Craig, I metioned the fair weather application of the monoballs because 1.) It was described to me as such by a 911 PCA race team and by those that sell/manufacture this type of system, 2.) My personal experience is that there's no way an open-to-the-elements open bearing without any lubrication other than teflon impregnation will last as long as a piece of vulcanized rubber, and 3.) The time involved in their installation precludes subjecting them to the elements and a potentially shorter life span.

I don't believe I have heard of anyone has been able to convincingly say that you get "x" number of miles out of a set of monoballs used in all conditions. A track car may last years and years, a Calif street car almost as long, and a New England car far less.

Since Chuck is in the business he may be able to shed more light.

Craig

All the rear monoballs on the market today are without weather seals. Hence water and contaminate will find its way into the bearing, accelerating wear. But I thought it never rained in Tucson ;)

Note that Elephant Racing is the only company making a front monoball with weather seal.

Shocks need to be matched to springs (tbars) and the weight of the car. Too much or too little shock and both performance and ride will suffer. Coarse matching can be done by selecting Sport shocks (bilstein or koni) for thick tbars, standard shock for thinner tbars. More pecise matching can be done through custom valving shocks or using JRZ, Leda or other adjustable shocks.

I just die this mod. With the control arm off the car and in the vise, getting the cups out really wasnt any big deal.

In my case, the big deal was getting the dang stub axle off! the castle nut was fused into being with the shaft. I ended up having to grind it off with a dremel. When it was off, the stub axle still didnt want to come off. So I beat on it with a hammer. Then it came off. With gusto. And fell to the floor.... right onto my toes! OUCH!!!!!!!!!

Be careful out there sportsfans!


Terry

"When it was off, the stub axle still didn't want to come off. So I beat on it with a hammer. Then it came off."

This is hard on the rear bearings. Did you replace them? Installation of the rear bearings and stub axle requires cooling the bearings and stub axles and heating the housing and the installation with steady pressure (not pounding) with a screw driven tool or a shop press if the arm is outside of the car. If the bearings and stub axle are "pounded in" the bearings may have a very short life.

Having replaced the rubber bushings in a set of steel 911 trailing arms (1973) off the car I would not want to attempt this on the car even with the bolt heads facing the correct way. It was very difficult to remove and reinstall the bushings (they have a metal outer sleeve and an inner metal sleeve); the metal outer sleeve was basically swaged into the eye of the arm. A hydraulic shop press and thermal expansion/shrinkage was required to accomplish the bushing removal and installation. Another difficulty trying to do the job on the car, is the sections where the bushings are located are very crowded with other components (fuel lines, fuel vapor recovery lines, wiring harness, clutch cable, etc.) which make access very problematic.

Cheers, Jim