"Clare Snyder" wrote in message
...

I am making a swing-away bike carrier to fit in trailer hitch
reciever. With everything shut down I need to use what I have on hand.
Can I use 6063 aluminm (rigid aluminum conduit) as a pivot bearing? I
plan on pressing it into a steel sleave. Loasding will be under 200
lbs at 30 inches - bearing length 1 1/4 inches - shaft 5/8 to 3/4
inch. The arms are made of 3/16" wall 1 1/4 inch square tube. and I
don't really want to just bear the load steel to steel on the 3/16
inch wall thickness or a steel tube on the pin. Not sure what my pin
material will be yet untill I get through my "ends" box on Monday
would be good if I could find some chrome shaft like a shock
absorber/strut shaft or hydraulic cyl rod
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Steel on steel is/was common on lawn and garden equipment, and it lasts a
long time on joints that don't often move, and some that do.

I bought a 20-year-old Toro snowblower whose auger and ground drive control
handles were sheet metal U-shaped pressings running on steel pivots, the
bearings being just punched holes. The more stressed auger drive handle had
worn egg-shaped on the control rod side but the less stressed ground drive
handle was still fine.

I located the handle by the unworn side of the hole under the mill spindle
and bored for a bronze bushing and now it works like new. The older
all-steel ones are easy to fix.