Suspension Bearing Spacers

[hsulaimon]

Hey guys,

What do you guys do to locate a ball bearing (spherical or rod end) along the shaft. Steel spacers?

[Jonny Rochester]

Spacers I guess. Can you draw a diagram? If you have the opportunity to design and build everything from scratch, you could make a clevis the perfect size for your rod end, so no spacers are needed.

[kkung]

It depends on the misalignment you expect to see. When we are using a high angular misalignment bearing we typically don't use spacers and design the clevis width to fit the bearing. Otherwise you can use a simple steel cylindrical spacer. You'd might like to use an aluminum conical one since its easier to hold onto/not lose while you assemble/disassemble your linkages. The aluminum one has to be thicker since its likely you could crush them while tensioning the bolt.

[Jay Lawrence]

Using cylindrical spacers is a bit of a pain. Top hats are usually easier to work with and harder to misalign/lose. Just google "top hat spacer" if you're unsure what I mean