Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

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Matt.H.
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Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Matt.H. »

Hi all,
My first post here. I’m a long time Capri owner & busy with my rebuild.
I’m at my wits end with these bushes. I’ve tried everything: vice, nut/bolt, boiling water, socket to stop the ‘bulge’, silicone grease etc. I’ve had these under some serious pressure in my engineering vice but they refuse to go in & just keep on popping out. All the videos I’ve looked up make it look fairly straightforward, but alas not mine.
Any ideas will be very welcome before I give up & get some two-piece polybushes; trouble is, giving up isn’t me & the general wisdom on here is only use the one-piece?
Thanks, Matt
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pbar
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by pbar »

I can't help you much with that as I'm a fan of standard bushes, but what I would like to say is, welcome to the forum!
Matt.H.
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Matt.H. »

Well thanks pbar,
Why do you favour std bushes? When I ran the car regularly I had steering wobble at about 35mph & I never did find a cure back then, so I was betting on superflexes to be the answer together with all the others. Do you reckon new standards would do the job or were they a weak spot on the heavier models?
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

:welcome: to the forum!
I've fitted Superflex TCA inner bushes without any problem, and I don't have any specialist engineering equipment.
Can you upload some photos of your procedure so we can see what might be going wrong?

By the way, when I bought my car it had two piece bushes fitted and I definitely would not recommend using them.

:goodluck:

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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Peter-S »

Is there any possibility that they are not the right bushes? As Andrew says, some pictures might help us.
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Matt.H.
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Matt.H. »

Thanks for your replies all,
This is my setup. You can see the size of the vice - it's not a toy.
My last effort pictured is using proper bush insertion kit.
I did check the ref numbers on the package with the website (Tickover) where i got them & they checked out.
If you don't think it's my incompetence, they will be my next call.
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pbar
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by pbar »

Thanks for your reply Matt. Well, it won't be the fact that you have standard bushes causing any sloppiness or trouble, it's because they were probably decades old and knackered? Changing them to good new standard bushes would have seen a marked improvement. Harder bushes in a harder material will give a harder ride and I don't want that, they are less forgiving on the suspension components although granted many choose this option. It's just that I like the ride and the car as nice as nature originally intended. You can always swap them out again if you find they are too harsh, but it is never a concern with standard bushes. Good luck, it is a very helpful forum.
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Arnoldhar »

Turn the set up side way so the bush is flat on the vice,then hit it with the biggest lump hammer you can find, that’s how Tickover do it .I had the same issue with steering shake, these bushes sorted it, aftermarket bushes in TCA’s are not what they were when Ford made them, anyway that’s what I found
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

When you say the bushes "pop out", do you mean that maybe one side of the wider shoulder doesn't go in?

I know this is a stupid question, but have you taken the metal sleeve out of the bush? It looks to me like you're doing every thing right.

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Matt.H.
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Matt.H. »

Hi,
Arnoldhar - thanks i'll give that a go; sounds like a shock-tactic but I get how that might work.
Andrew 2.8i - I've tried them every way around, with & without the sleeve installed. I observed that with the sleeve more external 'bulge' is created since there's no way for expansion internally, which is what i think is needed to reduce the outside diameter?
Thanks for all your input.
I'll keep you posted.
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Peter-S »

This pic was removing a bush but putting them in is the same set up - the smaller socket should push the bush through more or less to the degree that it is starting to go too far though. Release the pressure slowly and the bush should stay put!
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Mc Tool »

You gotta remove the steel sleeve . Grease up the bush on the outside on the leading end , position as shown and do up the nuts to put a bit of pressure on it , enough to start distorting the bush , then shove a screwdriver (greased ) down the side of the bush and into the hole in the tca....the idea being to collapse the bush inwards ,and with the screwdriver still in there do up the nuts a bit more ( may need a helper ...unless you got 3 hands ) and it should slide in . Greasing the outer of the leading end really does make a difference ,otherwise the bush tends to stick to the tca and goes nowhere, specially if freshly painted ......but yeah , they can be a proper bastard to fit sometimes
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Matt.H.
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Matt.H. »

Morning all, here's an update:
I managed to get it in. I put a slight chamfer on the outer edge of the bush using a fine wheel on my bench grinder, but that failed to assist. After buggering around with it repeatedly in the jaws of my vice over several days I gave up.
Last Saturday although it was quite cold, I thought I'd give it another go; no heat, plenty of silicone grease & hey-presto it went straight in. I did wind the vice up tight, it wasn't easy & I may have just hit the alignment sweet-spot, who knows. But from my observation of what happened, my theory is that the cold temperature helped; the bush did not bulge out anywhere near as much as it had before perhaps keeping pressure in the right direction & easing the lead in?. Anyway I'm not about to take it out to re-test that.
Thanks for your comments & advice; they all led me to where I ended up & I can move onto assembling my front-end.
All the best, Matt
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Noel »

Glad you finally got it stuck in.
I thought of this thread at the weekend when the kids had found a Wheeler Dealers Capri clip on youtube. Edd China does the TCA bushes on that, and of course makes it look very easy.
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pbar
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by pbar »

Matt.H. wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 10:50 am But from my observation of what happened, my theory is that the cold temperature helped

Interesting that, it could be that it shrank a tiny amount in size due to the cold. You could have hit upon something here, next time I do a similar job I might put the bush in the fridge first.
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Fitting Superflex TCA Inner Bushes

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

pbar wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 7:05 pm I might put the bush in the fridge first.
I tried that trick with a (non Capri) wheel bearing. It didn't really make the job any easier, I doubt the temperature of the freezer is low enough to shrink the object by any significant amount.
I wonder if it would work better with those aerosols of liquid nitrogen that plumbers use to temporarily freeze water in pipes?

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