Shock Bearings
I bore and insert the same kind of radial bearings as
Gary shows us above, in all my shocks, always have, they work well. Never have
had one fail. I bore the shock eyes to fit the bearings, then add a circlip
groove on both sides of the bore to retain/position the outers.
I have also used Heim style rod end joints, mostly on my Yamaha race bike
mono-shocks, no trouble with them either.
The bearings just seem to allow the shocks to work a lot better than the side
loading/partial binding that occurs wihen a shock is tensioned in a side load
with a rubber bushing from the slightest offset.
Also, laid down upper shock mounts seem to really help twin shock frames.
For the swing arm pivot, I use a combination of radial roller bearings and
needle bearings. I set the side to side preload with no side clearance, but so
the swing arm just falls of its own weight, with no other parts attached to it.
I get these bearings from McMaster-Carr and MCSupply.