Removing a stuck Bushing

[tim tarras]

I have a RCBS rock chucker and have been trying to get the original bushing out to replace with the hornady lock and load. I have tried the standard stuff soaked for 2 days with PB Blaster then a wrench, socket, heat followed by wrench and socket, tapped with brass punch and hammer. I even took my universal deprimer threaded it in and put the nut on the bottom to try and loosen that way.

I was thinking of using an impact wrench but concerned about cracking the press itself with all of that pounding and vibration.

Has anybody tried this?

Thank you.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Ditch the Hornady thought and get some locking rings for your dies. No need for bushings.

Might try some kroil over the course of a week. Impact may help but could break your press as you stated.

 

[vermeire]

Longer ratchet/breaker. I've got a 5' piece of I 1" iron pipe that fits over my 3/4 ratchet handle and breaker bars. It typically makes short work of tight stuff. I'd be concerned with how solid your press is mounted to your bench.

Few years ago I was replacing the hot water tank in an RV. It had cracked over the winter. I ended up using an 8' 2x4 through some of the internal piping to remove one of the control boxes on the outside. That kind of leverage and it didn't put up any fight at all.

 

[TaperPin]

Heat to the boiling point of water and I bet it unscrews much easier. Old dried oil can really grip. Even if there’s not much oil, heating the bushing will increase its length a few .001”.

Rock Chucker is probably stout enough to just crank on it really hard, but I’ve cracked thicker cast iron parts just hogging on them, so I’d go with heat over brute force.

Edit: I see you’ve already tried some heat. I’d up the amount of heat and smack the ratchet handle to get a good jolt. Like unscrewing barrels, sometimes the jolt of a smack works much better than more leverage. Impact wrench would do the same relatively safely.

 

[TaperPin]

I tend to think in terms of “what’s next if that doesn’t work.” If it seemed dicey, it’s easy enough to carefully grind down the top flange - as the flange gets thinner it will flex and let most of the pressure off the threads and finishing with a punch to get it to turn seems like a workable way to go about it. Grinding will put a lot of heat into it which also helps. One way or another you’ll get it.

 

[elephantrider]

I've converted a Rock Chucker to Lock-N-Load, but all it took was the correct sized socket and some turning. You might want to try melting wax into the threads from the underside. You'd have to dismount it an flip it over, but some mechanics and machinists swear by using wax (crayon, candle) to loosen stuck bolts.

 

[Weldor]

Put it in the freezer for a day and try it.

 

[Wrench]

I smacked mine with an impact....it came out. You're not going to hurt the press.

You can heat the bushing to *400 just in case it was locktited in.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

your press is doing you a favor. i broke 4 of those LNL set ups before moving on.

 

[tim tarras]

I went to get a can of Kroil and walking past the tools I saw they had a 2 foot long 1 1/2" combination wrench. I ended up picking up both. I got home and it took less than a minute to get the bushing off with the wrench and didn't even need the kroil.

Thank you for all the suggestions.

 

[elephantrider]

i broke 4 of those LNL set ups

But how? Did they just crack under normal use?

 

[Wrench]

your press is doing you a favor. i broke 4 of those LNL set ups before moving on.

How? I ran them for 8k ish rounds on the rockchucker and a pooptillion rounds on my hornady progressive.

Were you smashing the shell holder into the die?

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Using a lee collet neck sizer and 223 brass. It'd break the bushing very quickly, the little lugs just sheared right off