Spherical plain bearings and rod ends

The product range is divided into two designs with different parts in sliding contacts. Maintenance-free bearings have a metal/plastic sliding joint, such as hard chrome/PTFE fabric, steel/PTFE film or hard chrome/GFK combined with PTFE. Bearings requiring maintenance with the parts in sliding contacts steel/steel, steel/bronze or steel/brass must be relubricated at defined intervals to ensure reliable operation. Depending on the parts in sliding contact and ambient conditions, operation is generally possible at temperatures of -50 to 150 °C and even up to 200 °C for the steel/steel design. With hole sizes of 5 to 300 millimeters, spherical plain bearings are available in the E and K dimension series as well as in three designs: as radial, axial and angular contact spherical plain bearings.

The name says it all
Radial spherical plain bearings consist of an inner ring with a cylindrical hole for receiving pins as well as an outer ring with a cylindrical lateral surface and a concave inner slideway and they are designed to transfer high radial forces. Spherical plain bearings and heads are necessary for bearing assemblies where movement is required between the housing and shaft.

Bearing types requiring maintenance are suitable for more turbulent operating conditions with a high capacity for shock absorption, such as in construction machinery, in stabilizer steering systems for special transport vehicles, in large cylinders for suction dredgers as well as in cylinders for packaging and printing machinery or in feeding devices. Maintenance-free bearing types are suitable for calm operating conditions with slower movements and without impact loads, such as lift tables or lifting gear and in crane, plant and steel construction. As the name suggests, axial spherical plain bearings are especially recommended for absorbing axial forces. The spherical surface of the shaft washer is mounted in the ball socket-shaped sliding zone of the housing washer. They can be combined with radial spherical plain bearings, in which case the radial and axial load components are distributed between the two bearings. Angular contact spherical plain bearings are suitable for handling combined forces thanks to their design consisting of a shaft washer with an angular spherical outer slideway and a housing washer with a corresponding concave inner slideway. Angular contact spherical plain bearings requiring maintenance are the plain bearing alternative to tapered roller bearings in applications that would cause damage to the roller bearings due to impact loads in conjunction with small swing angles such as in spring pivot seat assemblies.

Engineering with good head on its shoulders
Unlike “pure” spherical plain bearings, which have to be pushed into a housing fit, rod ends are particularly easy to install. They can be fixed in the desired position by means of a thread. The rod ends consist of a rod head and a spherical plain bearing that is either maintenance-free or requires maintenance. The rod head has an external or internal thread. The spherical plain bearing is firmly seated and located in the housing.

Rod ends are protected against corrosion by a zinc plating. The rod ends can support radial loads in a tensile or compressive direction. They are suitable for slow movements with small to moderate swivel angles, for unilateral loads and under certain conditions for alternating loads. Hydraulic rod ends requiring maintenance are considered especially suitable for heavy-duty hydraulic cylinders.

Findling Wälzlager offers these with a steel/steel parts in sliding contact in various model series. Sealed rod ends have lip seals and are thus protected against contamination and spray water.

The optimum bearing for all your needs
Our product range includes bearing types in three of the four ABEG® performance classes. Premium, Supra and Eco products are available. Our proven classification system enables users to quickly find the optimum bearing for their application while taking cost-effectiveness into consideration. We therefore recommend maintenance-free Premium or Supra products in dynamic or high-tech applications, such as in motorsports and in packaging machines. If the loads acting on the bearing are more static, Eco bearings can instead be used as a particularly economical solution. For products requiring maintenance, as well as for gates and barriers, you will primarily find Eco solutions.