This week I needed to remove the pilot bushing from my crank. I've always used the old method of filling the back of the crank as well as the pilot bushing with grease, then tapping in an old transmission input shaft. This forces the bushing out of the crank using hydraulics, the grease does the work for you.
This time that wouldn't work, I fought with it for an hour. The ID of the bushing was not perfectly round because it was so worn out, so I couldn't get a good enough seal to keep the grease from pushing past whatever I inserted into the bore to hammer on.
I had to come up with some sort of puller and came up with this idea. If anyone is needing to do this, it's really very simple.
I found a long bolt with a flanged head, threaded all the way. I ground the bolt head flange down so it would slip through the bushing, taking advantage of the two spots I ground out.
I took a carbide bit and ground away at the bore of the bushing at two spots 180* from each other.
I pushed the bolt head through the bushing, then gave the bolt a 1/4 of a turn and pulled out on it. The flange engaged the back of the bushing when I did this. Then I slid on a couple of large washers and a nut, spun them hand tight and held the bolt from turning while I tightened the nut. This easily pulled the bushing out first try.
So if you need to remove a bushing and the grease trick won't work, due to a worn bushing, this is really a very simple and free way to get it out.
Another method that works too is run a tap into the bushing and when it bottoms out keep going and out comes the bushing. With an air ratchet takes about 30 seconds.
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'68 Parisienne 2+2 Convertible Matador Red (Resale Red but not for sale).
Another method that works too is run a tap into the bushing and when it bottoms out keep going and out comes the bushing. With an air ratchet takes about 30 seconds.
I had heard of that idea and I bet it works well. Unfortunately my set doesn't have a big enough tap. It only goes to 1/2" so even if the bushing hadn't been hammered out so bad inside, my tap would still have been too small.
I also was going to try a bolt vs. a tap but I didn't have anything the right size for that either.
In the end, this worked well though, likely no more than 5 minutes start to finish once I came up with the idea and the right size bolt.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
It's a whole different car to drive. I loved driving it before. Now it's over the top. It really is a delight to drive. I can't even imagine how much fun it will be with a 427.... Never mind, I can imagine it, I rode in my old 427 4 speed car last fall and that was FUN!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars