Raptor 80 Frame Bushings

[Venom]

Anybody know the proper way to get out the Frame bushings on a Raptor 80.... Last thing I need to do before powdercoating the frame... Any help is appreciated

[06kfx440]

Did ya try YouTube? How about some pics? I’ve always heated the frame and tapped them out with a bar or whatever fit


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[Venom]

 

After tons of reading what I found was only a few people tried to get these out of a Yamaha FJ1200 motorcycle frame which uses the same Yamaha bushing as the Raptor 80 frame.. One person wrecked his frame and the other two got them out with some minor frame damage. They basically beat them out with a hammer and chisel.. Nowhere are there instructions for getting these out. Even the Yamaha service manual only says.. "If they are worn, remove and replace". Mine were not worn, but I am doing a complete restoration of this Raptor 80 and having the frame and other parts powder coated.  

So here we go... first this is what the Bushings look like... They are a thick metal tube surrounded by hard rubber, then surrounded by a thin metal tube. That thin metal tube is the problem. It is so thin that there is no way to catch onto it with anything and if you try and press the bushing out from the inner tube you just stretch the rubber and it never moves. I have a 20 ton press and once I released the pressure the inner bushing tube just went back in like a turtle head....

There are four of them to take out on a Raptor 80. Two on the frame for the swing arm and two on the front arm. The ones on the front arm are slightly larger in diameter.

What I finally did was to use a propane torch that I use for copper plumbing fittings. I heated around the bushing until the rubber melted. That allowed me to grab the center tube with vice grips and pull it out. The center tube came out with the burnt rubber around it leaving the thin tube still in the frame.

The tube is so thin that nothing you could put in the end of the frame will push out the tube. You would need something that was machined to the exact inside diameter of the frame in order to push on it.  I could see that the tube was thin enough that it would probably bend easily. I took a very small flat screwdriver with a thin tip and was able to find a spot to pry the tube from the wall, lightly tapping on the screwdriver accomplished this.. once I had a tiny spot bent away from the wall , I took a small flat chisel and small hammer and went around the tube bending down the edges making a shelf that I could then push down with a socket and the press. that is how I got them out. It is a long slow process.There is a picture of the removed tube with the bent down end.  The last photos of the removed bushing tubes have the inner tube and rubber pushed in a little.

[06kfx440]

Good job brother. I’d do the same thing if I had to. No one said it would be easy but it works.


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[Frank Angerano]

@Venom that’s a heck of a write up and a ton of useful information.  Metal looks like it was taken down to bare nicely.   

Keep the pics coming and your progress.  

Good job.   

💪🏻