Stainless steel as a bearing surface

[Pete.Silson]

I'm considering using stainless steel for my Anstey suspension guide tubes (4960-39) that I'm making. Does anybody out there have any experience with using stainless steel as a sliding bearing surface in greased bronze bushes?

What grade of s/s and bronze?

Pete

[Roger Gwynn]

The originals were hard chrome plated and they wore out so anything would be better than plain steel. I believe even basic grades of SS are harder than m.s. but I am sure there are others with more knowledge on materials than me, not one of my strong points.

[jj.palmer]

The most common material that springs to mind is EN24T, easily machineable with good tensile strength and wear resistance.

John P.

[rick king]

I always found stainless that was used in any way similar to a bearing was not good.
I changed to making most things from 431 stainless for that reason.

Think about the uses. All I can think of right now is stainless valves and stainless rose joints, a stainless ball and a bronze seat.

[tony.barnett]

The nearest comparison I can find is that ACME Stainless offer girder fork spindles in stainless which also run in greased bronze bushes. I'd argue that the functionality would be similar to what you are proposing.

I'm sure plunger bushes are available from Single Spares. I had a set from Kempy a couple of years ago.

[nevhunter]

A nitrided surface would be best on the sliders. Its very hard and the process had much less warping than a case hardened part. It doesn't need grinding after the original machining. You can nitride stainless but there are a lot of different grades of it. It suffers from GALLING when not nitrided. Nitriding is NO good to run rollers or balls on, Fine for PLAIN bearings. Nev

[david.anderson]

I would agree that nitriding is the way to go. The Anstey rear end was regarded as the Achilles heel of Ariels. Two of my plunger bikes were so badly worn that the bronze bush was worn through and the sliding member was also badly worn. I bored out the slider and made oversize outer bushes to run on the plain shafts. That said the lubrication schedule as printed in the owners guide indicates the Anstey spring frame is to be lubricated every 250 miles. I have lubricated mine accordingly and with 10,000 miles on one rear end it has no perceptible wear. I suspect that the bad name regarding wear of the rear end was due to lack of proper lubrication.
David

[nevhunter]

I've put the extra nipple at the top as the best way to get the grease in. The bushes can still be good bronze or gunmetal . Nev