Rear radius arm kits

ghaddon1701 · Post by **ghaddon1701** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:06 pm

Hi everybody,
I was wondering if anybody can recommend a good place to buy a rear radius arm bearing kit from? My father and I changed the offside bearings over the weekend. Because only that side was making a horrific noise when going over bumps. The bearings had been changed before but no shims had been put in. Little grease aswell from the state of the bearings. Anyway I am going off track. The replacement bearing kit itself could of been of a better quality my father thought. The actual bearings were Timken which is good. It was just the rest of the kit. The spacer tube, the bit the big bolt slides through didn't look finished it was quite rough and it was difficult to slide the bearings onto it. The tube that came out although it was rusty you could see that that it had been hardened and ground or whatever they do with them to give them that smooth shiny finish. The collars that go at each end of the tube when assembled were also of a poor unfinished quality and did not want to slide onto the tube very easily. The kit came from Auto Equip Pieces.

For the near side radius arm I was hoping someone could recommend where I get a better quality kit from?

Regards Graham

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:56 pm

GSF usually sell SKF kits the only thing that does not come in the bearing kits is the thin shim washer, of which the dealer used to sell in an assorted pack,

it is normal for the bearings and the spacers at each end of the pivot tube to be a very tight fit, they need to be fitted perfectly square to the end of the tube,

there is also usually lots of kits on ebay the standerd of these i don't know,

regards malcolm

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:37 am

I just fitted an SKF set which was €40 - quality seemed Ok. Now made in India and it replaced the SKF one that was made in Spain. It's been years since they were made in Germany, just got to hope there's still some quality control! It is possible to buy some slightly cheaper no-name ones but SKF hopefully have a reputation to protect whereas the Chinese variants don't. I always try to buy a good 'brand' where possible having made the mistake of buying some suspension components cheap which were not only bad quality but didn't actually fit! Mapco anyone? Avoid.

The thing is, no matter how well made they are, they all fail the same way once they dry out and get pulverised into brown dust..

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:44 am

toddao wrote: The thing is, no matter how well made they are, they all fail the same way once they dry out and get pulverised into brown dust..

i belive to get like that they are either the original's from new, not been fitted correctly or even cheap badly manufactured part used,

regards malcolm

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:46 am

Yes, it is true that the ones that I have seen in such a state of decay were probably the original factory items - a mere twenty years old or more. Dry bearings will eat themselves once the lubricant has escaped so I suppose it's a case of being generous with the grease.

ghaddon1701 · Post by **ghaddon1701** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:36 pm

I have an SKF kit number but I am having trouble sourcing a SKF kit from the UK. Lots advertised on German websites though. Just a bit pricey with carriage on top. I will keep searching. Thanks.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:25 pm

pm sent

regards malcolm

ghaddon1701 · Post by **ghaddon1701** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:04 am

Thank you for the link. Unfortunately that is a front wishbone kit. I need the rear radius arm kit. Thank you for looking.

Regards Graham

JayW · Post by **JayW** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:08 am

I think the reality is that as loong as the bearing races are good quality (SKF / Timken) then the rest is pretty much sundries and it's overall level of quality isn't too relevent as none of it really does anything. It's almost all just there to hold the bearings in situ so the "finish" ain't that important.

Having recently changed the rear arm bearings on a C5 (which uses the exact same bearing race as the BX but comes as individual components and NOT a kit) I only changed the bearings themselves and none of the rest, it wasn't & isn't necessary (unless they're physically damaged).

Quality grease on quality bearings is the key!

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:28 am

This looks Ok. Quite likely to be SKF if the 'original price' was eighty quid ( unless that's a sales ploy?). Maybe phone them and ask?
AEP have got them as well.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:26 am

ghaddon1701 wrote:Thank you for the link. Unfortunately that is a front wishbone kit. I need the rear radius arm kit. Thank you for looking.

Regards Graham

so it is i wasn't paying attention

,
i will try harder next time,

it will be ideal for someone on here with an early MK1 with re/molested front suspension, (fully floating) one for Tim,

regards malcolm