The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Okie Bushing removal

I may be wrong on this but the old way to replace the original bushing was to drive the bushing down with the newer Okie bushing and seal which was usually made by a company called National Products. I don't know whether it would be wise or if it would fit lengthwise to drive a replacement Okie down the tube and replace it with another Okie. My gut feeling is that you should try to remove the installed Okie first and then replace it with a new Okie. When I rebuilt my transmission, I also did the Okie trick. When I got the original seal and bushing out I looked down the tube and there were pieces of old brass crap in there and I used a long needle nose to extract all of the old stuff because I didn't feel comfortable with that stuff grinding away in there. Have you looked at the top of your torque tube to see if the person who put the Okie in there put one or two peened plugs to secure the Okie? If they did, you could drill out the plugs and perhaps the old Okie would come out much easier and you may be able to use the holes where the plugs were with a narrow drift and hammer to drive the old Okie out. I have some pictures of the holes and plugs on the Webshots albums at the link below to help you identify and see the plugs that I am talking about. Good luck!