Greetings . . .
I am in the midst of restoring the my '49 fast back. I decided to start in the back with a 3.55 rear gear swap. While I have the rear end out of the car and torn down I decided to clean everything up and detail it.
One of the challenges I encountered was how to remove the worn 'Inlox' bushings from the leaf spring front eyes:
as I found a source for new replacements.
I did some reading and found many who had tried the BFH approach - only to be foiled. Not sure how they thought they would get the new ones back in without trashing them!
The shop manual shows a special tool
(49-54 Shop Manual Section 4) pretty much impossible to locate these days.
So I decided to fabricate a minimalist 'press' that could be clamped in a vise and powered by a small bottle jack:
I went to the local hardware and bought a 36" piece of 3/8" flat stock and a 48" piece of 1/4" angle iron - plus four 1/2x1-1/2" grade 8 bolts/nuts/locks. Cut the flat stock in half and the angle iron into quarters - drill and bolt up!
I was surprised at how tight those bushings were held in the spring eyes:
they broke loose with a crack!
Guess I'll throw a coat of paint on the new press and hang it on a hook in the shop until rebuild time . . .
regards,
stock49