Rear spring eye bushings with special tool?

I am doing a hybrid of this approach. Got the old pin out with a torch, ball joint press, sawzall and chisel. Which wasn't bad actually. Going to have to order a wider ball joint press to get the new pins in unfortunately. 90 bucks so I think it is my cheapest approach and it should be here before the weekend. All in all for me this is the cheapest and easiest approach. The new ball joint press is 12" wide and it will make it so I can press out the old and the new. My current press is only 8" wide which is why all the extra work was required in my first attempt. Also my new bushings don't want to hammer in even after being in the freezer so the press will definitely be needed. Thanks everyone for the input I really appreciate it.

 

I don't know a good way to share a Amazon link here. So see the attached screen shot. Also if you search "extra long ball joint press" on Amazon it is the biggest one. The opening is 11.5 inches. It is made by ABN. I will report back after I get everything fixed and let you know how it worked out. Supposed to arrive Friday. Based on what I accomplished with a much small press I am optimistic this one will work.

 

Whoa boys. This project really spiralled out of control. That bigger ball joint press didn't work for me. It maybe would on another truck. I don't think my spring eyes had ever been changed so it was a BEAR of a project. I had to use a porta power just to get bolts out of the suspension. Speaking of which you could PULL the bushings in with a porta power and a home built tool. You do need a cylinder that will pull, not push. I saw a video of it being done, I can send the link if anyone cares. All that being said I ended up spending like $1,300 on the special press tool from OTC. It worked amazing and I plan on just selling it now that I am done at maybe a small loss. I didn't figure out the porta power trick until the tool was on my door step. All in all even if I kept the tool it would be cheaper than what the shop quoted me and probably still faster even though I had to wait on parts and tools. Sorry for the long long post. I would not really recommend this job at home unless you are really comfortable with things going wrong and struggling a lot. It can be done with home built tools though if you have a welder and some patience. I wish anyone who has to do this job the best of luck. Some of the bolts holding the bushings to the truck were next to impossible to get out except for using heat and a porta power. Oh also if anyone wants a freightliner OTC bushing press send me a message and we can work out some pricing. I will sell it to you cheaper than anywhere else online. It will arrive like new with all the packaging. I am going to return the cheap Amazon air pedal though cause I couldn't get it to stop leaking oil. So you would have to source your own pedal. Thanks for reading guys. Good luck if you do this job.

 

Yep I figured that too but I didn't really want to pull all the Ubolts and get into even more of a mess. Plus I am pretty certain I can just sell this tool. I know a few shops around here. One guy already might be interested. If I had to do it again I would probably make sure I had a pulling porta power and a shop press. Other people I talked with said they usually just replace the entire spring with a new bushing already in it. Which also probably would have been a decent idea.