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View Full Version : Longevity of Spherical Bushings?



Babalouie
10-02-2004, 08:44 AM
Hi All

I'm just getting into the pro-touring thing and have noticed that some of the control arm kits have inner spherical bearings (Global West being one of them).

What's the general consensus on their longevity on a daily street driver? I like the idea of the greasable del-a-lums but the spherical bearing doesn't look greasable?

dennis68
10-02-2004, 09:27 AM
You must be talking about rear arms. Street life depends on conditions, quality of rod end (there are hundreds of types), type of use and maintenance. I heard anywhere from a year to 10 years of daily use. I live in CA and road conditions at their worst are just wet. There really isn't a whole lot of debris, salt, or other contaminants to content with. If would think if you bought the "good" rod ends, used the available covers to seal them up and cleaned them occasionally they would last quite a long time.

Babalouie
10-04-2004, 02:43 PM
Thanks Dennis

For early Mustang at any rate, the Global West, Cobra Automotive and Total Control LCAs all advertise that they have a spherical bushing, I guess in a Mustang the LCA needs to have some fore/aft movement so a solid cylindrical bushing wouldn't work.

Thanks for the thougths, it's made me feel better about getting them (I guess I had an old fashioned notion that anything metal on metal had to be greasable) :)

Marcus SC&C
10-04-2004, 05:30 PM
I don`t know if they`re using them in your application but spherical bearings are available with teflon/kevlar composite races that don`t need to be lubed. Naturally they`re a lot more expensive. I`ve used heims on several customer`s street cars when necessary and they hold up okay on occasional use fair weather cars. Seal-it rubber seals will help preserve them by keeping crud and water out too. Marcus SC&C

Babalouie
10-04-2004, 07:25 PM
Thanks for that clarification, the advertisements do say that the spherical bushings are "kevlar impregnated", but that didn't mean anything to my old-fashioned brain :)