Need help installing new rubber headlight bushings

[Tankjeepman]

I am getting down to the final things in restoring my 1962 B1. I have new rubber bushings that go into the headlight bracket. I have used grease, vice grips and a vice with a lot of effort without success. Does anyone have a technique for getting these bushing into the headlight bracket?

[Cal_Gary]

Search the word "boiling" on the home page. Guys used boiling water to soften up draft pads. That might work for your grommets too.
Gary

[just me]

I remove the metal bushing, squirt a little tire mounting rubber lube on them and install them with a plier. Reinsert the metal bushing.

[Rdinatal]

@Tankjeepman

Did you do this?

remove the metal bushing

[Tankjeepman]

There is no metal bushing. There is a bolt that goes through the rubber part that mounts the headlight to the bracket. Yes, I am trying to push the rubber bushing through the bracket without the bolt in place. I can try boiling them, but they are new supple rubber. Thanks for the help.

[just me]

The rubber isolation mounts I used had a bush that I removed. I didn't replace it as the shoulder bolt served its purpose of not crushing the mount. They were something I got from McMaster or Motion that were the same dimensions as the original rubber.

[Tankjeepman]

OK, I got my rubber bushings from Vintage Power Wagon. They had no metal bushing inside the hole. I am going to try and use a press with some sleeves and get them in. Thanks for the reply.

[Tankjeepman]

So the secret to install them is it is really a two-man job. I took them to a friend who makes a living as an expert mechanic. He put a small hose clamp about 1/2" from the end of the bushing. As I pressed the bushing into the hole, he used a flat tip screwdriver to get the edges into the hole. You have to apply a lot of pressure to get it started in the hole. I then took a metal sleeve over the bushing and used a socket inside the sleeve to drive the bushing in the rest of the way.

[Blue Chips]

I just started restoring the headlights on my 1954 M37. I blasted, etch primed, and painted the brackets that mount the headlights on the fenders, as well as the zinc/pot metal brackets that go under the headlight bodies.

I just received a set of replacement rubber headlight mounting bushings/grommets today from MIdwest Military and installed them in the headlight brackets. I would NOT say that they were fun to install, although once started in the holes, they slid in fairly easily until the bracket snapped into the groove in the bushing. I managed to insert them with no tools other than my fingers and a little grease, but my fingers are a bit sore. I'm sure it helped that the rubber was reasonably pliable. I also left the whitish waxy storage coating on them when I installed them, as I figured it added a bit of lubrication for installation. I'll clean it off later.

If the rubber of your bushings/grommets has hardened up over the years, they would be much more difficult to install.

headlight-brackets-and-grommets-smaller-image.jpg (223.42 KiB) Viewed 519 times

[PoW]

DOT-3 and rubber are good friends, helping get things in tight places.

PoW