Had previously been under the impression that only the rear diff bushings had turned to dust, and today was the day that I finally (after 2 years of knowing this) said screw it, I want to drive a convertible again. So I went out and decided to start the job and as soon as I tried to unscrew the drain plug, it became quite obvious: front bushing is gone too.
Not surprising, but I don't think it had been the case before.
So here's the issue: I'm old now. I have a deformed finger. I no longer possess the desire to clear the hurdles of jack stand DIYs on cars that have sat idle for years, nor do I have the mobility/dexterity I once had either, especially in super tight spaces. With that being said, I still don't really possess a ton of money and the last thing I need to face right now is $1500+ in labor to have someone else deal with this for me.
So with that said... if my long-term memory serves, the front bushing is a pain even in the best of times, and you need to have the exact right press tool to use the new one to drive the old one out and seat in its place, and this gets even tougher with the subframe still on the car. Right?
And with the combination of age and now the fact that the bushing is nothing more than a metal edge that's probably pretty well rusted into place in there, what I'm facing is AT BEST a need to engineer myself a reverse hacksaw, cut it out - all in a tight space - and then hope at that point that I have the right combination of Koch tool pieces (I have a bunch of their presses for SF bushings and the rear end ball joints, from once upon a time when I was handy) to press it all back in. And this also assumes that I don't run into any other issues dropping the diff, which should be easy enough and is a job I've done before, but this is an old idle car and my luck we're talking about here, so I'll probably strip a bolt or something.
Am I just being overly pessimistic here or is this a cut-and-dried case of "just bend over and take it" by sending it to a shop? (And of course, now that I broke the drain plug free, this means I can't even delicately drive it there either... sigh.)
Not surprising, but I don't think it had been the case before.
So here's the issue: I'm old now. I have a deformed finger. I no longer possess the desire to clear the hurdles of jack stand DIYs on cars that have sat idle for years, nor do I have the mobility/dexterity I once had either, especially in super tight spaces. With that being said, I still don't really possess a ton of money and the last thing I need to face right now is $1500+ in labor to have someone else deal with this for me.
So with that said... if my long-term memory serves, the front bushing is a pain even in the best of times, and you need to have the exact right press tool to use the new one to drive the old one out and seat in its place, and this gets even tougher with the subframe still on the car. Right?
And with the combination of age and now the fact that the bushing is nothing more than a metal edge that's probably pretty well rusted into place in there, what I'm facing is AT BEST a need to engineer myself a reverse hacksaw, cut it out - all in a tight space - and then hope at that point that I have the right combination of Koch tool pieces (I have a bunch of their presses for SF bushings and the rear end ball joints, from once upon a time when I was handy) to press it all back in. And this also assumes that I don't run into any other issues dropping the diff, which should be easy enough and is a job I've done before, but this is an old idle car and my luck we're talking about here, so I'll probably strip a bolt or something.
Am I just being overly pessimistic here or is this a cut-and-dried case of "just bend over and take it" by sending it to a shop? (And of course, now that I broke the drain plug free, this means I can't even delicately drive it there either... sigh.)
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