I'm interested in picking up an inexpensive hydraulic press from Harbor Freight for bushings and the like.

Would I be ok with the 6 ton bench version or would ya'll suggest a 12-ton standalone?

Thanks!

 

12 ton at the least if you plan to do wheel bearings. DTSS bushings can also be a pain once in a while.

 

have the a harbor special. think its 12 ton. its a beast to say the least.

 

even the 12 ton is barely enough IMO.

while i was out in the field i was using one at a friend's shop and i bent that sucker doing some suspension work.. i wasn't thoroughly impressed.

 

It works great for what i do. Ive actually had so much pressure on a control arm it broke the ball joint area. shattered a 3/4 inch thick steel plate. Took out hundreds of bushings, bearings, ect. I dont think i have ever been let down by it. there is also a "real press" but i never really had to use it. On a few semi truck items but thats about it.

 

I would look through craigslist and find a used one before I bought one from HF. I just had to do a little rebuild on my 30 ton press after the guide plate and legs bent while trying to press a bearing off a 55 Pontiac axle. Check how much play there is in the guide system, if there is a significant amount it can cause issues when doing 'tall' work in the press.

I ended up with a 3x7x.25" rectangular tube to replace my 1/8th in. thick pan that held the guide tubes. Then I used some 1.75x.120 wall roll cage tubing for the guides and slid some 1.5".120 DOM up inside them. Gives me .01" of play, I can press **** for NASA with this thing now.

 

id get the 20.

my friend brought his 12ton over and i started doing the bushings. i did about half then started getting scared as the last few needed more pressure.. I felt VERY uncomfortable with the sound it was making when it popped out the few we did. when i got my 20ton it did it with ease and i felt a TON safer. make sure you use a coupon with the 20ton press.

 

20 for sure!! 12 ton wouldnt even come close to getting my hondas wheel bearings out, had to use a 32 ton bottle jack and bent the **** out of some 3/4" steel in the process.

 

glad to know i'm not crazy, i just didn't feel that the quality was there with that particular harbor freight press.