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Made a TAB tool today 200

Using the instructions found here - I made a rear trailing arm bushing tool today.

First, I have to say "thank you" to the board members who took the time to take measurements, snap photos, and do the R&D on this tool. I'm sure it's saved many of us a lot of time, money and frustration.

I tried my new tool out on the rearend I dropped from the parts car. The inner sleeves were so far off center that I had to pull them out before pushing out the bushings. After that, the tool worked great.

I went to my local Home Depot today for most of the parts and to a mom'n'pop hardware store hoping to find the bolt called for. Well, I found a grade 5, 8" 1/2"x13 bolt instead of the grade 8 bolt with fine pitch threads; I decided to try it. The bolt shows no sign of failing whatsoever after pressing out the two bushings, so I'm gonna say that if that's all you can find locally - go for it.

However, all I found for the pipe plugs was black iron, and those fit somewhat loosely in the 2" conduit coupler. Well, on the first bushing it was fine, but on the second, the plug slipped threads on one side and wound up crooked at the end. I had a hell of a time getting it out. I don't blame it on the fact that it's iron, but rather on the fact that it fits loosely.

I am going to weld or braze the pipe plug into the coupler so it doesn't happen again.

Finally, though I know I shouldn't complain, I have one criticism of the online instructions: I think they are needlessly complicated. For the longest time I thought this would be a daunting task, until I read through the instructions several times and realized how easy making the tool would be. Perhaps there should be a simplified list of insturctions, such as:
A. Drill 1/2" holes in center of plugs.
B. Grind the threads completely off of one plug, or until about 2.2" around.
C. Cut one 2" coupler in half; may need to be ground to fit between bushing brackets.
D. Assemble.

That's pretty much it; some people don't need the tips and techniques on how to accomplish the actual work, which I got bogged down in, not realizing how little work is involved.

Anyway, thanks again, folks!
--
'93 244: 'A' cam 4 deg. advanced, 25/22 sways, custom heim endlinks, poly bushings, and a lot more styling customization than I care to recount.






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New 3 Made a TAB tool today [200]
posted by  scorron subscriber  on Tue Jun 24 14:27 CST 2008 >


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