NE frmhnd

Chrysler actually invented oil-lite in during WW2 for the military. They hold a fairly high percentage of their own weight in oil. They've used it in pilot bearings, too, like in my 87 Dakota I had in high school.

BearKiller

Interesting to know.


Now it makes me wonder if I should have oil-soaked all the many pilot-bearings that I have installed over the years.

torquefan

I was taught that with a bronze bushing you can put your thumb over one end, fill the bushing right up with oil, then put your other thumb over the other end and push with both thumbs until oil droplets appear on the outside of the bushing from being squeezed through the pores of the metal. The bronze is, at that point, saturated with oil and ready to install. I've always done them that way.

TJE

Being frugal....as I like to call it, or just plain tight as others prefer. I wonder if I could do this as well. I'd rather spend a few dollars instead of the 70.00 to 140.00. I wonder though if it would do any good since the holes are wallowed out? Maybe I could put some locktite in the holes.....thinking out loud.

Later, Tony

torquefan

I think you would have to build the hole back up by welding it and redrilling it. I've never found loctite to be any good at taking up space. Also, the clearance between a shaft and a bushing often depends a great deal on how tight the fit is around the outside of the bushing. If the bushing isn't pressed tightly into the hinge, the pin may not fit as snugly in the bushing.

Trooperthorn

I agree with these thoughts.

TJE

I think you're right most likely I'll just get a couple of hinges.

Thanks, Tony

enydick

try the over sized bushings and you might have to bend the hinges cause over time they older cars and trucks seem to get more and more slack ine hinge unlike the newer vehciles thats what my experience has been in my body shop and the pins they sell now days aren't as good as factory.

Jim Lane

If you had a lathe you could knurl the bushing to make it oversize.

If you see in the parts list, they list the pin separately.

BearKiller

Where might one access these oversize bushings ??

Is there a specific oversize bushing for our application, or do we just have to improvise ??




On a similar note, many years ago, the driver-door on my 1978 Chevy got hard to close and the hinge-pins were not the problem.

An old-school body-man showed me a trick that fixed the problem and, thus far, it has stayed fixed.

He showed me how to put a piece of 2X6 on the floor-jack pad and carefully raise this up under the slightly open door, thus re-arranging the fatigued sheet-metal where the hinges connect to the door.

What happens, over time, is the thin door metal bends with the weight of thousands of openings/closings and lets the door droop.


I know of several Dodges that have had the hinges actually crack the door metal.


I believe one would be well advised to access the inside of the doors and add a long/wide/thick reinforcement that bridged the hinges and extended above and below as far as possible.

NE frmhnd

If you drilled and put a bolt in, why couldn't you use a bolt that fits snugly in a piece of copper tube for a bushing? Or even a steel tube? Just tack it to one side or the other of the hinge so the wear is between it and the bolt.

torquefan

Yeah, I've sure seen a few 1st gen trucks with the lower door hinge broken right out of the sheet metal of the door shell, and I don't imagine it would be fun to fix without replacing the door. The worst of it seems to come from people who throw the door open and let it bounce a few times against the stop. Man, I cringe every time I see that.

BearKiller

Such is where the custom of us "gentlemen" insisting on opening the door for the "ladies".

Contrary to popular belief that it is a show of chivalry, it is in fact a measure to prevent thoughtless females from slinging open the door.

Even back in cave-man times, the men spent a good part of their day fixing the stone after their wife gave it a shove and it went over the hill.

BearKiller

The steel sleeve tacked to the hinge should work better than the wimpy little bushings.

One might even be able to employ an Alemite and give her a squirt of Kendall Super Blu occasionally.

GLHS

Just bought a pin and bushing kit from Geno's Garage for $3.95; Part #DRM703272.