I'm looking at fitting spherical bearings in place of the bushes in the front suspension arms.
Does anyone know the minimum required amount of movement (misalignment angle) so I can
find some suitable bearings?



There are a lot of bearings specified for less than ±10° - I'm not sure if this is going to be enough.
Will obviously have to do some measurements on the car to work out how much movement is
required, but thought maybe someone else has already done this and could give me an approximate figure?

The car is lowered 35mm.

Get the ones with the most amount of moment to be sure you will have enough when its under load going over bumps ect

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How much do they cost? Where do you get them?

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THE DON..... DON DIGGLER

Prices from £5 to £50+, depending on size, type, material, quality, etc. I'm aiming to use the PTFE lined type initially, as they don't require regular greasing. Seems that those with a larger angle of movement tend to be more expensive, so I don't want to go completely OTT as it will be considerably more expensive.

There are loads of manufacturers and suppliers:
Two of the best known manufacturers are and .
See also:
.
(have some very cheap spherical bearings).
Also worth looking on ebay.

don't powerflex make them?? I'm using spherical bearings on mine from them I believe, soooo much better than rubber bushes

I thought they just welded in to the arms? Why do you need the spacer? How much do you think it will cost? If you don't mind me asking

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THE DON..... DON DIGGLER

The bearing will not be the same diameter as the holes in the arm, so will need to make a metal cup for the bearing to sit in. This could be press fit or welded to the arm. The bearing would then be located in to the cup with a circlip or similar (welding the bearing itself could ruin it, and makes life difficult if it ever needs to be replaced). Would also need spacers for the centre of the bearing, to match diameter of bolt and length of the centre tube of the original bush.

I haven't got a price from a local engineer to make this yet, but it shouldn't be a huge amount. One offs are always more expensive, with the unit cost being less for a small batch. If it works and others are interested we could possibly make a batch to offset some of the cost. Still just looking at the possibilities at the moment though - looks like the next step is to do the measurements to find out if any of the readily available bearings are suitable.

Ive looked into doing this, but getting bearings thay can support the angle need is going to fun.

Ive found bearings wide enough to be pressed straight into the arm however it will require spacers to make it fit (height wise - as in the hieght between the top and bottom on carrier

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- A forum dedicated to the Fiesta Mk7 - 1 year old and going strong!
Info and guides on the Mk3 Fiesta

I like boost! Formerly cookie456_the2nd

If the bearings are too expensive or difficult to obtain then it's not worth it.

A guy in the Czech Republic has made some though - I found these photos on the links below:








Doesn't look like he's been on the forums recently though, or I could ask him if he still has the measurements. Looks like he was using the SKF GEH17C bearing. This is rated for ±19° (see details ), and is available for £21 .

Just measured an old arm, and it's about 12 inches from the centre of the bush to the ball joint, so ±19° would give very approximately 8 inches of travel. Does this sound reasonable?

They look like they will do the job tbh, even got the right spacers too.

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- A forum dedicated to the Fiesta Mk7 - 1 year old and going strong!
Info and guides on the Mk3 Fiesta

I like boost! Formerly cookie456_the2nd

This guy got the right idea I've been looking into rose joints or something like that for my 2.0 silver top si track car will be keeping a eye on this !!

Keeping an eye on this.

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I'm still waiting to get the welding and painting finished (not been a good summer for dry weather). When the car is back on the road I'll get it measured up and try to source some spherical bearings.

what do spherical bearings do exactly? camber? or just general movement without the worry of the bushes tearing?

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fifi

Just think of them as solid bushes. Can't be fucked to even go into detail with them today lol

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go on you know you want to :p

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fifi

A spherical bearing is a bearing that permits angular rotation about a central point in two orthogonal directions (usually within a specified angular limit based on the bearing geometry). Typically these bearings support a rotating shaft in the [bore] of the inner ring that must move not only rotationally, but also at an angle.

Spherical bearings can be of a hydrostatic or mechanical construction. A spherical bearing by itself consists of an outer ring and an inner ring and a locking feature that makes the inner ring captive within the outer ring in the axial direction only. The outer surface of the inner ring and the inner surface of the outer ring are spherical (or more correctly, toroidal) and are collectively considered the raceway and they slide against each other, either with a lubricant, a maintenance-free (typically polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE) based liner, or they incorporate a rolling element such as a race of ball-bearings, allowing lower friction.

Spherical bearings are used in countless applications, wherever rotational motion must be allowed to change the alignment of its rotation axis. A good example is the drive axle bearings of a vehicle control arm (or A-arm) suspension. The mechanics of the suspension allow the axle to move up and down (and the wheel to turn in order to steer the vehicle), and the axle bearings must allow the rotational axis of the axle to change without binding. While in practice, spherical bearings are not used here, it is a simple concept that illustrates a possible application of a spherical bearing. In fact, spherical bearings are used in smaller sub-components of this type of suspension, for example certain types of constant-velocity joints.

Spherical bearings are used in car suspensions, engines, driveshafts, heavy machinery, sewing machines, and many other applications.

There.

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such a smarty pants ill read that after work!

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fifi