Cheap hydraulic presses for bushes/wheel bearings

[marlinspike]

As it says really. Are these cheap bench presses worth getting? Would a 6 ton one press out bushes from car control arms and wheel bearings? Or are they simply not up to the job?

I mean stuff like this.

I suspect this is another cheap tool that I think will solve all my problems but is more hassle than it's worth.

 

[GRW]

As it says really. Are these cheap bench presses worth getting? Would a 6 ton one press out bushes from car control arms and wheel bearings? Or are they simply not up to the job?

I mean stuff like this.

View attachment 507051

I suspect this is another cheap tool that I think will solve all my problems but is more hassle than it's worth.

I've had much the same thoughts myself. Looked into it a bit, and I think that the ones with a proper ram that can be offset with a separate side-mounted handle are rather better than the "bottle jack" cheaper ones.

I also think lots of wheel bearings might demand the sort of shove you'll need from a 20T Press,not a 6 or 12T item.

Of course, then the tool is no longer cheap

 

[dan treg]

i have a 10 tonne its a proper hydraulic press much more useful than that think it came from machine mart its a bit like

Clarke CSA10BB 10 Tonne Hydraulic Bench Press (Without Kit)​

for some jobs ive still had to use a mates 50 tonne industrial one

 

[marlinspike]

I can't find the thread now - might have been on another forum - but someone said that a 6 ton press isn't really 6 ton, and a 12 ton isn't 12 etc. They all deliver much lower force than the listing.

The Clarke one looks good, Dan, but it's £350. I've been looking at £60 ones lol. I'd buy a decent used one but haven't seen any round here on the usual sites and even then I probably wouldn't use it enough to justify the expense.

 

[Erie Fred]

I can't find the thread now - might have been on another forum - but someone said that a 6 ton press isn't really 6 ton, and a 12 ton isn't 12 etc. They all deliver much lower force than the listing.

The Clarke one looks good, Dan, but it's £350. I've been looking at £60 ones lol. I'd buy a decent used one but haven't seen any round here on the usual sites and even then I probably wouldn't use it enough to justify the expense.

How much experience do you have on using a press ?

 

[bourbon]

If I can message you I maybe can help

 

[marlinspike]

How much experience do you have on using a press ?

Literally zero. In fact less than none. I have some recent experience of burning out bushes from control arms but I'm not sure that is relevant and is what I am trying to avoid.

 

[marlinspike]

If I can message you I maybe can help

You can message me if you like. I've changed my settings to allow it.

By the way guys, this is the one I was looking at. 6 ton, £50 delivered The unbranded ones all look the same (to me anyway), but this was the cheapest.

I suspect this is a Chinese drop shipper operating via Robert Dyas? 12 ton is £80.

https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/garden-sanctuary-6-ton-shop-hydraulic-press-hframe-floor-standing?srsltid=AfmBOoqUa70ubELqyRny0hLV35Ak2EeijGKjn2qGpOX-jwrzqVj39mFe

 

[Erie Fred]

Literally zero. In fact less than none. I have some recent experience of burning out bushes from control arms but I'm not sure that is relevant and is what I am trying to avoid.

View attachment 507061

It's relevant in the fact of the forces involved.
Some of the parts your looking to press out go off with a bang, and the press needs to be built stronger
than just "not yielding at capacity".

 

[marlinspike]

By 'relevant' I was jokingly referring to my recent thread on bush removal which ended up with burning it out. You make a good point though. How sturdy and safe is it going to be for £50?

 

[DanZac]

I've got a 10 Ton SGS one (10 ton bench press) which made short work of rusted MX5 wheel bearings and suspension bushes and handled all the gearbox bearings from a Fiesta when I rebuilt that with no problems.

(They seem to be retailing at £250 now which is a bit above your price point though. Although I'm as tight as a Nuns Chuff so there was no way I paid that for it when I got it a couple of years ago. Maybe it was on special offer or something when I got it?)

I've also found these ball joint removal tools to be pretty adaptable for getting suspension bush's etc out.

 

[tom2207]

a decent press is handy , if you use it once a week its worth investing , once a month or less and I would be taking the part round to someone who has a good press and bunging them a few bob ,,, they are handy but you need to have a fair idea of what your doing and what you can get away with , shims and spacers and chunks of metal , boxes of tubes , sockets and bar stock , its not always as simple as wheeler dealers make it look nine times out of ten it takes two men to get things to work well too . under 30tons is basically a toy .

 

[dan treg]

above post is about right also whilst the jack might be 6 tonne even on mine i have reinforced it otherwise the frame will want to buckle or twist especially if the load is ofcentre which it often is

 

[voipio]

As it says really. Are these cheap bench presses worth getting? Would a 6 ton one press out bushes from car control arms and wheel bearings? Or are they simply not up to the job?

I mean stuff like this.

View attachment 507051

I suspect this is another cheap tool that I think will solve all my problems but is more hassle than it's worth.

I do like the built-in levitation function of that press. It must make it much easier to move around the workshop ;-)

 

[tom2207]

actually when you take a look at the pic , and ignore the photoshop background , it looks too tall to be a bench top , and the platform height looks way too low to be floor mounted ,,, either way it would be a pita to try and do suspension arms or wheel bearings on.

 

[knighty]

I'd skip the 6 ton one and go for something beefier

I've got a cheap chinease 6 ton one, bought it for one job to test out ideas making dog chews... it's pretty rubbish, we bent it.. and it pas pressing on plywood that should have given before the press did!

also have a 30ton press, no idea if it's really 30 ton... it's the bottle jack type... I'd done everything I've tried to do it with and I'm no stranger to abusing tools :-o

 

[MetalMonkey]

Its also worth having a look about for a second hand one, you never know your luck.
The Chinese machines are OK in the bigger sizes with the dedicated rams – I have a 30 Ton which seems pretty good.
The bottle jack style ones are a mixed bag, the bigger sizes not too bad but the smaller ones are pretty anaemic.

Bushings and wheel bearings can be in seriously tight sometimes, personally I’d be looking for a 20T minimum for something like that. They are chinese Tons, so you can expect to divide that in half.
It isn't a tool you will use often, but it does come in handy - so I'd really want the maximum cost effective grunt for the workshop space it is taking up.

 

[sako243]

I've got a big old Tangeye press that's been converted to hydraulic. The definition of overkill given the two uprights are 3" solid forged round bars. I quite often hit 10t on the gauge before things start moving.

Just saying...