Nissan/Honda wheel bearings and bushings. Press

[kris]

So I need to do wheel bearings on a 94 Nissan sentra and on a 91 honda accord. I also want to do the bushings on my accord. as you can see these few jobs on my/family cars need a press, i’m thinking the cost to have a shop press in and out this items will cover a press.

From what I am reading I am in need of a press. I seen eric do the honda bearings with out a press.
any one do this jobs and know how strong a press is needed. Also is there any other tools needed to use the press for the bushings and bearings.

I am looking at harbor freight they have 12 ton A frame for ~120 and 6 ton A frame for ~70.

What other car jobs will a press allow me to do. Will this type of press make the honda bearings easier compared to erics video?

What do you guys think about harbor freight press’s?

Thanks

Topic

[Lorrin Barth]

I’m a DIYer who has been working on cars for 58 years and I’ve never owned a press. Maybe nowadays, with labor charges being so much higher it is starting to makes sense. The thing is a press, while handy, will spend most of its time simply occupying floor space.

With a press you need some holders and fixtures. You can buy these but if you need something special it would really be nice if you could make your own. So what you need is a lathe. If you keep going down this road you end up owning a machine shop.

So what I’d like is you living next door so I could use your equipment. lol

[Ingvar]

What bushings on Accord? Sway bar bushings need no press to replace.
Most likely, you referring to control arm bushings. Well, have you checked how much are they online? ENTIRE control arms with bushings? NEW? I can buy set of TWO for our 2011 civic for $110. That’s $55 a piece. Complete.
Why would I even bother with any bushings replacements then?

[Aaron Abajian]

I have a Harbor Freight 20 ton press. The bottle jack is great but when I was pressing off some forklift tires with it, I actually bent the top of the frame. To be fair, I had to use some pretty strong force to get those wheels off and have used this press many times before that on “smaller” jobs without an issue. Sometimes when we are very busy at the shop we would just send them out the wheel bearings and have my parts vendoer press them for me… Maybe $20.00 each. Having a press will be handy for many things in the future but, I do agree with Barneyb that you will need fixtures and other accessories to cover the different jobs that will arise. Hope this helps.

[Stephen Bowen]

Read the reviews on the ‘a’ frame presses. Most are not that great.

Sense I do not use a press that often, I will ‘outsource’ that part of any job to our local muffler shop. That’s the advantage of being on good terms with the shop manager and the techs. I normally slip them a few bucks for coffee and they’ll do the dirty work for me.

If you’re hell bent on getting a decent press–check your local craigslist. Sometimes when a shop upgrades they will sell off their shop tools.

S-

[Tom]

I’ve always done bushings with a socket of the right diameter, and a dead blow hammer, never had a problem.

Bearings, I use an on the car bearing press, even if I am doing it off the car. It works well enough. Generally, I don’t use a press to remove them, a bit of work with a chisel and hammer will usually get them out, leaving behind the inner race, which I notch with a cut off wheel, and then fracture with the chisel and hammer.

[Author]

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