Hainey]

If you're properly stuck use a bottle jack and a cage made out of whatevers at hand. I welded some pipe together into a square some years ago and used that to contain the force of the expanding bottle jack. Then I bought a press when I could afford it off my apprenticeship wage. Anyone in your street got a Discovery? They have bottle jacks as standard.

I actually paid more than the price in that link for a press 20 some years ago! Just shows you.

[sgtBerbatov]

The bolt I got from the engineering guys, along with some Red 'n' Tacky lubricant have done the job. Fairly easy actually, so I don't know whether the lubricant or the bolt was the difference, but I managed to fit them all in. Thanks all for the help and advice!

Also, for the record, there was no real difference between freezing the bushes and warming them up (left two of them in the car all day, was very warm when I got them out).