Worn spherical bearings, rebuilding shocks
 

So.... rebuildable shocks need to be rebuilt. Don't be like me and let it get too far gone. These are 4 year old Kings with about 80k on them. What finally drove me to rebuild was the squeaking. The front lower bearings were corroded and worn ,the rear lower bearings were nearly seized from the rust, but due to less movement the wear was nearly nonexistent.

More impressively though, the O-rings and oil were still in decent condition. Needless to say, regular anticorrosion lube will be used frequently.
https://i.ibb.co/n0FsW9R/IMG-1378.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/6ZmrKK6/IMG-1379.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/PFxGHKq/IMG-1385.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/YXHLFgQ/IMG-1386.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/YXHLFgQ/IMG-1386.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/j4d81mQ/IMG-1387.jpg
[img]https://i.ibb.co/j4d81mQ/IMG-
https://i.ibb.co/ftgvzf9/IMG-1390.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/YW50Zyj/IMG-1389.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/McLQxMc/IMG-0284-2.jpg

This is a great call out and had to replace my spherical bearings as well on my KING setup with 30,000 miles / 3 yrs. I dont think you need to do a full rebuild for a very long time. This is also with very heavy offroad use.

what's the reason why spherical bearings are used in lieu of rubber/PU bushings?

Cheap and easy to build. Grab an $8 standard bearing and machine a couple of misalignment spacers to fit the application and you're done.

Were you able to remove the lower mount bolt on the front without having to cut them out? Even after as little as a year, I would have to cut mine out when re-building them. I'd have to cut through the misalignments and the lower mount bolt to get them free. Seemed to be the case regardless of what coating I used or how much penetrating oil I applied. It was mostly an annoyance because it adds a bit of work and then I'd have to spend another $40 on spacers and wait a day or two to get them shipped to me.

It was the noise that always forced me to do them too. It would get so noisy it was embarrassing. My best attempted solution was rubber boots for the lower shock ends. That seemed to extend life a long time on the bearing. I never really had issues with the uppers. So I think the wear was primarily environmental. Oddly the rears never had issues. Just the front lowers.

These guys: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/s...kB36Z7u45xrX2w They can be a real PITA to get on though. Apparently there's a specialty tool for it. I don't have one, but it looks like a good idea.

https://www.tmrcustoms.com/cdn/shop/...g?v=1694611450