heat a leaf spring???

Need to get the old bushings out of the leaf springs on our '40 chevy p/u and they are stuck...
is it safe to heat the spring eye or is that gonna ruin the temper of the spring?? thanks-

 

Drill em out, there is a great Youtube video posted here somewhere. Neat technique, a serch on Youtube should help you find it.

 

Yup, what he said ^
No heat...use mechanical removal.

 

^Yes.

 

x3 drill or cut or torch or whatever it takes....rather than heating the eyelets.

 

The drill trick works great!
I can get it just like the video almost 75% of the time

The rest I drill the rubber out and cut the ring with a saw all.

A few of them I've had to burn the rubber out ( smokey sooty mess) and then cut the ring.

Never have had to heat the spring or control arms to get it out

 

these arent rubber bushings, they are metal of some type, but the consensus is NO to using heat on the spring eyes??

 

Can you drive or press them out? I have done metal ones like that in the past.

 

Use a jig saw to cut the bushing in 2 or more pieces. If you don't have a jig saw a hack saw will do. You have to take the hack saw apart, stick the blade thru the hole, and put it back together.

Then it comes out easy with a hammer and chisel.

I am assuming you don't have a press or you wouldn't be asking.

 

This usually happens to me when I can't press them out!

 

some heat and melted wax works great on threaded parts...

 

Got it...
the correct size bushing driver made all the differance...
oh, and btw, that youtube drill trick for removing rubber bushings is a cruel hoax perpetrated by the Illuminati, I've tried that about a half dozen times and it never works for me

 

I use a 3/8 dia. carbide ball shaped burr in a die grinder. Eat a channel all the way through one side and they will then usually tap right out. Much faster than a saw blade and less chance of nicking the spring eye.

 

after drilling use a wire wheel(trim wires to fit eye) in your die grinder to clean and polish the hole..you can burn out the rubber without getting the metal too hot, it's messy and smokey

 

Since it's a Chevy, I assume that the bushings are the same as my 51 AD and if that's the case, those bushing screw in and out, so you might want to double check and there are a number of sources such as those parts houses or web sites like:
https://www.fillingstation.com/
http://chevytrucks.org/
http://www.stovebolt.com/
So, if it is the same as my 51, then you don't drill it out or press it out. I would soak it in some kind of rust dissolver for a few days and then see if it turns.