hydraulic press, do you use them ..

Hi all ..

So today I spent the day struggling with the removal and refit of a wheel bearing on my daughters car , for the second time... , every time I tell myself I should get a press ..

now just wondering if all you DIY'ers have or use a press , I have a defender and I know there are a few things that a pressed in and out .. if I was going to buy one would a 12 ton be enough ??

thanks guys ..

aevans692 said:

Hi all ..

So today I spent the day struggling with the removal and refit of a wheel bearing on my daughters car , for the second time... , every time I tell myself I should get a press ..

now just wondering if all you DIY'ers have or use a press , I have a defender and I know there are a few things that a pressed in and out .. if I was going to buy one would a 12 ton be enough ??

thanks guys ..

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Get a 20T one and then you know it's good for all your motoring needs.

I use my local garages press when I need but only because I have very limited space currently.

yeah , I dont have an awful about of space either, ... id like the 20 , but they seem to jump up a fair bit in price from 12 to 20 ... will have another look ..

saying that , I just found some on fleeBay pretty reasonable .. i know if I get it I won't need a press for years ... lol..

I wielded up a frame 2 bits of box section going up and 2 H sections top and bottom forming a square and I use a bottle jack I think it is 16t with bits of odd metal and wood as packers, I did it as I did not have a press and needed one straight away, worked so well I now use it all the time, packs away under bench

Sounds good , could have done with that today lol .. such a pain doing wheel bearing with studding , my impact wrench ends up stripping all the threads ..

I've had one of the ebay 12 ton chinese cheapies for some years.
Bought to do the balljoints on my sprinter but has been used for various vehicle related jobs since incl ball type wheel bearings.
So far has been fine with everything - but I haven't need to do an 'A'-frame balljoint yet!

If you do get one of that type I suggest drilling the base of the jack & the bit it sits on & bolting them together to stop it slipping in use, did that to mine after a slip!

I would like one but have managed without so far, did the a frame ok using the usual BFH & blow torch method

Yes, I did the 'A' frame on my RRC before I had the press by the 'bustersbus' method.

Im thinking that I will invest in one after Christmas , £100 seems like its justifiable for the trouble it would save ....

Had I used a press yesterday for the wheel bearings it would have made the whole day a lot easier .. lol...

I got an SGS Engineering one in the autumn of 2013 when I was doing my suspension and it made things very much easier. It's still there in my attic for when I need it. Yes, threaded rod is often made of quite soft metal and the threads are a tad undersized in relation to the nuts that you get with it, so I've given up on that for serious loadings. Shifting some of the suspension bushes got the needle on the gauge round to 15 tons in some cases. Trying to get the rear centre ball joint out of its bracket, I got the gauge on my 20 ton press up to 25 tons, but I bent the bracket in the process. Fortunately you can get new ones complete with the bracket for not much more than the ball joint on its own. It's also been useful for transmission rebuilds where you need to get gears and bearings off shafts.

yeah I think is deff going to be my new purchase .. and think I will go for the 20 ton over the 12 ...

having the right tool makes doing any job so much easier ....

I went for the 12 tonne as it was only £80 delivered. It came a couple of weeks ago and I have already used it several times

yeah , I have seen ones like that on ebay .. for the same money .. did you not want the 20 ton ?

aevans692 said:

yeah , I have seen ones like that on ebay .. for the same money .. did you not want the 20 ton ?

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I did but at £130 I thought it wasn't worth the extra. I could regret that later but I am happy enough for now

I got a 12 ton Chinese one for my transfer box rebuild and it’s been perfect. Now I’ve got it I use it when ever I can as it makes certain jobs a whole lot easier. You can get them so cheaply now.

Ebay cheapie 20 tons now from £102.95.

There were/are some of the lower weight ones that have strip steel side uprights & not the U channel of the heavier ones. Best avoided as the uprights can bend under high load.

ok , sure .... I will see how im for funds and might stretch to 20 , if not the 12 tonn should do

I bought, what I thought was a cheapo 30tonne press from ebay in 2016.
I wanted a full height one with the proper pump, not a jack. I went for the 30 because I thought the frame on the 20s looked a little flimsy.
I only expected to use it about once a year, but I have used it more than that.
It has a gauge on it that I don’t think I have had above 15t, but you can see things winding up if your not pushing dead straight, so happy with the heavier frame.
I would say I have used it a dozen times this year, mostly for straightening things. Great for that.

Yes, I went for the SGS one because you get an actual hydraulic ram, rather than the 'bottle jack in a frame' jobbies which clutter the budget end of the market. The frame is OK. You could see it flexing a bit at 25 tons, but it is only supposed to be a 20 ton press, so I can't complain.