What can you do with a shop press?

alexiskai

alexiskai

Well-known member
I recently bought a used 20-ton shop press at a local auction. I've been dimly aware that this is a useful gadget to have for Model A repair – pressing bushings and bearings in the distributor, the suspension, etc. I have two questions:

1. What have you folks used a shop press for, in the Model A world?

2. What sort of "accessories" do I need? For example, I presume I'm going to need a set of cylindrical things to press things in and out with? Where do you get those? Do I need specialized jigs to hold the parts I'm pressing things into?
 
Pressing bushings, straightening axles, tie rods, shafts and anything bent.

Save all your old bearing races, hubs, spacers, pieces of tubing, gears, anything round with a hole in it and short pieces of shafting.
I've got a pile of old tubing and spacers behind my press that come in real handy.
Careful with the bearing races they will shatter, Wear safety glasses.
I also have a lathe to make the ones I don't have.
Once you get used to it you will wonder how you got along without it.
Bill
 
Like Bill said, you'll find all kinds of things to do with it. You'll wonder how you ever got along without it.
 
Hi Alex,

Regarding question 1: For example, to press in the repair sleeves for the rear wheel bearings.
 

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If you have any intention of putting on cast iron drums 20 tons is not quite enough, mine it was 23 -25 tons on the gauge to finish setting them.
 
Pressing cast iron drums takes plenty of knowledge and experience. Good chance of shattering them if not done properly
 
I've straightened front axles, wishbones, reversed springs, removed and installed bearings and bushings.



A press is one of those tools that once you have one you wonder how you ever lived without it
 
I’ve used my press to press out the old spindle bushings and Press in new bushings in also my steering box bushings. You will find just about anything that has a bushing you can use your press to press out old and press in new bushings in. If you have a lathe you can make new bushings and most of your sockets can be used as bushing drivers.
I made a video on YouTube showing how I used my press to remove and replace the front spindle bushings on my Model A.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLav-W1BC-Nj9S3vEOoqgvqn60A_JPvFda
 
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“Re: What can you do with a shop press?
Sometimes the cylindrical pieces needed to press bushings in or out are my sockets”

I thought I was the only one doing that!! Great!!
(Plus most anything that works and is solid enough)
 
alexiskai said:
I recently bought a used 20-ton shop press at a local auction. I've been dimly aware that this is a useful gadget to have for Model A repair – pressing bushings and bearings in the distributor, the suspension, etc. I have two questions:

1. What have you folks used a shop press for, in the Model A world?

2. What sort of "accessories" do I need? For example, I presume I'm going to need a set of cylindrical things to press things in and out with? Where do you get those? Do I need specialized jigs to hold the parts I'm pressing things into?
Click to expand...



Ummm ...besides the aforementioned, we often use ours to scare the '$h**' out of ourselves and to pinch fingers when our brain had not fully considered the consequences of the holding methods we chose!
LOL.gif

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.
 
Yes what Brent said, plus wear safety glasses when applying any serious tonnage. Tall things can fly out if not stacked perfectly and sometimes parts can split. Straightening bent shafts can cause them to fly out too if the bend is not exactly centred under the mandrel.
Many times I have re-arched leaf springs under the press. It beats the old method of pounding the leaf with a hammer between steel blocks down on the concrete floor when you get to my age.
Swageing brake drum studs in is OK as long as you build a jig to be sure the buck inside the drum is perfectly in line with the swageing tool, because you cannot see both things to align by eye.
There is a how-to video where the operator holds the drum by hand on the bucking pin inside the drum and positions it manually under the swage tool, in the hope everything will press square and central.
This is too risky for me. I use an alignment jig like Tom Endy had made for him in his great technical series.
At about 25 ton you can feel the stud give and riveting take place. 20 ton isn't quite enough, as Kurt says. But I imagine a 20 ton press might have enough in reserve without the hydraulic bypass or frame letting go, to get a good swage.
Another use is to cold straighten a bent original spring-steel bumper mount arm, where heating to red spoils the temper if done that way.
SAJ in NZ
 
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