I sent what I believe to be my jeep's original brake arm to a machinist in Alabama who rebushes a lot of them for members of the Early CJ5 site. As it was being cleaned and then glass-beaded, he realized that unlike any others he had previously seen, this brake arm is made of bronze rather than steel. He started a thread about it with this photo: http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/strange-brake-arm.129750/
Apparently, these solid bronze brake arms have been found on a number of '66 & '67 CJ5s (http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/brass-brake-pedal-arm.89095/#post-951636), so it's likely an OEM jeep part.
My question is, why would Kaiser Jeep have made some brake arms out of bronze instead of (less expensive) steel in the first place? Do you have any insight on that?
The vast majority of the wear on mine was to the (also likely original) steel cross shaft, rather than to the inside diameter of the bronze brake arm pivot. I've always thought that steel is harder than bronze, and would think that the bronze would therefore wear out faster than the steel. Am I wrong about that?
Maury