You should've been here Dusty, it was a classic. The repair shop next door gets a '48 1/2-ton in that needs a Okie bushing right away. Owner is willing to pay to have parts sent next day air to get his baby going again. Shop owner comes over to ask me where to order parts and get them super fast. I happen to have a Okie bushing, u-joint bell gaskets and u-joint bolt locks laying here left over from my '48 that I sold. 5 minutes later he's headed back to his shop with parts in hand. So far, so good.
He reads instructions that say: "1-hour to install". Easy as: 1)Disassemble u-joint 2)Remove old bushing 3) Tap Okie bushing in 4)Reassemble u-joint. He comes up with the bright idea of hiring me for a hour since I'm the local "old truck expert". (I own a few junk trucks, so now I'm an "expert") I told him make it 3 hours and we'll talk. He says the instructions say 1 hour, no problem. I explain to him that I've never seen anything on an old truck take an hour or less. It takes me 3 days to air up my tires 'cause while I'm filling the tires I find 14 other things that are broken and need work. That's old trucks.
Anyhow, he puts one of his good mechanics on it. 2-1/2 hours into it they come and get me. He removed the old bushing fine, but while trying to "tap" the Okie bushing in he turned it into something that looked like a mushroom. The bushing was way too big to start with. We finally got it backed out by heating the torque tube and I turned the Okie bushing back down straight and slightly smaller. Round 2 sees the bushing going in almost all the way before it locks up tight again. Same story, we work it back out and I turn it down alittle more. Now .015 or so smaller, (exact size may vary in your situation) and it goes in about right. By the time it's back together we have had both a mechanic and a machinist on it for a total of about 6 hours.
That was our experience with the 1-hour, easy to install, Okie bushing. I would almost rather take the torque tube out and replace the bushings and seal with the correct parts. If you do use a Okie bushing, and it seems too tight right off the bat, resist the temptation to pound on it harder. Get it turned down on a lathe to the proper size to fit your torque tube. That will make the job much simpler.
