looking for a little advice here

I have the master set of energy suspension bushings for my 99 el (99 civic), and all was going well until i tried to do my front lca bushing. the bushing that is supposed to go in is actually two bushings, one from each side, and then you are supposed to press in a sleeve.

well, the problem is that as soon as the sleeve reaches the center where there is a small gap between the two bushings, it catches and starts pressing the other bushing out, even when its in a vice.

is it normal for this perticular sleeve to be so hard to press in, or am i using the wrong sleeve (i hope not, cuz then im just being a dumbass, lol). any advice is very very appriceated (my sore hands will appriceate it too!!!)

 

im taking them to a shop to see if they can press them in for me, im starting to hate bushings, and i know i still have to do the other side, sigh!

im gonna have a good laugh once this is all done, but goddamn those things are like trying to squeeze fat albert through a keyhole, lol.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kill_Phil &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im taking them to a shop to see if they can press them in for me, im starting to hate bushings, and i know i still have to do the other side, sigh!

im gonna have a good laugh once this is all done, but goddamn those things are like trying to squeeze fat albert through a keyhole, lol.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Weird, once the stockers were out I was able to but the Prothanes(similar to ES) in by hand without a press.

Rest the bushing that pops out on something flat and hammer the collar in with a mallet.

 

Put one side of the bushing into the LCA. Then insert the sleeve part way into that bushing from the oposite side of the LCA. Then push the second half of the bushing onto the portion of the sleeve sticking out of the first half of the bushing. Once the sleeve is started into each half of the bushing, it should be relativly easy press the two bushing halves together with your vise...

PS: Lube is your friend..

 

thanks for the advice guys, but i took it to a shop with a press, and they had to take the outer collar out, thats why i was having so much trouble! the instructions arent very clear about it, it only mentions in a later step that you should "lube the inner diameter (where the coller was)", you would think it would mention it earlier, and actually tell you that it needs to be removed, instead of just assuming you would know i guess. well, i had a laugh and things are moving along now

thanks again!

 

oh, and does anybody know a good way to take siezed codder(sp) pins out?

had a hell of a time getting pin out of the castle nut on the driver side lower ball joint, ended up tearing it off by just unscrewing the nut, then i had to drill through the other hole in the nut and leave the rest of the pin in, i tried using a drift, but no luck, those damn pins are probably the worst cuz they face down and get hit with a ton of road debris im sure.

 

you should post some pics of the installation

 

Thats weird, I thought you were suposed to leave the outer metal bushing collar in the LCA, and only burn out the rubber. This is why I never bothered with poly kits...

 

no you have to take the metal sleeve out. its not fun either.

 

it wasnt too bad, the front end is done now, all i did was burn out the rubber with a propane torch, then use a sawsall to cut out the collar, the bushings went in by hand, no problem. in 2 days im gonna start the rear end, hopefully i dont run into as many problems, i broke off a bolt for the front sway bushing, that sucked major *** fixing!

i coulda taken some pics but i dont even know where my digicam is, sorry guys!

maybe the rear end i can, but im gonna be working on a time limit =P