handymantim
New Member
- Joined
- December 28, 2005
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- DFW Texas
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 94 XLT 4WD 4DR
3/8" PEX is the answer but it's a chore to get onto the striker bolt.....
Go buy a 5' length of 3/8" PEX tubing at HD/Lowes....about $2. The 3/8" PEX tubing is too small to just slide on. Get youself a glove, some Vise Grips, a utility knife and a source of heat (torch, heat gun, gas cooktop flame, candle). Use a knive or deburring tool to create a chamfer on the inside lip of the PEX. Remove some of the shoulder on the striker bolt where the bushing ends and the threads begin (where the striker bolt starts to get fat and smooth). These 2 things will help the PEX slide on easier. Grab the head of the striker bolt with the Vise Grips. Use your gloved hand to hold the PEX and heat the last 1" of the PEX and also heat the striker bolt. With a twisting motion, shove the PEX onto the striker bolt. If it doesn't go on, continue to add heat until it does. The PEX will accept a large amount of heat. However, if you heat too far up the PEX tube, it will lose its rigidty and then folds/twists. Only heat the last 1 inch or so. Once the PEX is all the way on, cut it at the "shoulder" of the striker bolt with a utility knife. Simple math tells me one could make 60 striker bushings for about $2.
Those Help/Doorman bushings are a SCAM! I can't believe they get away with advertising them as "Door Striker Bushings." They only work on the rear tailgate strikers. $4 for 4 pieces of plastic that don't even work for what we are led to believe they will work for. Can you imagine how many of those have been sold......and ALL for nothing! What a rip-off!
Go buy a 5' length of 3/8" PEX tubing at HD/Lowes....about $2. The 3/8" PEX tubing is too small to just slide on. Get youself a glove, some Vise Grips, a utility knife and a source of heat (torch, heat gun, gas cooktop flame, candle). Use a knive or deburring tool to create a chamfer on the inside lip of the PEX. Remove some of the shoulder on the striker bolt where the bushing ends and the threads begin (where the striker bolt starts to get fat and smooth). These 2 things will help the PEX slide on easier. Grab the head of the striker bolt with the Vise Grips. Use your gloved hand to hold the PEX and heat the last 1" of the PEX and also heat the striker bolt. With a twisting motion, shove the PEX onto the striker bolt. If it doesn't go on, continue to add heat until it does. The PEX will accept a large amount of heat. However, if you heat too far up the PEX tube, it will lose its rigidty and then folds/twists. Only heat the last 1 inch or so. Once the PEX is all the way on, cut it at the "shoulder" of the striker bolt with a utility knife. Simple math tells me one could make 60 striker bushings for about $2.
Those Help/Doorman bushings are a SCAM! I can't believe they get away with advertising them as "Door Striker Bushings." They only work on the rear tailgate strikers. $4 for 4 pieces of plastic that don't even work for what we are led to believe they will work for. Can you imagine how many of those have been sold......and ALL for nothing! What a rip-off!
