Dave-

I had this same problem on my Cobra, though not quite as bad as you
have pictured. The Cobra design is ridiculous with an aluminum pin
riding on the edge of an aluminum channel hole. I fixed mine
properly. It was a couple of years ago that I did this so my memory
is a little fuzzy on some details. I replaced the aluminum pin with a
steel pin which I cut from .500” drill rod. I made a new aluminum
block that holds the steel pin on the door and I also made a solid
aluminum block that fits inside the lower channel of the trailer
running fore and aft. I de-riveted the vertical channel on the corner
in order to insert the new solid aluminum block. This block was held
securely in place by the bolts that attach through the skid that lives
directly underneath the channel (I think there were new bolts involved
and some threading of the inserted aluminum block – I don’t recall
that detail). Anyway, one of the aluminum blocks is reamed to .499
for a press-in fit and the other block is reamed to .501 for the
bushing function. This is very solid and has worked great for me.
There is no particular need for a bronze bushing there although it
certainly wouldn’t hurt anything to use one. I did not. The
important thing is that there needs to be a solid block in there and
that the bearing involves a hard metal and soft metal rather than
aluminum on aluminum -- yuk.

Steve Koerner
www.wingrigger.com