Brass Bushings tire carrier

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Sent you a PM, I would take a set.
 
Soon, maybe two weeks. I'm just going to bite the bullet and make them. Hopefully the demand will follow.
 
Good deal I know me and a few others Who already said we would purchase would be a great start & heck if it's like any other cruiser part once folks see and hear about it it's like wild fire for others that need it. Just let us know thanks again.
 
SouthBostonFJ40 said:
Soon, maybe two weeks. I'm just going to bite the bullet and make them. Hopefully the demand will follow.
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I'm not at a point where I will need these for quite some time. That said, I will definitely be some of that "demand that follows" down the road. I need axles back under my 40 before I start worrying about spare tires!
 
I think a little searching would probably turn up some react made metric bushings if you know exactly what size is needed.

I came to the conclusion that the stock plastic ones can last actually if they get lubed regularly. I stuck with thm because I thought they would be less prone to rattling relative to metal ones. I added a zerk fitting when I rebuilt mine.

Pete
 
I sent a prototype set to @MoCoNative to evaluate and comment on. He provided the original plastic bushings that the prototypes were made from. Below is his abbreviated review...

The bushings worked well, they looked great, very nice machine work. I did have some issues; I had, difficulty installing them. They are a very tight fit to the pins on the body. That is not a bad thing. I had some slight rust and quite a bit of paint on mine. I hated to sand the paint off, but they would not just slide all the way on. I tried to drive one on and started to deform the flange and even crack it a bit. After I got it on, I leveled it out a bit and it should work fine. Just something to keep in mind and warn guys about, they need to just be taught, but don't try to drive them on.

The assembly order for each pin is large washer first, then the lower bushing, then slide on tire carrier, then the top bushing, the second large washer and then castle nut. The cotter pin then goes thru the pin. I tightened mine up pretty tight and backed off to the first lined up slot. The fit in the not truly round carrier holes was fine, maybe a bit loose, but hard to tell. After tightening up the nuts on each pin, I had no rattle or give in the pins.

Bottom line, your bushings were a perfect reproduction. I think the sizing will work, but warn guys that the pins must be very clean. A severely rusted pin will destroy the bushing if you try to drive it on. Mine were not that rusted, but had enough corrosion and unworn paint on them to make the bushings tight.
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If everyone is okay with the tight fit, I am going to move ahead and make about 40 sets.
 
I'll give more review, after several hundred miles the pins are great. Biggest problem is the poorly designed gate spare tire carrier, hence the reason Toyota eventually went to the stronger tube style carrier.

When I replaced the pins, I also replaced the latch, for $40 some bucks, still available from Toyota it is a worthwhile purchase. My latch was worn, and did not latch down tightly.

I also went from a 235/75R15 tire to a 235/85R16 tire, much heavier, and I have 1" spacers under the tire mount piece to space the rubber off the carrier, otherwise it rubs with modern wider tires. This adds some strain to the weak carrier design, the bigger heavier tire does too obviously.

The new bushings do remove slop in the pins. They do help to keep the gate more rigid and reduce shaking. The swing and operation has remained smooth thus far. The new latch in combo reduced the chatter I would get on washboarded roads. It use to sound like a jack hammer on the rear doors sometimes.

I do however still see the tire flexing away from the body on bumps, you can also physically pull the assembly away on the top corner. This is due to the poor strength of the actual carrier door. I'm continuing to contemplate some sort of stiffening brace or gusset on the back side of the carrier gate.

The bushings did fit tight. More emery cloth would have cleaned my pins up nicely. As I stated above, I did not remove all the good paint from the pin, obviously to reduce rust issues. The pins were not painted originally, as I believe all that was assembled and painted on the vehicle. So a proper bushing was probably designed to fit the pin bare. My pins are probably about an 8 or 9 out of 10 in overall condition. There is some rust pitting a degradation, but I would say they are still pretty true to original dimensions, at least the top pin. Your fit may vary depending on the level of degradation on your pins, I live in a semi dry climate. Overall, a worthwhile replacement part for many years of service over the original NLA plastic part.
 
Southbostonfj40 I haven't had alot of purchases here on mud, once you get the bushings complete, let us know how you would like for us to pay. Thanks again it's gonna be great to have these instead of worn out plastic.
 
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