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I just got the brass replacement bushings for my Spark Blazes. So far, I've only installed one (with a lot of effort), but the pin won't slide through it. I'm headed out of town tomorrow for the weekend (splitting trip) and I really need to get this fixed. Has anyone else had this problem? I just called Spark R&D and left a message; waiting for a call back. Someone help ASAP!

If it took a lot of effort to get in the bushing probably shrank a bit. Roll up some metal sandpaper and spin it around until the pin fits. If you have access to machinery and precision drill bits you can ream it out.

Thanks DR. I did try the sandpaper trick, but it wasn't working. I ended up taking that one bushing out and trying another one. That one was better. Then I decided to replace the other plastic one on the same binding. Same problem; pin wasn't sliding through. After some effort, though, if finally went in. It's a snug fit, which is good, but damn...it was hard to make it work. I'm going to hold off on doing the other binding b/c I don't want to have any problems this weekend. What a pain in the ass...

If anyone else has any info/ideas, let me know. Thanks.

Another sandpaper trick is to tape and wrap the sandpaper around a small drill bit/dowel and chuck that up in a hand drill. Insert into hole and pull the trigger. Move the drill in and out to make the hole a consistent size.

I bought some brass bushings from a local parts supplier for $2 and pressed them into my old fuses. I had to drill out the bushing to have the old steel pin fit. Are you using the lt pin? I think using the sand paper with the drill bit is the best solution.

I pressed mine in with a vice grip. Just slowly pressed it in, changing the tightness each time. My LT pin is pretty tight in there too because it shrunk the hole a bit. But my experience is 5 times or so of touring and it will be snug and good to go. Until then, some WD40 should help.

I have sent an email to spark - but I won't be able to get anything in the mail, my trip is tomorrow.

I borrowed a split - it's awesome, spark bindings, venture storm.

The issue is the binding is missing 3 of the bushings and the 4th is really worn, looks plastic. I got the board today and I leave tomorrow for a 4 day hut trip.

Do you think maybe a machine shop could help me out here? Are there any off-the-shelf bushings that I can pick up to fix this from a hardware store?

I don't have the ability to measure this stuff out at my desk here -I might just bring the bindings into a machine shop this afternoon and see what they might be able to come up with.

Seems like the "no bushing" option might be bad on the bindings for 4 days - I do not want to ruin the bindings.

I have had good communication with Will from Spark - I should be all set.

Thanks for the quick response from Will.