Sorry about not getting back sooner...

A good hydraulic bearing press works best.

If you don't have a press, you can use 3/4 drive sockets and a sledge hammer.. Find a socket that will fit just inside the O/D of whatever your replacing bushings within. Then find a socket that will fit the I/D. Put the large socket on the floor, the track arm (if that's what you're working on) then the smaller socket on top. Have the wife or buddy hold the track arm then whack the small socket with the sledge. The old rubber bushing with the metal sleeve will drive out.

 

Well, I bought a 12 ton shop press from Harbor Freight. Weighs about 120 pounds. Should work, huh?

Also, I did notice that there is another company, likely smaller, called Prothane, that has a few similar polyurethane bushings and such. I found out about them, curiously enough, at a website like energy suspension parts dot com. I can say that the smaller sizes of the Energy Suspension dust boots work better (i.e. 9.13101G) and time will tell if they work well. I can't wait to do my track arm bushings soon now that I have a press. I will do the sway bar bushings at the same time probably, but I noticed that the leaf spring bushings are very expensive in comparison to the other parts. So I will try replacing everything but the leaf spring bushings and see how it drives.

 

Good luck with those track arm bushings. Let us know how that goes and if you notice much of a difference. Roy

 

I just did these yesterday on my '97 F350 and wanted to share my experience:

takotruckin asked about a metal sleeve that needed removed. I thought this was the inner sleeve that goes through the bushings. In fact, mine had an additional outer sleeve around the bushings. The previous owner of my truck somehow mashed new bushings into these additional sleeves, causing them to be way too tight.

Once I removed the outer sleeve, I was able to install the new bushings into the bar by hand - no force and no boiling required. Truck now handles like a brand new one!

 

Alright - After reading this thread and struggling thru the replacement of my track bar bushings on my 2000x diesel I thought to post a method that worked great (after several that did not).

First - Use a two jaw puller and place a washer large enough to contact the rubber and small enough not to contact the metal sleeve. Place the puller jaws on the outside of the rod end and washer on the rubber so that the puller will actually push the washer thru the rod. Use a torch and heat up the track bar end and use the puller to push the rubber and internal metal tube out (they will separate with a little heat. Next, take an air hammer or punch and work the metal housing outside out of the bar - this will take some work (not sure if a press would help here). Finally - put the new bushing (rubber only) in the microwave for 30sec/side. With a pair of channel locks crimp the bushing so when looking at the circle end it is like you were stepping on it (a thick line not a circle). Grab a pair of needle nose vice grips and crimp on the center of the bushing so when looking at the normally round end with only the vice grips touching the part the bushing looks line an 8 on its side. Then - Place the bushing above the rod end - Take the channel locks and try to bend the outside of the figure 8 toward each other and slip into rod end. Release everything and the bushing will be in the bore of the rod end. Everything else is pretty simple. Repeat on other side.

 

i just used a press to get them out, fairly easy if you have the right size of sockets to press with. To put them in i just dropped the bushings in boiling water for a minute or two and with the help of another person and some vice grips they were in. It sure firmed up the steering and my clunk was gone.

 

Question for you guys that have done this bushing replacement-

Once you get the new bushings in, how in the world do you get 369 ft/lbs of torque on the mounting nut/bolt, as the repair manual suggests??

 

big breaker bar as hard as you can..thats what I did..

 

I have a muliplier bar for the tourque wrench but but if you use a breaker bar or a piece of pipe you will be close enough that it aint coming loose.