Hi Don,
after pulling the second crosshaft today I can give you some advices
. First of all, get a huge press. Not one of these 20ton toys.
Then, before you start pressing, I would check for a little spacer ring. Mine was always on the cam side.
When I pressed out the first on, I did not take care. This little bastard ist not very good steel quality and gets pressed between the bushing and the plunger, making it really hard to press it out that way (too big outer diameter).
So try to press it in the opposite direction or try to grind the ring if you have two of them.
I tried heat and antirust, but no difference. At the end It was pure power that made it. I was not pacient enough, but maybe leaving it for some weeks in a diesel bath makes it smoother.
To give you an idea the first one came out rather easy (20 ton) until the little ring got stuck (I did not know
) After that I needed 35tons to get it out. Use a stable base, that is quite a lot of accumulated power.
The second one was worse and after trying smoothly for some hours, I took a safe position and at 50 ton there was a loud bang.
After that i needed 30 tons several bangs until the beast came out. Luckily it was in better shape than the first one I pulled so the work was worse it.
To not attempt to press backwards when your are stuck. All the dirt falls onto the splines making it even worse.
Personally I would just clean it up and leave it where it is if the bushings look ok from the outside. Your are quite certainly never going to use them in your lifetime. I think I am going to put back the two best bushings. There is no major wear. The axle is a bit rusty on some areas at the bottom, but if you don't change the crossshaft, you won't be able to fix it anyhow.
Just my two cents
Nils
