Has anyone found a place that spherical bearings like the ones used in the Rubicon Express arms can be purchased? The only places I can find them are Rubicon, Off Road General Store, and Currie. I was hoping there may be some main supplier or something along those lines, any help would be great.

Thanks,

Ryan

ya mean Johnny joints?? i think that is what you are refuring to. here is a search result i didnt feel like looking threw the entire string but i know there is some resorces in there

PBB Johnny joints (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=332304&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending)

allpro i know does

QA1

Spherical rod ends (aka heim joints), not spherical bearings.

MORE sells them, Avalanche Engineering, many others.

This same question came up in the last two weeks. Search for Heim joints, spherical rod ends, or SRE. May have been in the General 4x4 forum.

Lake Rat, QA1 is ????????

no he said the ones used in the RE kit
and these are not hiem joints the last time i checked:flipoff2:

You asked about the ones RE uses or something similar. There are a few differences in the types of "rotating ball" control arm ends used by the different suspension manufacturer.

The actual Johnny Joint was developed by John Currie. It uses a cast urethane pair of races that the ball rotates in and can only be adjusted for wear by the addition of some shims to take up the slop. Neither end is threaded and the race retaining washers are held in place with snap rings. It gets it's lubrication generally through a grease fitting in the head of a drilled grade 8 bolt.

The "RE" style end uses a similar ball, but the races are machined from an engineering grade plastic that I think is either acetal(Delrin) or UHMW. Either would work but I can't remember which it is. One end is threaded as is the retaining washer and a set screw can be backed out to screw in the washer to take up the slop.

Then you get to the rod end styles.

A rod end (aka-heim joint) is generally a metallic ball joint bearing aka a spherical bearing in some catalogues, enclosed or installed in a lollipop shaped head with some sort of threaded attachment at the "stick" end. It can be either male or female threads dependant upon application. Comes in about a zillion different grades and materials ranging from nylon housings and steel bearings to super expensive chromemolly race grade for F-1 type stuff. Some have non lubricated races, some can be greased, some are permanently lubricated with bronze races, the combinations are nearly as endless as are the number of suppliers.

Skyjacker is a big user of rod ends in their suspension line.

A ball joint bearing is generally what you see in either end of a coilover shock for the mounting points.

I may not have all of this 100 percent correct, but that's the best I can do off the top of my head.

What I was refering to is the "rotating ball" style not a heim joint, Im particularly interested in the style that RE uses, because of their rebuildability and the threaded end, instead of the spring clips that are used in the ORGS and Currie ones, thanks for the help all.

Ryan

Originally posted by usmcdoc14
no he said the ones used in the RE kit
and these are not hiem joints the last time i checked:flipoff2:

Gotcha. Guess I don't check in on RE kit's enough.:D Thanks for clarifying that.

Sooo...are there any other suppliers of these or does RE fabricate them?

Last I heard RE was the producer of the threaded adjustment style "JJ" :confused:

Anyone know otherwise?

Matt

You'll need their tool as well - or a wide selection of good spanners to adjust the bugger...

Originally posted by mrblaine

The "RE" style end uses a similar ball, but the races are machined from an engineering grade plastic that I think is either acetal(Delrin) or UHMW.

Blaine, you are right on. Just want to clear one thing up. RE joints DO use UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) Plastic for the races.

Also, we do sell RE joints ($33.99), rod ends, etc...
Click here for more info. www.POLYPERFORMANCE.com (http://www.polyperformance.com)

Originally posted by PIG


Blaine, you are right on. Just want to clear one thing up. RE joints DO use UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) Plastic for the races.

Also, we do sell RE joints ($33.99), rod ends, etc...
Click here for more info. www.POLYPERFORMANCE.com (http://www.polyperformance.com)

Thanks, those two always confuse me. Both are strong, fairly easily machined, relatively high performance and similar in cost. I would guess the determining factor would be that UHMW is more slippery than either Cast 6 nylon or the acetal monopolymer. I did see where there is a Delrin AF which is a Teflon fiber filled homopolymer acetal to about 14% fiber content.

I wonder how that affects the slipperiness compared to UHMW?


You say you sell rod ends. I am looking for a high misalignment end for my steering in 3/4-16 shank and I'll deal with the bore size. The problem I am having is very rapid wear on my current ones at about 40 bucks a pop. Rated at around 30,000 static, but due to the high misalignment body, the race is too narrow for any kind of durability.

Any thoughts?

I run 3/4 bore x 3/4-16 shank FK rod ends on my track bar and tie rod and have yet to wear them out. In the same time frame, I have gone through 3 pair of the high misalignment ones. Getting old and expensive way too fast.

Originally posted by mrblaine


Thanks, those two always confuse me. Both are strong, fairly easily machined, relatively high performance and similar in cost. I would guess the determining factor would be that UHMW is more slippery than either Cast 6 nylon or the acetal monopolymer. I did see where there is a Delrin AF which is a Teflon fiber filled homopolymer acetal to about 14% fiber content.
I wonder how that affects the slipperiness compared to UHMW?
You say you sell rod ends. I am looking for a high misalignment end for my steering in 3/4-16 shank and I'll deal with the bore size. The problem I am having is very rapid wear on my current ones at about 40 bucks a pop. Rated at around 30,000 static, but due to the high misalignment body, the race is too narrow for any kind of durability.
Any thoughts?
I run 3/4 bore x 3/4-16 shank FK rod ends on my track bar and tie rod and have yet to wear them out. In the same time frame, I have gone through 3 pair of the high misalignment ones. Getting old and expensive way too fast.

Blaine, as far as I know the main difference between Delrin and UHMW is the compression strength. UHMW has a bit more of it. On the molecular level I am just not too sure, though both are empregnated with lubricants. As far as misalignment rod ends go; we can get any size Aurora bearing and will be getting a shipment of high misallignment spacers in on the 1st for 3/4" bore ends. These sound like the way to go in your case beaceuse you can still use the FK's you have. The rod ends we have in stock are a standard 4130 non-heat treated type. Though the only way to increase bearing life is to increase the size of the actuall bearing so the surface area of the bearing will be increased. By the way, they will be 24.00 a pair and machined from stainless. Hope this helps.