Pricey spherical bushing alternative?

[mx6er2587]

are the new z products actual spherical bearings? Pictures?

[MWP]

The TAB-002Z looks like this.
Its a sealed spherical bearing, just like the original Toyota bearing.

[mx6er2587]

wow that's awesome news. I think I'll be ordering a set today!

[MWP]

Wait a couple of days
I'll report back after ive installed them.

[MWP]

I installed one this arvo, looks like they will work great.

[___Scott___]

That's a good find, thanks for verifying that they are a viable alternative for the OEM bearings. I guess now I'll have to update my webpage here to include this new info.

[MWP]

Well they fit and look ok.
Who knows how long they will actually last as yet.

They do have a 60,000km warranty though if that means anything.

[mx6er2587]

well there will be two of us to guinea pig. Mine are on their way. Not sure how soon I'll get them on the car though.

[88gt4DE]

How did they not work out?

They were too big and they wouldn't press in. OEM went right in. Now that I see the pictures of yours , the ones i got didnt look like those. They looked more like the ones in the first couple pictures of the post ...

[___Scott___]

Holographic stickers on the bearing boxes to prove they are genuine and made in Germany.
They must have had problems with chinese rip offs in the past.

To answer the question of whether they are made in China or not, here is a photo of the stickers on the boxes I got:



A nice hologram (probably also made in China) and an actual "Made in China" sticker.

I will also note that they are 0.005" bigger diameter than the OEM bearings and that small difference in size makes a big difference in the difficulty of installing them. I resorted to opening up the rings on the hub a little with a 60-grit cartridge roll and a die grinder in order to get them to go in. Having done that, they should be easy to replace next time if they don't last very long but going back to OEM bearings will require some trickery to shrink the rings.

[MWP]

Hrm, cant say im a fan of resizing the ring like that.
Its very very easy to go too far, and end up with the bearing not being tight enough... then you need a new hub.

I did it without having to resize the bearing housing ring. It wasn't easy, but it worked, and its the way i would do it again.

First i took the end rubber seals off the new bearings.
I then put the bearings in the freezer, and heated the ring with a blow torch to expand its size a little.
Then i pressed in the new bearings using a 2-arm bearing puller pressing a large socket on the bearing (using the socket meant i was pressing on the outer case of the bearing, not on the centre bearing which would damage it).
Once pressed in, i packed in a little more grease then put the rubber seals back on. Done.

Taking the hubs off and doing it with a proper hydraulic press may end up being easier... would certainly curse at it less anyway.

[___Scott___]

Hrm, cant say im a fan of resizing the ring like that.
Its very very easy to go too far, and end up with the bearing not being tight enough... then you need a new hub.

I can't say that I disagree, just that it's the way I did it. It is possible to shrink the ring without needing to replace the hub, but that's also something easily screwed up so I won't give anyone any crazy ideas.

[Mad Mike]

How are these aftermarket bushings working after a few months? Can't decide on OEM or these. Price difference is huge!

[MWP]

All good so far.

[___Scott___]

I've only put about 2K miles on mine so far, but so far so good.