Stuck old rubber bushing removal
 

I'm trying to get the rubber cylinder bushing out of the cross yolk from my 116. As it's been in there for 27 years or so the rubber and metal seem to have become one. As it's about 2-3 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter there's a lot of contact between the dried cracked rubber and the metal.

Anyone have a good technique/slippery product for getting these out?

Bob,

I had the same problem. I had to burn the rubber out using an acetylene torch. Propane torch would probably work too.

It makes a lot of smoke but didn't hurt anything. U might want to do it outside.

P E H

A shop with a good press is the cleanest, easiest, and most expensive way to get them out.
I would start with some penetrating oil, Kroil or PBlaster or the like. That might soften them up a little, but probably not much due to the age of the rubber.
Warming them with a torch and then pushing them out is fairly effective. It stinks and takes a while, but it works. I get the bulk out of there that way and then use a combo of wire brushes, prying, and scraping to remove the rest of it. Don't actually light the rubber on fire, that just makes a huge mess, just warm it enough to get the outside a little gooey and break the bond.

Have you given much though to getting the new ones in? I've had good luck with a shop vise and a couple 1x4's in the past, but I've never installed rubber bushings, just poly.

Neptune,

Possibly I was talking about different rubber bushings. The ones I burned out were the diamond shaped ones that have the alignment bolts going thru them. The steel cylinders inside the rubber were fused to the bolts and the bolts could not be pushed out.

It made a lot of black smoke but didn't leave any smoke damage.

P E H

ugh..I have all the above problems. I'm swapping cross yolks because one was hacked to accommodate a 617.952 in a w116 and now I'm putting back in a 617.950. The hacked one has come out but of course the bushings are still well in there.

The good cross yolk has the alignment bolts still stuck in, so it's still stuck to the frame.

As for getting the new ones on, haven't got that far but I figured some good lube to get them in there, but from what I'm hearing some sort of pressing mechanism will be required.

I'll be getting the :flamethro then

An alternative to a press, that has worked many times for me, is a 3/4" drive socket set (Harbor Freight); 5/16" all-thread with nuts and a stack of washers. The sockets work very well since they can be selected for just the proper size.

good call. I have the HF 3/4" set...how else would I play around with the 24mm and 36mm nuts and bolts related to the suspension and steering bits ;) ?

Bought it last year to pull the fuel sending unit (think that sucker is 46 or 47mm)