Stock Tire Carrier Bushings

[smalls2010]

Anyone know where i can get some new ones? i installed an old stock swing away tire carrier from a 89 on my 2000, and it fell off when i opened it today because the bushings are shot. It is the one that bolts to the bumper and the rear quarter panel. Any tips?

 

[TheNerd]

Are you talking about the Spherical Bearings? I would assume that yours fell off because the ball came out of the socket no? If you are talking about those spherical bearings, there is some news:

First: After an extensive search, I could not locate any Spherical Bearing manufactures who both listed AND still made bearing that 100% (dimensionally) match the OEM bearing. I did, however, find a close match (where the thru hole is 1mm larger in diameter that the OEM one).

The details are in a thread from an alternate forum here:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/old-school-tire-carrier-rebuild-730415/

The short of it is, you can get a Stainless replacement for like $25 each. The manufacturer is SKF, and the bearing number is "GEH 15 C". You will need to shim up your retainer bolts (i used 2 wraps of metal mini-blinds) to account for the larger thru hole diameter, but they work great now.... so....

I did have to special order my bearings from a local re-seller for SKF, but I got all the information I needed to locate that re-seller from the SKF website:
http://www.skf.com/portal/skf/home

 

[smalls2010]

Yes, that is exactly what happened. However, i have managed to come up with an easy fix, at least temporarily. I simply put a large washer between the head of the bolt and the bearing/rack itself. The bearing and rack basically just rest on top the washer... seems to be good for now, will have to see how it holds up.... thanks for the link to the website though, definately seems like a good product if i feel like dumpin more time and $$$ into this thing.... haha