A while back I mentioned that I had done this and, after being asked, said I'd put up a post on how to do it. So, here we go...
I used Bunting LLC FFB68-10 flange bearings that I purchased form Motion Industries. Here are the full specs on it directly from the Bunting Bearings website. Here's a pic of the original bushing and the bronze one side-by-side. As I recall the bronze bushing is like 1/8" shorter...definitely not an issue.
Unless you have lost a door somewhere on the trail or your TJ has suddenly spawned a third door overnight, you will need four of the bushings to complete your TJ.
The inner bore of the bronze bushing is a perfect fit for the hinge pins on the door half of the hinges but, because they are thicker than the OE bushings, the outer bore is a bit bigger. To accommodate this extra girth, you will need to drill out the body-mounted hinge halves into which you will be placing the bronze bushings.
Start by taking the body hinge halves off of the TJ (you REALLY don't want to try this on the vehicle). Then, for each female half hinge, do the following:
1) Place it in a vise and, using an appropriate sized bolt, dowel, or whatever, drive the OE bushing out.
2) Using a 1/2" bit, drill out the opening of the hinge half to accommodate the bronze bushing. Be careful with this step, you don't want to wallow out the hole as it needs to be very close to 1/2". If you have a 1/2" reamer, you can drill the hole at 31/64 and ream it out to 1/2".
3) Next, use a file to clean off the top end.
4) Finally, carefully insert the new bronze bushing (don't put in upside down ). Again, you should take care in this step in order to keep from deforming or breaking the bushing. If your vise jaws open wide enough, you could use your vice for this, or a press if you have one, or, as I opted for, mount the hinge half back on the TJ and use a hammer and a block off wood to carefully run the bushing home.
5) Be sure to only loosely snug the body-hinge-halve's bolts and then install the door before tightening them up. These bronze bushings fit the door pins a bit more snugly than the OE bushings so you will want everything well lined up before honking it all down. You may even find that you will need to slightly loosen the door side of the hinges to get everything lined up just right.
You will also notice the tighter fit when putting your doors on, but it's not a major pain. You just have to align a bit more carefully before the door pins will slide in.
These have worked flawlessly on my 2001 TJ and I plan on doing the same mod on my 2006 once I get the more pressing fixes done on it.
I used Bunting LLC FFB68-10 flange bearings that I purchased form Motion Industries. Here are the full specs on it directly from the Bunting Bearings website. Here's a pic of the original bushing and the bronze one side-by-side. As I recall the bronze bushing is like 1/8" shorter...definitely not an issue.
Unless you have lost a door somewhere on the trail or your TJ has suddenly spawned a third door overnight, you will need four of the bushings to complete your TJ.
The inner bore of the bronze bushing is a perfect fit for the hinge pins on the door half of the hinges but, because they are thicker than the OE bushings, the outer bore is a bit bigger. To accommodate this extra girth, you will need to drill out the body-mounted hinge halves into which you will be placing the bronze bushings.
Start by taking the body hinge halves off of the TJ (you REALLY don't want to try this on the vehicle). Then, for each female half hinge, do the following:
1) Place it in a vise and, using an appropriate sized bolt, dowel, or whatever, drive the OE bushing out.
2) Using a 1/2" bit, drill out the opening of the hinge half to accommodate the bronze bushing. Be careful with this step, you don't want to wallow out the hole as it needs to be very close to 1/2". If you have a 1/2" reamer, you can drill the hole at 31/64 and ream it out to 1/2".
3) Next, use a file to clean off the top end.
4) Finally, carefully insert the new bronze bushing (don't put in upside down ). Again, you should take care in this step in order to keep from deforming or breaking the bushing. If your vise jaws open wide enough, you could use your vice for this, or a press if you have one, or, as I opted for, mount the hinge half back on the TJ and use a hammer and a block off wood to carefully run the bushing home.
5) Be sure to only loosely snug the body-hinge-halve's bolts and then install the door before tightening them up. These bronze bushings fit the door pins a bit more snugly than the OE bushings so you will want everything well lined up before honking it all down. You may even find that you will need to slightly loosen the door side of the hinges to get everything lined up just right.
You will also notice the tighter fit when putting your doors on, but it's not a major pain. You just have to align a bit more carefully before the door pins will slide in.
These have worked flawlessly on my 2001 TJ and I plan on doing the same mod on my 2006 once I get the more pressing fixes done on it.
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