De-Cambered Ball Joints, 911/914

Need more camber?  Elephant Racing's proprietary-design De-Cambered Ball Joints provide up to ¾ degree additional negative camber per side.  Track is widened ½ inch.  

The ball joint stud is offset in the housing, effectively lengthening the control arm and pushing the bottom of the strut (and tire) out resulting in added negative camber.

Available now for 72-89 911/914.

PolyBronze™  Bearings for 914 and 944 series

Our hugely popular PolyBronze suspension bearing line has expanded to include 914 trailing arms and 944 series spring plates.  

914 Series     Trailing arms, all years New     Front control arms, all years 944 Series      Spring plates, '78.5-'95 New 911 Series      Spring plates             Factory type '68-'89      Spring plates             Sway-A-Way type '68-'89      Front control arms,  '65-'89

914 Trailing Arm PolyBronze

The patent-pending PolyBronze suspension bearings have a precision machined bronze-on-steel friction surface housed in a polyurethane jacket.

The extremely low friction design combines excellent ride quality for street driving with peak performance on the track.

Click for more information on 914 Series and 944 Series PolyBronze Bearings

Weather-Sealed Monoballs for 944 Series

Our line of Weather-Sealed Monoball Cartridges has expanded to the 944 series.  These cartridges replace compliant factory rubber bushings with hardened-steel spherical bearings for razor sharp handling.

Weather Seals - Our Monoball cartridges have weather seals to keep dirt out and extend product life.  This is the only Monoball suitable for street or extended track use.  Dirt and water contaminate ordinary products and accelerate wear.

Click for more information about 944 Weather-Sealed Monoballs.

Tech Topic - Roller Bearing Suspension

PolyBronze™ Bearings are a low-friction replacement for factory rubber suspension bushings. PolyBronze delivers excellent ride quality and extreme road-holding performance (for 911, 914 and 944 series) . The product is vastly superior to traditional polyurethane/plastic bushing alternatives.

Races wear at needle bearing contact points only, small angular rotations cause uneven hill-and-valley wear

Hill-and-valley race wear pattern detail

Bronze bearing wears evenly, full contact on race

We are sometimes asked why PolyBronze incorporates bronze bearings instead of needle or roller bearings.  One might conclude that if a bronze bearing is good, a needle must be better.  But a quick look at the facts shows that for automotive suspensions needle bearings are a poor choice.

Both types of bearings deliver very low friction when new and properly fitted.   But wear issues and misalignment cause serious problems with needle bearings.  For these reasons bronze bearings prove superior in automotive suspension applications.

Angular rotation and wear

Needle bearing races wear only at the contact points of the rollers. For large angular rotations (shafts that spin round-and-round) the races wear evenly.  But suspension components rock back and forth, rotating just a few degrees. These small angular rotations create a hill-and-valley wear pattern in the race. Once the hill-and-valley pattern develops, the friction of the roller bearing goes up substantially.

In contrast, bronze bearings maintain full contact with the race and deliver even wear for small and large angular rotations.  Friction is consistently low over the bearing life.

Misalignment and bearing compliance

Control arms and spring plates are each supported by two bearings that pivot on a common axis.  Any misalignment of the bearings can cause binding. Broad manufacturing tolerance of factory suspension mounts yield mount alignment that is less-than-precise even in static unloaded conditions. This is no problem with soft rubber OEM bushings, but is a problem with incompressible bearings. This misalignment is compounded as the chassis flexes under load. 

The relatively small profile of bronze bearings allows the patent pending fitment of a polyurethane jacket in PolyBronze bearings.  This elastomer layer compresses slightly as needed, keeping mounts in alignment (even as the chassis flexes) without pinching and binding.

In contrast, the physical size of needle bearings makes the inclusion of an effective elastomer layer difficult/impossible within factory mounts that were not designed for their large size.  With no elastomer layer, any misalignment pinches and binds the metal needles.  The condition gets worse when the chassis flexes under load in turns, braking, bumps and acceleration - just when suspension performance is most critical.

Summary 

In closing our PolyBronze Bearings (for 911, 914 and 944 series) use bronze bearings because they show superior wear characteristics for small angular rotations seen in automotive suspensions.  Their small profile facilitates packaging with the polyurethane jacket that is so critical to fitment and maintaining proper alignment. 

Chuck Moreland - November 2004

 

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