Rod End Bearings
Rod end bearings for linkage ends: a spherical bearing in a threaded housing, in bearing steel and stainless steel, in male and female thread forms.
Rod end bearings · male and female thread · steel and stainless
Male and female thread rod ends
A rod end finishes a linkage: the spherical inner member takes the misalignment, and the threaded shank screws into or onto the rod it terminates. The family comes in the two thread forms that decide the mating part — male thread, which screws into a tapped rod or block, and female thread, which takes a threaded stud or bolt — and in two materials, bearing steel for the standard range and stainless steel where the linkage lives outdoors or in washdown. Thread form and material are the first two lines of any rod end inquiry.
| Option | Choices |
|---|---|
| Thread form | Male thread or female thread |
| Material | Bearing steel or stainless steel |
| Examples | SA8T/K and SA10T/K fish-eye rod ends |
| Thread series | Metric, right-hand |
Rod ends and spherical plain bearings
The rod end is a housed spherical bearing, and the housing is the difference: where a linkage end needs a thread, the rod end supplies it; where a spherical bearing sits in a machined housing of the buyer's own, the plain bearing alone is the item. The GE and COM series sit under spherical plain bearings, and buyers sorting a linkage bill of materials often price both forms against the same joint. Mounted units solve a different problem again — a shaft that must bolt down — and sit under mounted bearings.
Specifying a rod end
Four points settle a rod end: the bore that takes the pin or bolt, the thread form (male or female), the thread size and hand, and the material. Greasing and boot arrangements follow the application rather than any standard pattern, so the working environment belongs in the inquiry as well — a steering linkage, a gate actuator and a food-line adjuster all order rod ends, and they do not order the same specification. Quantities per size complete the list.
Send an inquiry
Give the bore, thread form, thread size and material for each rod end on your list, with quantities and the destination market, and send it through the inquiry form.