I'm rebuilding my rear suspension on my 77 , how do you remove the large bushings that are located on the diff. crossmember that bolts to the frame. I bent the tabs back and tried to drive then out with a big hammer, with no luck.Is there a way to press them out , or mabye burn the rubber out of the middle. Has anyone ever done this? Any ideas would help.

 

Your on the right track. Bend the tabs up, and try beating the bushings out. You can also press them out. Might also try heating them up, then banging them out. Any method you try though, you should have a big socket or something similar resting underneath the bushing before you try forcing it out. The socket needs to be a bigger diameter then the bushing. This will stop things from distorting.

 

Not a fun job, I actually had to drill one of mine out once the crossmember was removed. They actually get rust to form where they meet the inside of the crossmember. When I installed the new bushings I gave them a thin coat of anti-sieze for any future work.....

 

When I re-built my rear end, I tried the various methods suggested here. Unfortunately, I never had any luck with them. I eventually just threw it in the back of my truck and took it to a machine shop and had them press it out. Much easier and worth the few bucks in time and aggravation.

 

Get some PB Blaster and soak them for a few days. Then get a 8lbs sledge hammer and beat the living snot out of them. They will come out. It took me about 5 minutes to get mine out after soaking them. A hint on installtion. Put the new ones in the freezer for a day or two. It will shrink them just enough to make them go in easy. I also kept one of the old ones and used it to drive the new ones in.

 

Feel your pain, just did mine two weeks ago. I sprayed penetrating oil on mine twice a day for three days. Then used a 20 lb. sledge and both came out pretty easy.
Putting the new ones in isnt easy either. I put mine in the freezer for a couple of hours and then put die makers grease on the crossmember sleeve, and I still was cussing to get them in. Good Luck !

 

Well i'm happy to report that after soaking the bushings overnite with P.B. Blaster & Breakaway They came out with a few taps from my trusty sledge hammer,I'm glad that is over!!!

 

I will be doing this within the next couple weeks . I have not ordered my bushings yet. Are you replacing yours with rubber or poly?

 

My problem was putting the new ones in. I ground off the tabs of the old bushings and then just knocked them out with a big hammer. I assumed that I could hammer in the new ones. Wrong. I had to have them pressed back in. The new bushings were repro busings. When I went to re-install the differential crossmember with the new bushings, I could not get them to seat like the originals. The originals were flush to the frame (the rubber outer lip of the busings mated to the frame.) My new ones will only go to about 3/8 inch to the frame. I called VBP, whom I had bought them from, and they said this was normal/OK. I have a 1970 Corvette, and I went and looked at it's bushings seals. On this car, the bushing rubber seal is about 1/8 inch below the frame. In other words, on my 1970, the differential bushing upper rubber seal lacked about 1/8 inch of mating to the frame whereas my 1968 originally mated exactly. Maybe when I drive my 1968 with the new bushing, it'll crush down closer to the frame. Back to my conversation with VBP and the 3/8 inch gap: they said that I should start to get concerned about this gap if it was significantly different on either side of the crossmember. Since my crossmember gaps are equal, I'll just have to assume everythings ok.

One more thing. On the original factory assembly, the tabs of the bushing appear to be flatted down my a hydraulic press ficture. I was told not to use a hand hammer to flatten down the tabs since they would bend at mid-point. (Advice fromToms Differentials.) You want them to bend immediately where they project beyond the body of the crossmember. I used my air impact hammer to flatten the tabs very close to the body of the crossmember. I think that if you have to use a hammer, you should use a relatively large diameter punch and use that to hammer the tabs down flat.

 

Does anyone have pictures of the pocket the bushing goes in without the bushing installed? I started to take the bushings out and it doesn't look right.

Steve