9 replies to this topic

[markrally]

Im about to buy new adjustable bottom arms and tie rods for my Z-cars Mini project and was after some advice as to whether there are any advantage's and dis advantages in using bushed arm's compared to rose jointed except for the cost which is not an issue at this stage.

Any expeiriences and comments welcomed.......

Mark :wales:

[dklawson]

If by "bushed" you mean the standard configuration... these will be way cheaper to maintain. Rose joints (or spherical bearings by any other name) are great when you want to take all the play out of a suspension but they aren't intended for long life on a street car. Rose joints are OK for a car that is only used on the track but if your intention is to drive this car regularly on the street, stick with the stock setup with urethane bushings. That will be a compromise between stock and competition.

[Sprocket]

Get the bushed items by minispares if its for a road car, these will at least retain most of the ride comfort and reduce the medical condition called industrial white finger :cheese:

[siggy]

Get the bushed items by minispares if its for a road car, these will at least retain most of the ride comfort and reduce the medical condition called industrial white finger

There is very ittle difference between the vibration from rose jointed arms and std ones.

I ran them on my 1380 Clubby (daily driver). but one did wear out in 3,000 miles. But they did NOT have protective boots.

Siggy

[dklawson]

Siggy, do they make boots to cover the Rose Joints? It seems like such an obvious thing to offer but I've not seen them advertised.

[Dan]

The boots won't make much of a difference anyhow. Sperical bearings are designed for use in pushrod assemblies on aircraft basically. They aren't designed to be hammered on in a suspension system which has a very limited range of movement and so they wear very quickly (because all the wear builds in one spot rather than all around the bearing the effect is exagerated and shows more quickly) This is fine for race cars as they do very limited mileage and expect to rebuild and overhaul regularly but in a road car you would find as Siggy has that you get very limited lifespan out of them. And every time you replace them you will have to have the suspension re-aligned all round.

[dklawson]

Most of the automotive stuff I've seen with sphericals use metal-to-metal bearings. There are spherical bearings with Teflon impregnated liners but I've never seen them on automotive products. Has anyone seen this type of bearing and would they hold up better? I suspect the liner material would get pounded into dust on front suspension parts but am still curious about it.

[siggy]

Dan when I looked at mine it was grit that had caused the wear, boots would have improved there life span.

Siggy

[bluebottle]

those boots do prolong the life of a rod end considerably, especially if its not a sealed type of rod end.
we use them in work where a rod end is likley to be in a particularly harsh environment. they are also handy for keeping grease in the joint as well.
they are available for car use from people like demon thieves , and other race car component suppliers.

[Dan]

Well there you go, first day back and I learned something already.