T3 Camber Top Spherical Bearings?

[oldcorollas]

shock absorber load goes through the spherical bearing.

if you are worried about misalignment of the top plate and the strut spring seat, then you would alter the top plate to be parallel.
stock, they are also not parallel, and the misalignment is either moulded into the rubber, or the rubber just bends.

springs will bend a bit. a few mm here and there, not so bad

if you are running much more camber/castor than stock, you'd realign stuff anyway.

ps, I remember seeing heaps of flogged out Cusco tops in Jap 2nd hand parts stores they all flog out eventually.
metal on metal will last longer than metal on Teflon/nylon... (if kept greased)

[MWP]

Or... i can just run a decent sized spherical bearing have have no problems

I dont expect a bearing to last forever, but it should at least last 12 months of occasional weekend drive & track days.

I've ordered some gear from summit that i'll be able to make my own strut top out of pretty easily.
The bearing is a bit better specc'ed than the cusco bearings, so hopefully it'll last a little while.

[oldcorollas]

well, size of bearing will help.

for Teflon lined, it's the Teflon that gets damaged first.
for metal, unless the bearing is not up to the load, and the metal gets damaged, then it will be grit and stuff getting in there that will damage it.

big enough metal on metal bearing (or Teflon), and dust boots = should be roight

Summit has some big suckers (54mm)

[aus jd 2703]

Just pulled my bc br front coilovers apart and they have a ball bearing in the spring perch. So the spring can turn independent of the shock shaft. My under standing of this is the shock shaft and spherical stay and the lower mount and spring turn. So the shock shaft turns relative to the lower body.

Therefor t3's upper bearing upgrade is null and void?

[andrew_mx83]

spherical plain bearings are acceptable this application just need to be sized accordingly.

the perfect solution would be a pair of plain spherical thrust (taking out the camber and caster angles). will look into it a bit more.

so i looked into this a while ago and came up with the same conclusion. (well, id say that spherical plain bearings are just acceptable, but certainly the only easy way to do it. not much else takes any thrust load at all and allows for misalignment)
as above, spherical thrust bearings (like these: ) are the perfect solution, but as they arent captive, you'd have to run them as a pair, and get the spacing just right as to still maintain the ability to misalign. basically you'd have to space them so the upper race in the illustration above becomes the inner race(s) and so that they would still form a sphere (albeit with the sides cut off) once assembled as a pair.

[MWP]

as above, spherical thrust bearings (like these: ) are the perfect solution, but as they arent captive, you'd have to run them as a pair, and get the spacing just right as to still maintain the ability to misalign. basically you'd have to space them so the upper race in the illustration above becomes the inner race(s) and so that they would still form a sphere (albeit with the sides cut off) once assembled as a pair.

I think you'll find that spherical thrust bearings don't normally have the ability to misalign.
Using two of any that do will get you exactly the same thing as a normal spherical bearing.

[aus jd 2703]

imo there is not issue with the BC design.
you get no biding from the spring and the turning motion is smooth with the Teflon lined spherical.
Teflon lined sphericals that people referred to as "racegrade" are Inherently tight, to the point you will struggle to move your strut tops with a new bearing with out leverage.

im not sure what T3 under sized the bearing but they did.
IMO making some strut tops out of steel with a larger bearing is the simplest and most cost effective option.
I find with my tops adjustment bolts are leaving marks in the soft aluminium. so a harder steel may give longer smoother life.

Reality is if the design was used by TTE it is more than good enough for us mere mortals.