mx5cartalk.com

You know how you start off with small intentions and things just snowball?

So I figure that at least some of the bushings on the car haven't been replaced (the extensive service history shows a few have) and they must be showing their age by now. So given I'm doing complete brakes and suspension already, it sort of makes sense to do the bushings at the same time. Right?

But I've never changed a bushing in my life. Never had to. I'm thinking of grabbing the IL Motosports kit as this is a 99% street car so no reason not to stick with rubber and their stiffer bushings will give some performance benefit. If I'm wrong and there's a better solution let me know.

Now I figure all that I need to change them is a press (again correct me if I'm missing something). But what size press do I need? They come in huge range of weight ratings, sizes and prices. So what size do I need for the MX-5? What else on the MX-5 can I use a press for? Any of the bearings require one? Any particular units I should look at or avoid? I have very limited space and this really isn't something I'll likely use again but you never know so I don't mind buying one but I don't want a huge unit just because it might be useful for something else.

Buy a standard 20T shop press and call it a day, it will do everything you ever need to on a car and last a life time, and only a few hundred bucks, and worth a fair chunk of that used if you ever sell it, even if its 30y old.

Dann

Press? I have done two sets with hand tools - all right, the latest I did with a cordless impact driver.

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After:


A press can be quite useful, so don't let me talk you out of one. Just don't justify it on the basis of doing the bushes. The one time I used a press, it was quite a chore getting the alignment right, and making sure the arm did not move as the pressure was applied. If you were doing lots, it would be worth machining up the correctly sized and shaped sleeves for the housings, and the press would make it simpler. But on my most recent experience, it is definitely not necessary.

I have a cast iron plumbing fittings, again courtesy of Bunnings Racer Warehouse, which does the same job as that 'tube with plate' device, so you don't need specialised expensive tools.

You can do the bushings with a vice

RS2000 wrote:You can do the bushings with a vice

I have inserted them that way, I haven't got access to a vice with sufficiently wide jaws to get them out so I can't comment on that aspect.

I have replaced various bushes on 4 different cars using one G clamp, various bits of pipe and sometimes some sort of mandrel. On my Datsun Stanza I needed some heat too, as I didn't have a mandrel that fitted and the bush distortion was large enough to take up the entire travel of the G clamp, but the bushes, nevertheless, relinquished their grip.

Thanks for the input guys, I might do a bit of research over the weekend and see what ideas I can come up with based upon what I already have. if I need to buy things though than I may as well buy the press. They're not very expensive as Dann mentioned (less than the bushings) and there's probably going to be some EOFY sales going around the next few weeks.

The smaller benchtop 10/12t units not worth considering? Figure these will be easier to move around and stuff into a smaller space when not being used (which will be 99.9% of the time). I know having more capacity is never a bad thing but on something like this I'd rather have more space left over than capacity I'm unlikely to ever use.

I used one of those presses from Super cheap. At the time it was like $89 ....(2007) I thyink it was the standard 2T press or something. the bare basics.
But in all seriousness. at the time that was the best $89 I ever spent.

It made life sooo much easier.
I gave mine away after to someone who had a workshop. and would most likel;y use it more often than I would.

Bit like the engine crane I have currently. It will get used to swap patchys engine But I doubt I'll ever use it again.

Always wanted a press to add to the tool collection and it was time to press the the rear wheel bearings out.
so I bought this
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12-TON-Hydr ... 4895c6611a
yes it's a cheap Chinese jobby, but gets little use. Picked it up as it was just down the road

Ive got a similar one and it will do everything on an mx5, and its a good communal tool you can let people use for jobs which cant be done without it. Lots of tools you cant lend but a press wont break or wear out.

Winning.

Dann

A workshop press is the easiest and best for the job, and you'll likely use it for a lot of stuff.

However, you can also do them with a decent bench vice, which is going to be useful for a HUGE amount of jobs.



Personally, if you currently have neither, i'd buy the vice (find a secondhand, they last forever), mainly because it's more likely to be used for lots of tasks. (go for the normal type vice, leg vices wont really do bushes, but are amazing for hardcore hammering to shape and bend steel since they brace against the floor as well as the bench)

If you already have a vice, look into a press then, to save a heap of effort.
Again, secondhand is a good place to look, the only bit that really wears out is the hydraulic jack, which on many of them is just a bottle jack so can easily be replaced or re-oiled if the seals arent totally gone.

Just a heads up, if buying to do rear hub bearings. If the axles have come out before, you may be able to do them with a sledge, or even a 5lb hammer. If they have never come out, a typical press may not be enough. The workshop I frequent occasionally has to send them up to another place, where they have some ginormous press. Even though their press looks pretty substantial to me, and leaving the axle in the press for days and all the other tricks to loosen a recalcitrant axle, sometimes nothing but sheer grunt will do the job.

The other consideration is space. A press doesn't take up a lot of room, an engine hoist, even a folding one, does. If you have a workbench, you need a vice anyway (or they will come and take the bench away ).

I guess the message is to only buy things you will use infrequently at least, rather than one time. Or buy, use, sell when the job is done. Or give it to a mate, on the basis that you can use it when you need it.

Me? I'm just a sucker for this stuff, and it seems the condition is getting worse as I age ...

greenMachine wrote:Me? I'm just a sucker for this stuff, and it seems the condition is getting worse as I age ...

Yes, that's why I'm so short on space. Where ever possible I buy the tools required to DIY. They add up over time and I don't have a garage, only an attached carport so space to keep stuff where I can be fairly certain it won't go for a walk on it's own is limited.

Where are you located. I'm in Brisbane and you're welcome to borrow mine if local. Have a whole kit of sleeves and spacers (as a press alone is useless) to push stuff in and out. Handy as a holding de-vice too.

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In Sydney but thanks for the offer.

I'll look at getting something later in the month, not in a huge hurry. Still have a few parts to gather before I start installing everything.