Yippie, my Elephant Racing front bearings finally showed up.

Now do they also fit the Westy??nah.

Geoff

Mr. Manager, Please address the elephant in the room, or else I will vomit a little bit in my mouth.

no mueller bearings???

I live in Washington where usually there is tons of rain. I don't think they will hold up here to the rain and rust out.

These I can pump grease in all the time and they don't rust.
Sometimes I am practical, not often but sometimes I amaze even myself.
Geoff

QUOTE (Bleyseng @ Feb 22 2005, 08:08 PM)

I live in Washington where usually there is tons of rain. I don't think they will hold up here to the rain and rust out. These I can pump grease in all the time and they don't rust. Sometimes I am practical, not often but sometimes I amaze even myself. Geoff

thanks. i figured you had a reason.....

creatures of reason we be

Is rusting really a concern with Mueller's bearings? Maybe he will chim in and explain...

-Britain

Cool Geoff

Rust isnt an issue when you use boat trailer bearing grease.

QUOTE (Britain Smith @ Feb 22 2005, 08:17 PM)

Is rusting really a concern with Mueller's bearings? Maybe he will chim in and explain... -Britain

yes, if you drive under 1 foot of salt water on occasion

seriously, I have not seen this to be problem, the needle bearings should be well lubed at time of installation, if you've ever changed your front wheel bearings, you'll know how sticky and well protected the bearings are from the coating of grease, sure, the wheel bearings should have a dust cap, but how many vehicles have them missing and still not have rusty spindles and bearings?

the lack of being able to easily re-lube the needle bearings is an issue that is currently being looked into

the zerk fittings only do good if used, if you tend to set-n-forget, they'll be just like the needle bearings...fine for a few years before inspection is needed...

I'm waiting for someone to tell us about how much "bind" the elephant setup can cause in the suspension

B

I cant wait to hear back also, as I have been considering them.

sorry they feel on the floor, now pick them up and put them back in the car and let's get on with it
"awsome"

Floor! they were on the kitchen counter....
Jeroen used them on his Uboat 911 with good results, but up here I do drive the 914 in the rain sometimes. I thought this would be a better longterm solution maybe not quite as nice as the needle bearings but ..heck I can still use a grease gun.

As for binding, I will fit them and adjust them at install.

Got to be better that the poly or oem worn out rubber

QUOTE (Brad Roberts @ Feb 22 2005, 10:52 PM)

I'm waiting for someone to tell us about how much "bind" the elephant setup can cause in the suspension ...

i'm very seriously considering them too (haven't decided completely yet...)

i do note that Elephant has an A-arm bearing alignment setup to minimise or eliminate misalignment binding.

QUOTE

yes, if you drive under 1 foot of salt water on occasion

that's actually a pretty good description of my drive from work last night, as the snowmelt is producing standing water. in addition, there is sand and grit everywhere.

partly, i want the same setup front and back, and i don't see 911 spring plate bushings being a high priority item for Mr Mueller. (hi Mike!)

Rich, WEVO has a very nice setup for the 911 springplates
More expensive than the Elephant bushings, but they come with a complete adjustable springplate, which is similar to the Weltmeister springplate, exept they re-designed the adjuster
Very nice!
(ask Britain)

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Feb 23 2005, 07:28 AM)

Rich, WEVO has a very nice setup for the 911 springplates More expensive than the Elephant bushings, but they come with a complete adjustable springplate, which is similar to the Weltmeister springplate, exept they re-designed the adjuster

well - ya learn something every day. the WEVO setup is news to me, but what i have learned is that it's nearly impossible to find ANYTHING on the WEVO website...

i have a new set of Sway-A-Way adjustable spring plates ready to go in...

It's not on the website (yet)
The springplate comes as part of the package IIRC
Contact Hayden or Tracey for details...

'bout the Elephant bushings... they work nice (like Geoff mentioned, I had them on my taildragger submarine)

Maybe not as nice as Mueller's bearings, but close, and MUCH better than the plastic bushings

Make sure you read all the instructions (twice) so you know what you're doing before you attack the car

Pay attention to where you point the zerk-fittings, or relubing them is gonna be a major PITA (ask me how I know )

Before you tighten the front a-arm mounts, move the a-arm up and down a couple of times (t-bar adjuster and shock disconnected) to check for binding and give them a chance to align themselves

I don't think water/rust is an issue with either type of bushing/bearing (Elephant or Mueller)

QUOTE

Before you tighten the front a-arm mounts, move the a-arm up and down a couple of times (t-bar adjuster and shock disconnected) to check for binding and give them a chance to align themselves

Before !! Brad is right. The binding is a problem. I am not sure if the bearings are any better. I think they need as good aligment as the bushings.

It is pretty easy to aling them so that they dont bind before tightening of the bolts. But it is VERY difficult to aling them so that they dont bind AFTER tightening of all the bolts. I am not sure if this new desing with those plastic rings make it any better. I have the early model with no plastic rings and they were PITA to mount in the right way.

Hmmmm..... Maybe I should add, that mounting these bushings and alingning them very carefully was very well used time. They works very nice. The difference to the old rubber bushings is amazing. It feels like totally different car. The feel of the steereing is very good and fast. It feels like go-kart-car now

Here are my bushings.

This is what I had to do. I had to make a tool I could re-aling the mounting surface of the front mounts.

After testing and bending many times I was sure the front mounting surfaces were re-alingned properly. Before tightening the bolts I had to add coulpe of washers between the mounts and the body. Now my A-arms moves very smoothly up and down after tightening of all the bolts.

QUOTE

i do note that Elephant has an A-arm bearing alignment setup to minimise or eliminate misalignment binding.

of the 40+ sets I've sold, I have not had one complaint of misalignment or binding..it could be due to the vehicles that the installs have been in good condition, or that the needle bearings have less friction and any binding is not noticed as much....

QUOTE

partly, i want the same setup front and back, and i don't see 911 spring plate bushings being a high priority item for Mr Mueller. (hi Mike!)

Hi Rich

The WEVO rear setup is phenomenal and pure engineering genius. Pricey but well worth it in my opinion and in fact I'm re-designing the my rear kit after being inspired* by Haydens 911 setup. He needs to do a front kit, I've talked to him about it and thinks my kit is "okay", I know he can design/engineer a front kit 10X better and personally, I'd have no problem giving up my market to him. I respect his stuff that much that I'd walk away from these parts.

*the rising costs of parts and materials have a slight impact on this decision

Although they are already installed, here are my front a-arms with Mueller's rollerbearings installed.





I have heard of several people having issues with the polybronze set-ups binding when they are installed on a car. I believe that this has to do with the tolerances that are designed into that set-up and that is also why additional parts are sold to correct for this. All in all, it would be easier and cheaper to just go for the rollerbearing set-up. Also, what benifit do the grease fittings do you? It just adds more stuff to get broken, knocked off, bent, etc. on the front on the car. The rollerbearings are so easy to get on and off that all you would have to do is unbolt the fronts to repack the grease at the same time that you repack your front wheel bearings...it all has to be done at some frequency.

As for the rumors of a 911 rear spring plate system, you will have to speak with Hayden about the details. They are purposely left off of his website because he does not offer them as a product yet. He has shown them off at previous events for all to touch and feel...very nice IMHO. These combined with the Smart Racing mono-balls and Mueller's rollerbearings would give a completely rubber free chassis. Here are some pics to lust over...





-Britain

QUOTE (Britain Smith @ Feb 23 2005, 11:59 AM)

Also, what benifit do the grease fittings do you? It just adds more stuff to get broken, knocked off, bent, etc. on the front on the car. The rollerbearings are so easy to get on and off that all you would have to do is unbolt the fronts to repack the grease at the same time that you repack your front wheel bearings...it all has to be done at some frequency.

I think the point is that I can re-grease this with a grease gun pretty easily vs tear the A arms off once a year. I have a tiny shop nor access to a proper shop to do this. The 4 car garage was before I got divorced and everytime I work on cars these days I effin dream about that garage/shop setup I had.
The needle bearings are great but I feel that for a street/ax/track car in the rainey NW it could be a problem. I do drive in the rain, sometimes alot, so I went with these. I have to deal with more rust issues than you in NorCal.
Knocking the grease fittings off? I am not off-roading the car haha

Geoff