Spherical Plain Bearings
Radial spherical plain bearings — GE70ES, GE80ES and the COM series — for joints that oscillate, misalign and carry load slowly rather than spin.
Spherical plain bearings · GE70ES / GE80ES · COM4 to COM12
A joint bearing, not a rolling bearing
A spherical plain bearing has no rolling elements: a spherical inner ring slides inside a matching outer ring, so the bearing accommodates misalignment and oscillating movement while carrying heavy, slow load. That makes it the joint bearing of the range — the part for linkage pivots, hydraulic cylinder ends, steering joints and structural connections where the movement is a swing, not a rotation. The line sits under the needle roller heading; the construction here is plain sliding, and it is treated on its own terms.
| Item | Line position |
|---|---|
| GE70ES | GE ES series spherical plain bearing |
| GE80ES | GE ES series spherical plain bearing |
| COM4 and COM5 | COM series spherical bearings |
| COM6 and COM12 | COM series spherical bearings |
Spherical bearings and rod ends
The rod end and the spherical plain bearing are the same joint in two deliveries. A rod end is this bearing already seated in a threaded housing, ready to terminate a linkage. The plain bearing is the insert alone, for a housing of the buyer's own machining. A bill of materials that prices both is pricing the same movement twice over — once housed, once bare — and the inquiry should make clear which positions take which form, because the quantities divide between them.
Oscillation, load and lubrication
Sliding bearings are specified by their movement pattern more than by their speed: the angle and frequency of oscillation, whether the load is steady or reversing, and how the sliding surface is lubricated in service. Those points decide the item more than the bore alone does, and they belong in the inquiry in plain words. A joint that swings a few degrees under steady load and a joint that works continuously through a wide angle are different duties wearing the same size of bearing.
Specifying a spherical plain bearing
State the item code or the bore and outside dimensions, the movement pattern, and the quantity. Where the bearing seats into an existing housing, the housing bore from the drawing confirms the outside diameter; where it replaces a rod end position, say so, because the housed and bare forms are not interchangeable deliveries against the same line of a list. Greasing arrangements in the design — a nipple, a groove, a sealed joint — are worth one line each.
Spherical plain bearings are often bought against a worn sample whose code has rubbed away. In that case the bore, the outside diameter and the width, measured as carefully as the wear allows, identify the item in this range; send the three dimensions together, since any two of them fit more than one size.
Send an inquiry
Give the code and movement pattern for each spherical plain bearing on your list, with quantities and the destination market, and send it through the inquiry form.