lucid15 said:

1) If i choose not to run the Torrington bearings, what do i put in their place, if anything?

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Since the adjusting collar is aluminum, I would at least use a coilover spring seat washer.

lucid15 said:

2) I've seen a couple people zip tie their helper springs to the main springs to prevent them from unseating. Is this really necessary? The only answer i saw was "They wont unseat unless you install them improperly". How would one install them incorrectly? It seems like theres no way to really adjust where they sit.

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If you have the correct length (main) spring, then you shouldn't have any issue with the helper springs unseating from them. Otherwise, the "proper" way to do it is to use a coilover spring spacer between the main spring and the helper.

Aren't torrington bearings used so you can adjust the height of the car while it's on the ground? Without them you will get binding while turning the collar with the suspension loaded. The ground control kit on koni's doesn't come with torrington bearings and lots of people use that on the street. I would add helper spring/perches/upper mounts to that kit tho.

You can jack the corner, make an adjustment, put it back on the ground. More of a hassle, but I doubt those bearings would last one season of salt/gravel/snow.

pksystems said:

Aren't torrington bearings used so you can adjust the height of the car while it's on the ground? Without them you will get binding while turning the collar with the suspension loaded. The ground control kit on koni's doesn't come with torrington bearings and lots of people use that on the street. I would add helper spring/perches/upper mounts to that kit tho.

You can jack the corner, make an adjustment, put it back on the ground. More of a hassle, but I doubt those bearings would last one season of salt/gravel/snow.

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I agree they wont last long if exposed. But i'm going to make these coilover cover socks exactly like seen here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=36726030
Im thinking if i lube the bearings really well and put these socks over, i shouldn't see too much of an issue especially since i am planning on inspecting them quite often.
Salt is not a problem here in Oregon, im not close to the coast and we dont salt our icy roads

pksystems said:

Aren't torrington bearings used so you can adjust the height of the car while it's on the ground?

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Their main purpose is to allow the helper spring to freely rotate during full suspension travel so as to not have the main spring bind up on it.

lucid15 said:

I agree they wont last long if exposed. But i'm going to make these coilover cover socks exactly like seen here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=36726030
Im thinking if i lube the bearings really well and put these socks over, i shouldn't see too much of an issue especially since i am planning on inspecting them quite often.
Salt is not a problem here in Oregon, im not close to the coast and we dont salt our icy roads

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From all I've seen you asking about them, just run without them if you're that worried. I doubt you'll notice a difference with or without them, especially if you're not racing. Or buy spares and just replace them every year. They aren't expensive. This really isn't that huge of a dilemma.

snowborder714 said:

Their main purpose is to allow the helper spring to freely rotate during full suspension travel so as to not have the main spring bind up on it.



From all I've seen you asking about them, just run without them if you're that worried. I doubt you'll notice a difference with or without them, especially if you're not racing. Or buy spares and just replace them every year. They aren't expensive. This really isn't that huge of a dilemma.

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sounds good, never hurts to ask too many questions

Anyone tried thrust sheets instead of torrington/thrust bearings? Looks exactly the same except the bearing gets replaced with a sheet of composite material (teflon?).

http://www.hpashop.com/Swift-Thrust-Bearings-Sheets-swift-thrust-bearings.htm

This should have no prob with salt/grit in winter conditions since there is no bearings to gum up.

The front suspension on my non-mitsu project has teflon/some of plastic type bushing and has stainless races bonded to the A-arms.

pksystems,
you have a point of composite shims. torrington bearings seem overkill unless you plan on daily adjusting your suspension settings. at this point, and air ride may be better for your setup, or electronically adjustable suspension as far as damping is concerned.

id go with a composite/poly washer of sorts if i planned on fiddling with the suspension that much, then replace as needed.

I don't drive my car in salt / snow and the torrington bearings were rusted and seized up in 6 months of occasional spring/summer use. The swift thrust bearing are interesting, but I really couldn't tell if they helped or not.

I ran without them for about 1000 miles. Didn't seem to have any issues. However, I took my coilovers off for the winter. Better safe than sorry all together.

tametalon92 said:

pksystems,
you have a point of composite shims. torrington bearings seem overkill unless you plan on daily adjusting your suspension settings. at this point, and air ride may be better for your setup, or electronically adjustable suspension as far as damping is concerned.

id go with a composite/poly washer of sorts if i planned on fiddling with the suspension that much, then replace as needed.

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Do you even know what it is??? Over kill? Really? It has nothing to do with adjusting your suspension. It only allows the keeper spring to freely rotate and not bind on the perch.

UrbanSmoker said:

Do you even know what it is??? Over kill? Really? It has nothing to do with adjusting your suspension. It only allows the keeper spring to freely rotate and not bind on the perch.

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please, im all about learning something new. i must be mistaking how this is being interpreted. im just saying, with any of the suspensions ive set up, ive never had to worry about this kind of issue. is there a particular diagram that would better explain this?

tametalon92 said:

please, im all about learning something new. i must be mistaking how this is being interpreted. im just saying, with any of the suspensions ive set up, ive never had to worry about this kind of issue. is there a particular diagram that would better explain this?

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This is a torrington bearing. It sits on top of the spring perch. your helper spring sits on top of the bearing, and your main spring sits on thr helper. It allows the springs to spin in a 360* movement when flex or load is placed on the coilover, it helps prevent binding. The spherical bearing also allows for a 360* movement of the shaft that is in the top hat. Get it?

It's just a little bearing to seat between two dynamically loaded metal pieces.. It doesnt have anything to do with adjusting anything, to adjust height on the DG all you do is loosen the little alan bolts in the perch and screw it up or down on the coilover sleeve. It's a really simple setup. I havnt even messed eith it too much or adjusted height cause I'm lazy.

Maybe dont call things overkill and give advice on things you dont really know. The bearing is cheap, if it clogs replace it, like bryan said, this shouldnt really be that big of a deal..

i understand what a torrington bearing is, i was pertaining to its purpose in this application. the way i read it, it seemed to be for a different purpose. after looking up the specific setup, it makes more sense on why someone might want that.

i appreciate your explanation though. i have seen similar setups on a few of our offroad cage vehicles with multi-spring coilovers, but none of them used the bearing and instead used a nylon-composite washer piece. mostly due to the elements they were exposed to and longevity. but i could see this particular application being more suited for the torrington.

anyway, continue, i apologize for misinterpreting and appreciate the lesson.