Gee, I'm Bushed ...

Here's an update as to what I've been up to.

I decided that i would trial fit what i already have.
1, to make sure I have what I've paid for....
2, to make sure it fits and...
3, so that I can work out what I haven't got.

So first plan of attack was to press in the wishbone bushes.

Wishbones laid out

Bushes and essentials ready to go

First thing to do was to prep my vice for the abuse it was about to receive. 

Metal jaws have been replaced with some scrap 18mm ply

TIP: Mine was a cheap 1 ton vice that I purchased years ago. If you don't own one, buy something sturdy with a nice thick handle. By the time i had finished pressing the bushes in the handle resembled a curly wurly and most of the effort need to press the bushes in was due to the handle binding on the vice body where it was bent !

Before I started, I placed a wishbone in the vice and with my dremel fitted with a grinding stone, I gave the inner edge a slight chamfer ( about 1mm ) and a light grind in the bush housing to remove any burrs, this was so that when pressing the bushes in it wouldn't produce a nylon shaving (sorry, no pic, but I guess you know what I mean).

I gave the bush housing and the outer edge of the bush a light coat of copper slip and pressed on ;).

At first I thought it would be easier and quicker to try and press both bushes in at the same time,

 but this way it was hard keeping them square, so I decided to do one bush at a time.

I also found that, as I wound the bush in, if I rotated the wishbone slightly at the same time it would square it up.

Once both bushes were in, I left the pressure on whilst cleaning any excess grease off to make sure they were seated fully.

TIP: Once a small bead of copper slip oozes out your done.

Next were the Crush Tubes. With my bench grinder i put a 1 mm chamfer on the leading edge of the tube, again to stop it shaving the bush as it entered.

TIP: Watch out for this. A light filing / grind will remove it.

You can also see the slight burr on the leading edges that i removed.

What i did then was to replace one of the vice jaws to metal.

and pressed the tube in till fully inserted. Don't wind the vice too tight, just enough so that the tube is flush or very slightly protruding and even on both sides.   P.S. I did put a smear of copper slip on the crush tube first, but didn't take a pic.

 TIP: Notice the cloth, this was to stop damage to the wishbone where it rested on the vice

This is how the finished bush should look.

P.S. I didn't have to do any trimming of the tube as previous builders have.