TL;DR - I've needed to rebuild my front coilovers for a few months now but have procrastinated the job since it's rather time consuming. However, when I heard my front lower spherical bearings starting to make noise, I knew I couldn't put it off any longer.
Time for a rebuild.
At the tail end of our trip through Colorado on the Backcountry Discovery Route, I started to hear a slight clunking - and some more pronounced squeaking - in the front suspension. This is a sure sign that the lower spherical bearings are ready to be replaced, and I hoped that I hadn't waited too long to replace them, since the last time I'd procrastinated until they destroyed my rod ends!
That was approximately 20K miles ago.
Not only that, but the last time I rebuilt my coilovers - replacing the seals and oil that keep them functioning smoothly - was four years and 97,000 miles ago, so I was probably a couple years overdue on that service as well!
Having done the work in the past, I was much less anxious than the first time, but it still took the better part of a day to rebuild the coilovers with seal kits from ADS (which I think you can only order over the phone from ADS now; their web site has gotten worse since being acquired by Holley), new shock oil, and of course some new stainless steel FKS spherical bearings.
Of course, there were various tools needed for the job as well, all covered in the rebuild guide I put together.
Ultimately, I'd gotten to the rebuild - for both the shock internals and spherical bearings - in time; nothing had been destroyed by my procrastination. Now, the coilovers are in great shape, ready for another season of exploring!
New vs. old oil. The old stuff still looks pretty good, and all the seals seemed fine.
- - - - - - - - -
For completeness, here are the mileages I've run on my spherical bearings and the condition rating scale I use:
- New
- Good - not new, but still tight.
- OK - not time to replace, but not really tight anymore.
- Time to Replace - loose, but not jiggly.
- Jiggly - noticeable gap between ball and race.
- Oops - starting to wear through one or more of: race, misalignment spacers, shock bolt.
| Set | Miles in Service | Condition at Replacement | Bearing, Tightness | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front Lowers | ||||
| Set #1 | 22,000 | Oops | Unknown | * Installed by ADS at factory. * Wore through misalignment spacers prior to replacement. |
| Set #2 | 9,000 | Jiggly | COM10T | Generic bearing (from ADS) |
| Set #3 | 7,000 | Jiggly | COM10T | Generic bearing (from ADS) |
| Set #4 | 10,000 | Jiggly | COM10T | Generic bearing (from ADS) |
| Set #5 | 9,000 | Jiggly | COM10T | Generic bearing (from ADS) |
| Set #6 | 40,000 | Time to Replace | FKSSX10T-F1 | |
| Set #7 | 55,600 | Oops | FKSSX10T-F1 | Spherical bearings destroyed, rod ends ruined. |
| Set #8 | 22,000 | OK | FKSSX10T-F1 | Replaced as part of shock rebuild |
| Set #9 | In service | FKSSX10T-F1 | ||
| Front Uppers | ||||
| Set #1 | 106,300 | Time to Replace | Unknown | Installed by ADS at factory |
| Set #2 | In service | FKSX10T-F1 | ||
| Rear Lowers | ||||
| Set #1 | 162,000 | Time to Replace | Unknown | Installed by ADS at factory |
| Set #2 | In service | FKSX10T-F1 | ||
| Rear Uppers | ||||
| Set #1 | 162,000 | OK | Unknown | Installed by ADS at factory |
| Set #2 | In service | FKSX10T-F1 | ||
In this Series
Those spherical bearings were a PIA to take care of but man was it worth getting rid of that annoying squeak! My front drivers started and I went and did all 4 corners.
lol. I hear you! Swapping out the spherical bearings are old hat for me now; a 5-minute job. Of course, I've done it about 8-10 times on the front and 3 times on the rear so plenty of practice...
I've learned a lot over the years, and there are some very specific bearings we should all be using. Check out these posts for more: https://adventuretaco.com/tag/spherical-bearings/