How to install spherical bushings?

I have a set of teraflex sway bar disconnects, and the bushing were shot, probably because I never greased them because the zerks were all broken off. I was able to pound them out with a couple of big sockets and a BFH.

I tried pounding the new ones in the same way; there was no friggin way that was going to work. So I tried putting it on my floor jack and using the frame rail of my jeep to press it in. That got it part way in but it was looking pretty deformed at that point. I tried again with the hammer and managed to split the new bushing :doh:

Will a press work any better? It seems like a spherical bushing will just flatten out and get harder to press in the harder you try to press it. Is there some trick I'm not aware of, like putting the bushing in a sleeve first to prevent flattening?

I've used a sleeve when pressing in similar bushings to preventing them from flattening, but the most important thing for me was lubrication. Plenty of lubrication.

Put the bushings in the freezer over night. Heat the disconnect (if you can with out melting other plastic), use grease and push it in using the old sleeve against the new bushing so you won't damage it. I did a shock that way with a sealed spherical bushing. The old ones were hard to get out, but the new ones went in like butter. I was planning on just starting it with a hammer and getting it lined up then putting a ball joint press on it, but it shrunk so much when it was frozen that I was just able to tap it in with the hammer.

Talyn said:

Put the bushings in the freezer over night. Heat the disconnect (if you can with out melting other plastic), use grease and push it in using the old sleeve against the new bushing so you won't damage it. I did a shock that way with a sealed spherical bushing. The old ones were hard to get out, but the new ones went in like butter. I was planning on just starting it with a hammer and getting it lined up then putting a ball joint press on it, but it shrunk so much when it was frozen that I was just able to tap it in with the hammer.

Click to expand...

Duh; why didn't I think of that? :doh:

I just tried using the hydraulic press at work, and I very efficiently destroyed another bushing. I even tried putting a sleeve over it, the sleeve popped up a little bit and the bushing bits squirted out the crack. Maybe if I clamped the sleeve down or something... what a PITA.

Guess I'll try the freeze/heat method. If that doesn't work, anybody wanna buy some teraflex disconnects? They just need new bushings and zerks.

Could try a hose clamp or two to hold the bushing together as it is pushed in.

Well I wish I'd called teraflex FIRST!

Turns out you just put it sideways in a vice and squish it a little bit, put the disco on it so it's going in sideways, loosen the vice, and coax it in the rest of the way with a mallet (I was able to push it the rest of the way in with my fingers). Then spin it around so it's in the right way. Damned easy when you know how.

Now that I've destroyed three and have one in, I get to order another set of 4, and have a spare (I'm retarded.) :twak:

Meh... split spherical bushing housings are crap.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank n1ywb, your work will save me when I get ready to do mine. I would have tried the freeze/heat/lube at first guess though.

I did the second one with channel locks, you don't even need a vice really if you have a big enough pair of pliers.