Spherical bearings for control arms

[Fginn]

Hi, my first post here, I have been looking for a couple months. Definitely some great experience here! I’m building a mk4 roadster, just getting g started. Will have IRS. I’ve gotten as far as installing control arms, using the poly bushings that come with kit. I’m not super thrilled at the friction, though I understand they are fine in function. But I’m building rather than buying because I want to decide on all the details from the start. So I have ordered the spherical bearings available from factory five for front and rear. Can anybody who has done this mod comment on their opinion of the results? I will not be daily driving with this car, just sunny day sport drives and possibly some auto cross just the experience this cars capabilities in a safer environment. I’m good with the possibility of extra maintenance ( frequent lube) as I raced motorcycles for years and still do track days. Love to hear anyone’s opinion of this mod, thanks!

[JohnK]

I installed the spherical bearings in my build and am happy with the results, though I can't give you a comparison to the poly bushings. The spherical bearings are zero maintenance, as they do not require greasing like the poly bushings do.

[Fginn]

Thank you John, that is encouraging. I see you are in SF Bay Area. I’m in North bay, Sonoma county

[Mike.Bray]

I used to use rod ends on my independent suspension systems on the street rods I built. What you want are the two piece design with a Teflon liner, zero maintenance and stronger. The ones with the grease fitting usually have a bronze liner and are for industrial use, not automotive.

221723

[Jeff Kleiner]

I added the spherical bearings on my last roadster while doing a complete suspension upgrade. I was happy with the results and found no negative impact on ride. I was going to install them initially while building my Mk5 but when I checked with Jim they didn't have sufficient stock (with IRS it requires 12 sets to do both front and rear) so I'm keeping the poly for now and will retrofit later.

Jeff

[Jeff Kleiner]

I used to use rod ends on my independent suspension systems on the street rods I built. What you want are the two piece design with a Teflon liner, zero maintenance and stronger. The ones with the grease fitting usually have a bronze liner and are for industrial use, not automotive.

221723

Mike,
FYI, the spherical bearing in question aren't rod ends:

https://www.factoryfiveparts.com/16332-spherical-bearing-inserts-for-front-lower-and-2015-irs-control-arms/

Nice looking suspension on that one :cool:

Jeff

[Derald Rice]

I added heim joints as a retrofit, and it was probably the best improvement that I have made...

The car rides smoother, and handles 2 or 3 times better than the poly bushings, although
the poly bushing that I eliminated were about 20 years old.....The age of the polys were
most likely a contributing factor in their lack of performance.

Photos are in this thread:
https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?42512-I-ve-been-heimed&highlight=heimed

[Fginn]

Thanks guys for the info. What a great forum, hope I can contribute some knowledge one day. I’m retired from years of motorcycle racing(club, not pro) and this car project is such a fun adventure. I’ll be doing all my own work including paint, and I’ve learned a lot here already. Thanks all!

[Fginn]

My spherical bearings arrived today, nice looking pieces. Nothing in the way of instructions, all looks pretty self explanatory but there are several choices one might make so I thought I’d ask for opinions. 1. Can’t really tell by looking if they are Teflon lined requiring no lube or do I need to lube them? 2. Could it make any difference which way they are installed, as in flange forward, snap ring back, or otherwise? Can’t see why it would matter but I could easily be missing something. 3. Any reason not to use anti seize on outside of sleeve and on pivot bolt? 4. Lastly, the two spacers for each bearing have a slightly larger bevel on the side that I would put next to the bearing, giving clearance for the ball. It barely looks like enough bevel as supplied. Any reason not to chuck it in the lathe and increase this bevel a small amount? Thanks guys!

[JohnK]

1. I was told by FFR specifically not to lube them. Lube will attract and retain dirt.

2. I don't think it matters but it's been a while since I installed them so I'm not 100% positive

3. Do NOT put anti-seize on the outside of the sleeve. When I initially installed them (dry) and torqued the bolts to spec I noticed that the entire sleeve was rotating in the control arm bore. This is definitely not where you want the rotation to happen. I re-installed them with Loctite 641 to make sure that the sleeves weren't rotating in the control arm.

4. I don't recall having to do anything to the spacers.

[Fginn]

Great info, thanks John.

[Fginn]

Want to post an update on the installation. I have only installed front ones so far. I used brake cylinder hone on the bores at end of control arms to remove paint and corrosion. Cleaned the spherical bearing sleeves, lightly oiled everything and tapped them in. They ended up with a very tight fit, probably will be difficult to remove in case of needing replacement. All went together on the car nicely and the control arms move up and down without resistance. Thank you for everyone that responded to my initial post. Fred

[Fginn]

Another issues with the spherical bearing install. My kit came with 5/8” bolts for front lower control arms, this all went together fine as I have described. My kit is supplied with 16mm x 110mm bolts for the rear irs control arms. These won’t go through the spherical bearings or their spacers. 16 mm bolts are .005 larger dia. than 5/8” bolts. Looks like my options are either source 5/8” x 4.5” grade 8 flange head bolts or try to turn a couple thousandths off of the 16mm bolts. These are metric version of grade 8, called I believe grade 10.9. Will I be able to make a scratch in these on the lathe? Are they hard all the way through or will I be cutting the hardness off of them?(if I even can cut them). Any other ideas? Thanks!

[CraigS]

I would go to 5/8 bolts. You can decide but I don't think G8 bolts are needed. All the suspension bolts in my old MkII were G5 5/8 w/ the possible exception of some of the IRS bolts that I may not remember.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Use 5/8. Nothing moves on the O.D. of the bolts. Their function is to simply clamp the stack up of spacers and bearing tight between the chassis tabs.

Jeff

[Fginn]

Thanks guys, 5/8” bolts on the way.