bearings for front beam

[marius 58 bug]

Where can I get needle bearings for the front beam Volkspares don't have and they not gone have

[Retrobug]

Try Bearing Man and take a sample with if you have one!

[IMPI]

I have been thinking about this problem for a while and if needed I would seriously considder making bushes out of Vesconite as this probably would solve all the issues in one go. The trailing arms also wear and new bearings alone will not solve the problem.
The US guys use a poly urethane bearing as well but for once an south african product is vastly superior
Armand

[marius 58 bug]

Got the urethane ones suck gave them in and the ride is hard. Can't find them at any bearing place

[vader]

I have been thinking about this problem for a while and if needed I would seriously considder making bushes out of Vesconite as this probably would solve all the issues in one go. The trailing arms also wear and new bearings alone will not solve the problem.
The US guys use a poly urethane bearing as well but for once an south african product is vastly superior
Armand

And then there is the Krepy, Pratly Putty & Riaan Krywagen...

[IMPI]

When I posted about polyurethane and vesconite in the same sentence I knew that they will be compared as apples versus apples WRONG assumption.
poly urethane is not self lubricating does not have dimensional stability and will swell in size when in contact with water which leads to squeaks and hard riding when used in the beetle beam or any suspension for that matter. vesconite on the other hand is dimensionally stable and will hold its shape almost indefnitely a case in point our underground locomotives weighing about 5 tons used to have phosphor bronze bearings as std this was replaced about 15 years ago with bearings (bushes) and have proven to be superior to the bronze ones in all respects. I would even be comfortable machining linkpin bushes out of the stuff and am sure it will prove superior.
the reason I wrote about the polyurethane stuff was to make the vesconite bush about the same shape as the polyurethane one as I am sure it will work perfectly.
most bug beams had a micarta bush for the inner bearing anyway and rollers on the outside. nothing wrong with rollers except availability.
Do look at their site http://www.vesconite.com/
regards Armand

[Retrobug]

We use quite a bit of vesconite at work, the stuff is brilliant and almost indestructible when compared to most other bushing materials!