Door Hinge Pin Bushings

[JaVeRo]

Being that my wife runs about 60 miles of dirt road each day, the hinge pin bushing take a beating. The right door on her Blazer needed new bushings again after two months. I think the quality of the bushing has gotten worse due to breaking several trying to squeezing them in so I finally got around to making my own. This is my first attempt at using a lathe without my brothers supervision (he is the expert)

I'm not sure what type of brass I should be using. This is 360 brass, 3/4 dia.

At the little end of the pin, the bushing is 0.487 -0.488 OD and 11/32" hole (0.343), 5/8" long with a 0.080 flange.
The big end is 0.528-0.529 OD and 3/8" hole (0.375). Should have been 0.377 but I don't have a lettered drill bit set. I just reamed it out a little with a round file.

I used a 5/64" bit and drilled a grease hole and used a triangle file to cut a groove to get grease to the flange.

I drilled a hole in the pin for a kotter key instead of using the e-clip that does not fit into the groove.

In order to get an accurate measurement on the hole, I made two plugs of brass. One has steps of 0.487, 0.488, 0.489 and 0.490, and the other had steps of 0.525, 0.526, 0.527, 0.528, and 0.529. Inserting the plug into the flange of the hinge I can see what fits snug and what doesn't fit. Then I made the first three 0.001 over what fit snug. Those three squeezed in easier than I thought so the last one I made 0.003 over. It was tight. Ideal I think would be 0.002 to 0.003 over. When I put the door on, I will put a piece of rubber hose over the pin squeezed in between the bushing to hopefully keep the grease directed toward the flanges.

I hope it works. Will keep this updated

James

[HenryJ]

Looks really good. Is there a way to add a sleeve and grease Zerk to the hinge assembly? Just an idea.

[JaVeRo]

The bushing is not thick enough for a grease zerk. I keep a grease needle with a grease zerk in it to grease the u-joints. There is not enough room between the caps of u-joints to get a normal coupler on the grease fitting. With the small hole in the bushing, I can grease it without any problem.

I could make a sleeve that would go between the bushings and hold a grease zerk then put a piece of hose on each end that also covered the bushings and clamp it. I may try that on the next one.

[roadrunner]

Good info and nice machine work. Me likey. Perhaps you've found a niche market for the folks on the forum.

[JaVeRo]

This is on her 2003 Blazer. Next will be her 2001 Crew. I'm kinda curious to see how close the hole diameter is over a 2 year span. It would be kinda hard to mass produce if you had to get an accurate measurement on each individual truck.

The 0.080 flange thickness is a good bit more than the bushings from a kit. I'm not sure if her hinges are worn that much, the ears got beaten down, or there has always been too much slack in the hinges.

If anyone want's to try this, I can give you a few tips to hopefully avoid the mistakes I made on the first set. Only one out of four fit.

James

[HenryJ]

...I could make a sleeve that would go between the bushings and hold a grease zerk then put a piece of hose on each end that also covered the bushings and clamp it. I may try that on the next one.

That is kind of what I was thinking. Maybe use plastic?

[ApproachMedium]

Where did you get your bushings and pins from? My buddy found using the GM OEM ones from the dealer, which arent even that expensive, last much much longer. I put the cheapo doorman ones on last summer and my two doors are already not exact. Im going to replace them with OEM next as the OEM bushing seems to have a little more meat to it and a better quality metal.

[JaVeRo]

Im going to replace them with OEM next as the OEM bushing seems to have a little more meat to it and a better quality metal.

The thought of getting GM bushings never occurred to me. At one time years ago GM didn't sell just the bushings and pin. The ones I was using were the Dorman "Help" bushings on the rack at the local parts store. The quality of the bushing has gone down considerably in the last two years. I ended up with several new pins due to crumbling bushings when they were installed. Too early to tell how well the dorman pins will wear against the brass bushings I made. It was not difficult to drill a hole for the cotter pin so I don't expect them to be very hard.

James

[HenryJ]

Our local GM dealer has been selling the Au-ve-co pin and bushing kits. They seem to work pretty well.

[_STUCKY]

How are these holding up?

[Built2Bend]

There's some one on zr2usa that's planning on making these with stainless pins and brass bushings. It's in the unique mods section. But I don't own a zr2 so I can't join to try and buy a couple.

[jedthrocornpone]

http://www.andyz28.com/catalog.htm

$136.... yikes!