Inspection of a 904 torqueflite

I put 2 more reaction shaft bushing in. Had 4 on hand.

I still used the bushing driver that was machined down.
I had machine it just a tad too far so instead of putting them in perfect. The went to the side some and sort of mushroomed the bushing.

Like cuda said. I tapped it in instead of pressed it or hammered it.
It was much better than before. The press was what was causing the high spot in the middle. Not the lip as I said before. It was just too much force at one time.
Hammering them in was similar but not as bad.

The bushing driver was fine before. It wouldn’t go past the hole and pass through but that would have been fine....I had machined it just a little too far on the inside. Lesson learned.... The press pressure caused the problems for this particular one.

Had I used that bushing driver before I messed with it and tapped the bushing in with a hammer. it probably would have been fine


Now for the thin bushing. It was hammered in and went in fine. It had a high spot that I carved down with a knife. Then the planetary gear slid in with some tension. Which meant it was also mushroomed.
I should have tapped this one in as well.....but it would have been ok.

So......
I took them both down to the transmission shop. For $20 he pressed in new bushings and gave me some education. For him they went in With no problems.....I said here’s two....
He told me he would only need one.

I asked him how he did it with no issues.

He told me that when he first started he was using bushing drivers and having the same problems I’m having. He said he bought an arbor press with adjustable expanders that were similar to a cam bearing set up.....40 years ago and had saved about $75-$100,000 in bushings since.

My other bushings were put in with a cam bearing installer which is a set up like this so it made sense as they had 0 issues.
They have the steel expander rubber band that presses inside the bushing. The expander is adjustable so it becomes the perfect size every time....and the sticky rubber keeps it from moving. You can pound the heck out of it and it won’t ruin the bushing just like a cam bearing installer doesn’t trash cam bearings and they are hammered in with a sledge hammer. There is a learning curve to installing cam bearing as well.

......There is no downward force on the top of the bushing like a bushing driver has that can mushroom the top side of the bushing. All the pressure is spread out evenly.

With bushing driver.....perfect sizing inside and out ....and tapping on some of them can make all the difference.

But the arbor press is more straight.....more precise and has better and slower.....more precise control....and can still use the bushing drivers with it or expandable pieces.
I’ll be looking into getting one of these for the next build which will be a 700r4.

So now all the bushings are in and turn freely and some lessons were learned.....again.