The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Oakie bushing replacement

I need to replace the actual worn out oakie bushing in my 48 GMC. I thought the common puller tool would be what I needed but, it is meant to pull the original bushing and seal out. In my search here I could only find 1 post about this job. It requires welding skills I do not have or even access to. Has anybody done this job before? I do not want to have to pull the rear end apart and drive it out from the back end so I am hoping somebody has a good idea.

My search for 'oakie' on this web site returned 308 results.

I got similar results at first. Upon reading through the results all were about using the puller to remove the original bushing and/or installing the oakie bushing. I have an already installed oakie bushing I need to remove and replace. From what I can tell the puller tool is not designed for that.

I'm afraid you're out of luck on using the oakie bushing puller to remove and oakie bushing. I believe the front bushing is much thinner because of the sleeve that holds it and the rear bushing and seal in place. With the driveshaft in place, there just isn't enough room to get the puller in and grab onto the bushing assembly.

You MIGHT try using the bushing puller, but I expect that even if you can hook on to the front bushing that supports the u-joint yoke, the best you could hope for is to pull that bushing out of the oakie bushing sleeve, leaving the sleeve, rear bushing and seal in place.

I attempted to build a puller for the original bushing out of some exhaust tubing and failed miserably. Wound up ordering a puller from the Filling Station, used it for about 15 minutes and sent it back for credit.

I fear that pulling the differential is in your future.

[on edit] HERE is a link to Kevinski's oakie bushing horror story.

You will have to remove the dowel pin that holds the bushing if there is one in there .Your 48 should have two dowel pins that originally held the bushings, but if the oakie bushing went in tight then there would be no need for the pin .I have heard that you can use a punch through the hole were the dowel pin was to tap it out .There is also a video on y tube with jayhawker were he is replacing the bushing and had pulled out a old oakie bushing with a puller so depending on the bushing there may be a ridge in the oakie that will catch the puller tooth to be able to pull it out . I have two bushings and will take a look to see if that is a possibility with the puller .My truck is a Canadian truck and there are differences but mainly in the size for were the bushing is at that end of the tube the pumpkin area is a different story.

Here is the video I mentioned above.On a promising note the older tubes had the dowel pins so hopefully the oakie that is in your tube is not as tight as the newer ones that are more of a press fit .

The problem with pulling the rear bushing without removing the driveshaft is that it rides right on the shaft, so there's no space for a puller to get behind it. The oakie bushing original install pushes the rear bearing to the rear, and behind the new rear bushing/seal.

I looked at the two oakie bushings I have and there is a ridge for the puller to grab but as Kevin said it may just pull out the brass bushing from the oakie fixture .You can see the thickness of the brass in the picture I snapped from the video above so you will have to get lucky but there is room for the puller once the yoke is out to grab on that ridge .This happened to me on the origional bushing on mine the puller pulled out the brass sleeve so I had to make a bigger insert for the puller to get the fingers to spread out farther to grab rest of the bushing.Kevin mentions a good point that the bushing that was pushed forward on the origional install will not come out as it will be to far down the tube and the puller can’t get behind it to grab the edge .I think that is what happened in my nightmare the back bushing pushed up against the ridge on the driveshaft making it bind when the driveshaft turned .Anyway all in you may want to try the puller and see what happens.Keep us posted and wishing you good luck

Twin Jimmys - Here's an older thread on Okie Bushing Removal that might shed a little light on your question.

It involves removing an "Okie bushing" that was used to replace the original front driveshaft bushings and seal, to then install another new "Okie Bushing". If not able to drive it out like mentioned there, the only remaining option I think is to remove the driveshaft assembly, disassembly and drive the "Okie bushing" out from the rear with a long section of pipe.

Oh boy. My head hurts. All good info. Thanks guys. Pulling the rear end apart is the last resort. I think maybe I will go lift the torque tube up as high as it will go, fill it with trans fluid and then see if it leaks down after a couple days. If the seal is holding fluid I may leave it. The front yoke and bushing have some wear. I have all new parts on my shelf and was going to put them in when I found the oakie bushing already there. Since this truck will likely not see 1000 miles a year it should last at least 10 years. By then I will be too old to be involved and my son can do it. Might be a good time for him to upgrade the driveline and trans. I will update how things go on this. Thanks again for the advice and links you guys provided. Rich

If the okie joint is worn enough to be leaking tranny juice through, wouldn't it be easier to check by pulling the fill plug on the diffy and see if lube runs out? That's what happened when my original seal was bad. Pulled the plug and all manner of lube came running out.

Ahh, I knew Paul Harvey would show up for "The rest of the story". I pulled the fill plug on the rear end. Everything was normal. However.......This truck was done by me 40 years ago. It was going to be a driver my two very young boys could learn on. It was my first truck. I went to swap meets for a few years and could not find a shop manual. There was no internet and I was a dummy. We were buying a house, raising two toddlers, starting and growing a business, and then going through a divorce. Needless to say, I was busy and distracted. All of my excuses out of the way, I never knew I had to fill the ball collar with trans fluid nor did I know how to shim the ball collar to seal everything. The truck got 85% done and then pushed aside for years until I gave it to my son in 2002. It got about 400 miles put on it and basically was run dry. Now, I have learned so much it is time to correct the past errors and omissions. I throw myself at the mercy of the community for such heinous sins.

Rich, you're absolved. We've all been there.

UPDATE: After bringing the front of the torque tube up as high as possible, I filled the oakie bushing with trans fluid. I have rotated the drive shaft by turning the rear wheels on several occasions. After 10 days, the seal is not leaking as far as I can tell. I suppose I will just put it all back together. It all feels pretty solid. I will keep a mental note to pay attention to any vibrations that come up. It sure beats the option of trying to pull the oakie out. I have also identified a crack in the transmission case right at the ball collar. Luckily I had another transmission case here to use. I think it will all go back together nice and smooth.