How to replace excavator bushes?

How to replace excavator bushes?

Having removed the old bushes from the arm of your excavator, then next step is to fit replacement bushes.

Again there are various ways of doing this with varying levels of equipment required depending on what equipment you have on hand.

1) Hammer them in! It works sometimes. But be very careful - excavator bushes are normally manufactured from Induction Hardened Steel which although very hard and wear resistant is susceptible to splitting off when you are hammering them.

2) Apply Heat - this works quite effectively if you can get the heat source close enough to where you are replacing the bush. Essentially you need to heat the bush housing as hot as you can which expands it and allows you to push the bush in by hand and let it cool again until it is tight. Just watch the paintwork on the arm of the excavator as the heat can do considerable damage to this.

3) Cool the Bush - effectively this works in the reverse of the above method but rather than heat the housing (which expands it) you cool the bush which contracts it. Typically, trained engineers do this with Liquid Nitrogen which is -195 °C and this requires very specialist equipment and training to use. If it is a small excavator, it is worth putting the bushes into a freezer 24 hours before you try and fit them as often this will cool them enough to make the job a lot easier.

4) Hydraulic Press - again this also requires specialist equipment to do but is a safe and effective way of fitting bushes. It is sometimes used in conjunction with method 2 or 3, especially on larger excavators.