Question for Tom Endy

Bob from Northport

Bob from Northport

Well-known member
The article in the latest issue of the club magazine was very good!!
You showed a photo of a bushing installer to use for the bell housing shaft bushings. Was that a custom made tool, or is it available somewhere??
Thanks!!

Bob
 
Bob from Northport:

The tool can be easily made on a lathe. The larger diameter is the same as the outside diameter of the bushing. The smaller diameter just fits inside the bushing. This allows the step to grip the edge of the bushing to either drive it in or out.

The one shown in the photo was made for me by a friend and fellow club member who passed away earlier this year. Don Miller was a past president of the Orange County (Southern California) Model A Ford Club and a very fine gentleman. We were working on his car a number of years ago and he noticed the tool I was using had gotten somewhat ratty from repeated use as it was made from soft steel. He had the shop in a business he owned make me a new one. Not only was it precisely machined, he then had it hardened. Every time I use the tool I think of him.

I know of no supplier that makes bushing tools. It would be a good product for Bratton's to develope. I have similar tools for removing\replacing the other size bushings on a Model A ( spring shackle bushings, distributor bushings, brake lever bushings).

You have to be careful using such a tool to remove distributor bushings as most are extremely worn and the edge of the tool can slip down inside the bushing and it will crack the housing. Best to split these with a hack saw blade and curl them out. The tool can be used to install the new bushings. This is not a problem with bell housing\pedal bushings.

I have trouble posting photos on this forum or I would post the photo here.

Tom Endy
 
Tom,
Since you mentioned installing distributor bushings and the possibility of cracking the upper part, I have a question. It there a trick to installing the upper distributor bushing? The last one I tried to install I cracked the thin upper housing. I removed the old bushing like you said you do and that worked OK, but installing the new bushing in the upper part was a problem for me. Maybe I should have lubed the bushing and hole before pressing the bushing in. Do you have a special way to install the bushing to minimize cracking the casting? Also, thanks for the help on previous questions I have had that you responded to.
Thanks,
Rusty Nelson
 
Rusty:

There is a trick!

There is usually a wall of hard crud that builds up between the two bushings. This is another reason you don't want to push the bushings out with a tool as the crud will try to compact between the bushings and will certainly crack the housing.

Once the bushings are out I soak the casting in lacquer thinner, then bead blast it nice and shiney clean. I also had trouble installing the upper bushing. I had a tool made from the bottom end of a cracked housing. If you notice the top where the upper bushing sits is not flush with the top of the casting. If you put it down on a press the bushing area is not supported properly. The tool allows the top end of the bushing area to nestle in it. I place the casting upside down on the press platform and run the top bushing in from the bottom. This insures it is going in straight when it reached the top area. It also helps to chanfer the top edge of the bushing and coat it with Vasoline. I have a marker on the bushing press in tool that tells me when I am nominally even with the top of the casing. If it went in too far it is easy enough to turn it around and push it back in slightly.

Tom Endy
 
Thanks Tom. You must have a special tool that has a step on it with the outside just slightly smaller than the dist hole and the smaller part of the tool slightly smaller than the inside of the bushing to do it the way you described. I don't have a tool like that. Does someone make a tool like that?
Thanks,
Rusty
 
wrndln said:
Thanks Tom. You must have a special tool that has a step on it with the outside just slightly smaller than the dist hole and the smaller part of the tool slightly smaller than the inside of the bushing to do it the way you described. I don't have a tool like that. Does someone make a tool like that?
Thanks,
Rusty
Click to expand...

Rusty,
Use an old distributor shaft and turn the ring down just a tad so it fits through the housing without the bushings. I've turned down a couple of worn shafts like this. I can't tell you the O.D. of the ring right now, but it would be just a few thousandths less than the O.D. of the new bushing you are going to install.

Spray some Kroil in the bushings and drive them out the bottom. Make sure you support the very bottom of the housing shaft and NOT the upper part of the housing. Dale made a nice jig out of aluminum to support the bottom of the housing to R&R bushings.
 
Yes Don Miller He will be missed. I bought his 31 coupe about 2 years ago and that was the first time I met Don and I could tell he was someone special. I think of him often when driving the coupe. Another one of your super nice club member I had the pleasure of meeting is Richard Parrish as he helped Don deliver the coupe to my house. Goes to show that model A people are special. didnt mean to high jack the thread but just had to share.
 
Attached photos ( I hope) of the bell housing bushing tool. It can also be used for installing and removing pedal bushings. My thanks to a fellow fordbarner for sending me directions for posting photos.

Tom Endy
 

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