Harbor Freight 12 ton press

[Colorado Mike]

A while back I bought a longer swingarm off ebay as part of the mods to make my kid's KX85 bigger. the seller was up front about saying the bearings were shot. When I got into swapping them it turned into an all day affair. They were rusted, and siezed in the swingarm. I beat them out with the 3 pound hammer and a socket, but what a pain in the butt. After having a bad experience with a dealer pressing on a new steering stem bearing on his YZ125, I figured enough was enough.

I went and bought a Harbor Freight 12 ton press, which is basically a metal frame with a bottle jack mounted in it that pushes a spindle toward a base that supports the victim of the pressing. The whole thing is very simple in design, but very nice to have when needed.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=33497

I just went through cleaning, lubing and replacing the bearings in the rear suspension and the press made it pretty danged easy. It helps to have someone hold the swingarm as you're doing it. My son was a big help there.

They also make some motorized units, if I was a bit more affluent, or would be using it more, I would go that route. All in all, it's pretty handy, and I think worth the $110 I paid.

[Jeb]

$110 ain't bad for the variety of things for which one can use a press - I thought they were much more expensive than that, even a Harbor Freight quality unit (which is plenty sufficient for me) . . .

thanks for the comment!

[m0rie]

FYI thats the same exact unit we used to press the steering stems out for the KX front end swap. Works great and like CM says well worth the $100.

[Colorado Mike]

Little update here, I used this thing to press new crank bearings and all the transmission case bearings in my kid's YZ. This thing has more than paid for itself in convenience and shop fees. Very satisfied.

[bmiller]

I'd like to add. I bought the same exact press two days ago. Worth every penny!