[Alaskaracer]

To be honest, I admire your idea, and your tenacity to make it work. But............using any type of bearing in this application over a bushing setup is not going to give you the desired results you seek. Bearings will require constant attention, more so than bushings will. If your bushings are failing that fast, it's a simple fix to change the material of the bushings and the type of lubricant you use. To say you'll never have to grease them again is not realistic. If you don't compromise the seals so you can grease them, they will wear like any part and require replacement. If you compromise the seals to make them greaseable, then you also risk contamination from dirt, debris, water, etc....regardless of how or where you ride...it's nature of the beast. As I mentioned before, due to the forces at work on the suspension of a quad, bearings are a poor choice as they are not nearly as durable as a bushing. Bushings work, period. If bearings were a better choice you'd see more of them in use. I've dealt with multiple types of suspension on cars, trucks, and other various vehicles. On racing applications that use heim joints, they are a constant maintenance item. They are greased until they have measurable play then replaced. On off road trucks, the joints are typically replaced after every race since they wear that quickly.

I do wish you the best with your project, but I have to agree. Instead of doing a bearing conversion, install a quality set of aftermarket bushings made of a different material and use a different lubricant. You'll end up with better results....

Good luck to you though

 

[Alaskaracer]

Sorry about the double post......something happened with my connection and it reset.......

 

[crazyflyboy30]

Using bearings like that there is no way to get grease in them without compromising the seals. Once that's done, it's going to be a constant battle to keep them lubricated. Even with the seals in place they will lose grease over time.....And dirt will work it's way into them.....

Pulling the seal off a ball bearing and putting it back with no damage is problem at all been doing it for about 40 years has I'm a mechanic ,machinist ,welder and nothing present a challenge to me. And I have worked out most of details and I will have a seal on the ends so one option is to take off the seals completely so that new grease can be pumped into the if needed. But at this point I don't see any downside and very excited to see very smooth suspension works at the riding that I do Is slow rock crawling.

 

[polman500]

Pictures please!

 

[Sprotsman]

I genuinely hope this works!

 

[crazyflyboy30]

I genuinely hope this works!

Thanks, me too . I'm a 100% sure I shouldn't have any problem with it, I know the BALL BEARINGS will more than take the load because the plan is to use 8 BALL BEARINGS in place of 2 Plastic bushing and the BALL BEARINGS have a Dynamic Load Capacity of 750 lb. each so that will be 6,000 lb. And the Bigger BALL BEARINGS have a DLC of 1,100 lb. each and will have 18 BALL BEARINGS in the bottom below the wheel bearing will have a DLC of 19,800 lb. Just so you know Dynamic Load Capacity is the ability to withstand that load for 1 Million revolutions.

 

[crazyflyboy30]

Here is the start.

 

[Sprotsman]

Did you pound them in with hammer?

 

[Blink456]

If you didn’t want to utilize the plastic bushings you could always opt for polyurethane bushing, if available.

 

[abishoff]

I put polyurethane on my sportsman. Had to replace the rear axles but the bushing look new.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[crazyflyboy30]

Did you pound them in with hammer?

Yes but I used a socket.

 

[crazyflyboy30]

I put polyurethane on my sportsman. Had to replace the rear axles but the bushing look new.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you still have to grease them?

 

[crazyflyboy30]

If you didn’t want to utilize the plastic bushings you could always opt for polyurethane bushing, if available.

Yes I think DK Offroad bushing is polyurethane.

 

[croozin56]

I have stacked ball bearings like this before. Remove dirt/water seal from both sides of all inside bearings and only leave the one one the very outside. Grease will travel from the zerk, through all the bearings and push any intruding water out. Good luck and keen to see how this works in the long run.

 

[grzeskmr01]

Hey, maybe this is an untapped market.. have they made and let us know

 

[crazypj]

Pulling the seal off a ball bearing and putting it back with no damage is problem at all been doing it for about 40 years has I'm a mechanic ,machinist ,welder and nothing present a challenge to me. And I have worked out most of details and I will have a seal on the ends so one option is to take off the seals completely so that new grease can be pumped into the if needed. But at this point I don't see any downside and very excited to see very smooth suspension works at the riding that I do Is slow rock crawling.

Ball bearings are generally a bad idea as they are not rotating so you have only point contact. Even if static load test is 750 lbs the actual wear will probably be excessive due to only a few contact points. It's far more common to use needle roller bearings in swing arm pivots but greased phosphor bronze has a much better load capacity and what I use in preference to needle bearings.
. Saying that, Husqvarna used spherical bearings in their rear shocks 40+ years ago. . ( plus Honda and others a few years later)
Spherical bearings are used because they can cope with misalignment as suspension operates. It may be easier to retrofit some threaded ball joints or spherical bearings as used on sway bars and similar? (Heim or Rose joints?) Harley Davidson uses spherical joints about 1.25" diameter in swing arm pivots on 'Soft-tails'

 

[crazyflyboy30]

Ball bearings are generally a bad idea as they are not rotating so you have only point contact. Even if static load test is 750 lbs the actual wear will probably be excessive due to only a few contact points. It's far more common to use needle roller bearings in swing arm pivots but greased phosphor bronze has a much better load capacity and what I use in preference to needle bearings.
. Saying that, Husqvarna used spherical bearings in their rear shocks 40+ years ago. . ( plus Honda and others a few years later)
Spherical bearings are used because they can cope with misalignment as suspension operates. It may be easier to retrofit some threaded ball joints or spherical bearings as used on sway bars and similar? (Heim or Rose joints?) Harley Davidson uses spherical joints about 1.25" diameter in swing arm pivots on 'Soft-tails'

Only time or miles will tell if my BALL BEARING setup going to hold up as I have wished for but has the contact points is one of the reason I put so many BALL BEARINGS in one a-arm on the first one that I have done used 7 BALL BEARINGS to replace 2 Plastic bushing so 1 tire is riding a total of 28 BALL BEARINGS that would make it have a load Capacity of 21, 000 lb. and I do have room to put 32 that would make it 24,000 lb. and I was thinking about this for the rear .

 

[crazyflyboy30]

I have stacked ball bearings like this before. Remove dirt/water seal from both sides of all inside bearings and only leave the one one the very outside. Grease will travel from the zerk, through all the bearings and push any intruding water out. Good luck and keen to see how this works in the long run.

Yes I think you are right and others have said that's was need I guess the 1 set of a-arms I have done will be a good test of my sealing process and will no doubt have the next set of a-arms so they can be greased but the only thing is that I did some testing of Sealing the OEM bushing and it sealed so good that it wouldn't grease and forced it finally came out one side so that means that only one side got the grease.

 

[crazypj]

Only time or miles will tell if my BALL BEARING setup going to hold up as I have wished for but has the contact points is one of the reason I put so many BALL BEARINGS in one a-arm on the first one that I have done used 7 BALL BEARINGS to replace 2 Plastic bushing so 1 tire is riding a total of 28 BALL BEARINGS that would make it have a load Capacity of 21, 000 lb. and I do have room to put 32 that would make it 24,000 lb. and I was thinking about this for the rear .

That's a lot of bearings

 

[crazyflyboy30]

That's a lot of bearings

Yes I know,I order a total of(((180))) BALL BEARINGS to do the job but I see now I will have some left over.