I had the left steering spline joint fail on our 310A, and decided to replace the steering arm, spindle, bushings and wheel bearings. We had welded the spline as a temporary fix so disassembly was interesting. Once we got through that, we removed the bushings by cutting a small slit in them and prying them out, being careful not to damage the hole. Here's my question - what is the procedure to get those new bushings into the casting? They seem too fragile to take a beating or excessive pressure with a screw operated installer. Is heat the answer? When we miked the bore, it was 0.040 smaller than the bushing OD. What am I missing? Tractor serial number 371357T, bushing part number R49835.
Freeze the bushing.
Those bushings are surprisingly tuff. I think that they are a split bushing so that they can compress properly. Make sue the bore is clean. I generally put some oil on the outside then put a board on top then beat them in with a hammer.
Thanks for the advice. I will be trying to install them tonight after work.
Turns out the measurements were a bit off, so we had about a 0.005 to 0.008” interference fit. We made a press out of an aluminum hub that fit inside and over the top of the bushing, a plate, and some threaded rod. The hub and the plate were bored for clearance to the threaded rod in the center. We heated the casting and cooled the bushing. We positioned the bushing at the entry to the hole, put in the hub, stuck the threaded rod through the casting bores and out the other side, put on the plate, and snugged it up with nuts on either end. We tightened up our rig and the bushing seated into place. Problem solved. Thanks for the suggestions! Next I will be tackling wheel bearing replacement and hose replacement in the backhoe.