Dorman hinge pins are garbage.

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1ton-o-fun

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thinger2

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When we make hinges at work, the bushings are made from a harder metal than the pin. This helps the pin to slide inside of the bushing. You are correct in you thoughts. Had I known that the bushings were brass, I would have looked for something else. You never want a soft bushing. They will distort. The owner of our shop, wanted to order me some bushings from one of our suppliers. I would rather make sone out of alumabronze. Dorman just fooled me, and I wanted to spread the word, before someone else makes the same mistake. I know we can make some bushings out of alumabronze that will hold up. Thing is, I am not a machinist, and although, I can run a leith, I kind of wanted a machinist to make them for me. They do that every day, and are better at set up, than I am. We will see how this set works when I get and install them.
Take a look at the Macmaster-carr catolog. They are in L.A and are pretty much the go too place for odd hard to find hardware.
Also check out "Tacoma Screw"
They both carry a pretty good asortment of bronze and brunzeal stuff
 

kennythewelder

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Take a look at the Macmaster-carr catolog. They are in L.A and are pretty much the go too place for odd hard to find hardware.
Also check out "Tacoma Screw"
They both carry a pretty good asortment of bronze and brunzeal stuff
We looked at Mc Master, never heard of Tacoma screw. Since we need sizes I still had to order a set. My truck is my dailey driver, so I cant pull parts and wait. Mc Master bushings are about $10 each, so $40 for 4. I guess thats not that bad since your getting a good quality bushing, and not some garbage. Thanks for the input, I will have to poke around Tacoma screw and see what there all about.
 

thinger2

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We looked at Mc Master, never heard of Tacoma screw. Since we need sizes I still had to order a set. My truck is my dailey driver, so I cant pull parts and wait. Mc Master bushings are about $10 each, so $40 for 4. I guess thats not that bad since your getting a good quality bushing, and not some garbage. Thanks for the input, I will have to poke around Tacoma screw and see what there all about.
"Tacoma Screw Products" is a local northwest company that carries some pretty obscure hardware.
There online catalog is kinda clumsy to use but they deal with the maritime industry up here so last I checked they carried a lot of bronze stuff.
 

kenh

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Mc Master bushings are about $10 each, so $40 for 4. I guess thats not that bad since your getting a good quality bushing, and not some garbage.

Those bushings should be about $1 or $2 a piece. I've found McMaster Carr to be one of the highest priced places to buy stuff. Look for one of the industrial supply houses (belts, bearings etc) that are local to you. They will have or can get good brass / bronze bushings.

I just picked these because I remembered the name when I worked in industrial supply 20 years ago

https://www.zoro.com/bunting-bearings-flanged-bearing-id-12-l-38-pk3-exef081006/i/G3896907/feature-product?utm_source=google&utm_medium=surfaces&utm_campaign=shopping feed&utm_content=free google shopping clicks&gclid=Cj0KCQiA3Y-ABhCnARIsAKYDH7uQ4qiCy8Jx1Ix513alQqZM7mgBC6PhN-Ug6czBLY78ipMnwnpM558aAkANEALw_wcB

Ken
 

Vikingdude

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Just an armchair engineer here, so my words are just food for thought, but in my readings on bronze and brass, it sounds like oil-light is a really common material for bushings. Oil-light relies on honeycomb pores that carry and hold onto lubrication.
This is interesting because oil-light will eat itself if grease is applied. It clogs the pores and the material "smears". Is it possible that greasing (rather than oiling) can kill bushings prematurely? I guess the real question is are Dorman or other cheap bushings even oil-light?
I have a pair of Dorman kits that I was waiting for spring to install, but now I'm not so sure...
 
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