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rutzbeck's avatar
rutzbeck
Explorer
Jun 02, 2013

Swing out brackets hinge

My hinges on my swing out brackets are hard to operate. I am wondering if there is a grease I should use on the pin that is in the hinge. Last winter it wouldn't pop down into the locked position until I pulled the pin out and scrubbed it down. At that time I put some lubrication that I use in my locks. It worked for a time but now I am pushing the locking bolt down again after moving it. I am hoping there is a grease that will work but not freeze in the winter.

5 Replies

  • After cleaning them up I would spray the pins and down the inside with Slip Plate. This is a spray graphite and this is what Super Glide 5th wheel hitchs recommends for their slide hitches. I have used it for other things also as it does not colloct dust. Spray one coat and let it dry then spray a second coat and let it dry then put it back together. Really slippery stuff.

    ON EDIT: Here is a link for Slip Plate
  • I will try the scrubbing and the dry silicon lubricant first and hope that is it. It did work well at one time. I hope I don't have to shim it, I am not sure I could do it right.
  • I had the same problem with the dually brackets on my camper. The pin on one hinge was very difficult to lift or to drop back down. I removed the pin, cleaned the bores and cleaned and re-greased the pin. When I reassembled everything...voila! ........it was exactly the same!

    I removed the hinge from the camper to have a more thorough inspection and, to my surprise, found the pin would now freely lift up and down. As it turned out, the sidewall of the camper where the hinge was mounted wasn't perfectly straight and when the lag bolts were tightened down was causing the hinge to flex enough to bind the pin. No amount of cleaning or grease would help. I installed some shims between the camper and the hinge to allow the hinge to align correctly and that fixed the problem.
  • You will also need to clean the pin sleeves on the brackets...A brass bore brush could be used
  • Flush out all of the old grease (it may have crystallized) and lubricate it with dry silicone lubricant.