Spherical plain bearings and rod ends GAC

As their name implies, the sliding contact surfaces of angular contact spherical plain bearings are spherical in shape and inclined at an angle to the bearing axis.

Consequently, these bearings are well suited for accommodating combined (radial and axial) loads. Single angular contact spherical plain bearings can only accommodate axial loads acting in one direction.

These bearings can be separated, enabling the rings to be mounted separately.

Dimension standards Boundary dimensions: ISO 12240-2:1998

Tolerances ISO 12240-2:1998 (table 1)

Materials Inner and outer rings: through-hardened and ground bearing steel
Inner ring sliding surface: hard chromium plated and coated with a mineral oil based, lithium soap thickened grease
Sliding layer of fibre reinforced polymer, containing PTFE, is injection moulded onto the outer ring (fig. 1)

Permissible operating temperature range -40 to +75 °C (-40 to +165 °F), for brief periods up to +110 °C (+230 °F);
reduced load carrying capacity at temperatures above +50 °C (+120 °F);

Radial internal clearance, preload

The internal clearance of a single angular contact spherical plain bearing is only obtained after mounting and depends on the adjustment against a second bearing that provides axial location in the opposite direction.
Angular contact spherical plain bearings are generally mounted as pairs in a back-to-backor face-to-face arrangement.

The bearings are adjusted against each other by axially displacing one bearing ring until a specific bearing load of 10 N/mm2 is obtained.

The preload prevents some of the deformations that typically occur under load and after a brief running-in period.

When adjusting a new bearing arrangement for the first time, the specific bearing load of 10 N/mm2 is achieved when the frictional moment and the axial preload force.