By Robert Emslie
While oftentimes used interchangeably, the terms “Jerry-Rigged” and “Jury-Rigged” mean two different things. Jerry-Rigged is a deviation of Jerry-Built, and means something that is slapdash, or of poor quality construction. Jury-Rigged on the other hand, means something created as a temporary solution from materials found at hand.
With that in mind, please allow me to introduce you to my Jury-Rigged bushing seating mechanism. I describe it as such because it was definitely made up of materials found at hand, one of which I cannot identify. The bushing is the top roll inhibitor on my Ford, and it’s a very common wear item. It mounts in an aluminum arm that’s in-turn connected to the engine and transmission through a pair of mounting points. The old bushing came out clean as a whistle once I cut it with my Sawzall, but the new one proved a tricky install, seeing as I don’t have a standing press.
What I do have is a pretty stout Craftsman steering wheel puller, as well as a weird brass object that you can see in the above photo. I don’t know what that is but as I noted it’s solid brass. It also has a female garden hose coupling on one end, and an angled quick release (like an air hose connection) on the other. It offered a sturdy base against which I could ratchet the puller down and draw the bushing into the hole, aided by liberal shots of PB’laster lube. It’s now a valued part of my compliment of Rube Goldberg tools.
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Jeff Glucker
I love the ingenuity that people have when facing a problem and having to use resources at hand. I also have a box of cobbled together “tools” that I’ve used for specific purposes.
I’ve made a bunch of bushing installation/removal tools out of stuff I’ve rummaged out of the scrap bin and the pipe fitting section at the local hardware store.
One suggestion though to make bushings go in really easily; freeze them for a couple of days. If that doesn’t work, freeze them again and heat up what you’re trying to press them into next time. A number of times I’ve found that tricks makes it so easy to insert bushings that I could just use hand pressure.
Large Harbor Fr(e)ight impact sockets used in conjunction with a big honkin’ bench vise have been my go-to bushing removal/install tools when the freeze/heat routine wasn’t doing the job.
I did one side of a front suspension with the BFH-only approach and ran across the freeze method while searching for any possible technique that would get me to stop contemplate giving up the hobby altogether. The difference was an hour’s worth of furious bashing versus <10 well placed hits. Definitely the best tip I've ever picked up, but I still hate suspension work.
You need to submit that whatsit to Quixotic Quantum Quandary on Atomic Toasters
http://atomictoasters.com/category/a-t-whatsit/quixotic-quantum-quandary/
…on second thought, maybe Hooniverse needs our own version of Q³.
You must have owned a British car in a former life.
I still do. Two of them, in fact.
Looking at the July photo on the Hooniverse calendar, all I can think is that if we had manual spark advance today, we would have to adjust it between “gifted” and “challenged.”
http://tanshanomi.com/temp/hoon-calendar-july2015.jpg
I recently spotted a very nice, light tan ’83-’84 Mustang Turbo GT out on the highway. I kept thinking about it, so tonight looked it up: turns out it’s one of 731 GT-Turbo droptops and only 57 that color. Wow.
http://www.mustangandfords.com/news/0504mm-historical-mustangs/
Solutions like this are so great. I hate dealing with bushings. My Prelude will need them all replaced if I keep it too long. The ones that are accessible aren’t so bad. It’s the ones that have seized bolts running through them that make me just about ready to go into new-car-payment hell.
My off topic comment is that today I spotted my first Honda HR-V in the wild. I predict, as pretty much everyone else has, it will be a huge success. Luckily it looked better in person than photos, because they will be everywhere I look in about a week. In a plate o’ shrimp moment (or is it that I work near neighboring Honda and Mazda dealerships?), I also spotted a CX3 minutes later. It is very good-looking for a tall car. These vehicles are making the CUV craze seem not so bad.
My aunt and uncle just bought a CX-3. They’re still waiting on delivery, but the ones I see look neat-o, and as a Mazdas it’s almost a guarantee they’ll handle great.
Of the mini CUVs though, I personally like the Renegade, as it actually seems like something with off-road ability, and less of a lifted hatchback.
Object + ingenuity = tool! I tip my hat. I’ve said for years, a shop is as only as good as its junkpile.
This takes me back to hanging out with my Uncles at their garage when I was a pup. One of them regularly took tools and modified them for whatever was needed, and the other would find them later and yell across the shop, “damn it, quit making tools out of my tools!”
Jerry-rig is a synonym for Jury-rig. Jerry-built means something different.
Speaking of bushings, I need advice.
Situation: The front control arms of a
Golf Mk.IPorsche 944 have two bushings. The front bushing is identical between Golf and Porsche, the rear bushing is slightly larger for the 944, and has an inner steel sleeve (the Golf one is all rubber).Issue: The 944 rear bushing (OEM, new) is sliding on the control arm (TRW, new) without extraneous force: no tool required, not even soap.
Question: is this ok? Wouldn’t the control arm slide in the steel sleeve instead of twisting the rubber? Or is the control arm “finger” too thin?
Any input from experienced Jerries appreciated!
Put six to eight zip ties between them?
Now I have time for a more serious answer 😉 I wouldn’t be surprised if the TRW dimeter was off. I got a string of junk brake parts made by them in the past. Maybe (pretty unlikely though) they make a bushing that fits better? I’d try a control arm made by some other company. Do you still have your old one to see if the new bushing would be snugger with it?
I was hoping for a comment either like “totally normal, it will tighten up when bolted on the car” or more “if it’s not a hassle to get the bushing in place, it’s wrong”. Fluktuating aftermarket part quality is another thing I did not want to hear…
This was scary, disqus just broke and showed me this image in the error message, shiver… https://a.disquscdn.com/next/5441a2bc/home/img/Pam_Error.png edit: She’s named Pam.
Probably there are worse Pams out there.
Simultaneously proud and not proud…
Emslie: You are missing a nut on your puller. Beware….or super glue it, duct tape it, or bend a paper clip around it.