Choosing ball bearings on the VAZ 2107
Content
The importance of ball bearings for a passenger car cannot be overestimated. Without these important nodes, any passenger car will go very far, and the VAZ 2107 is no exception. Like any other highly loaded unit, ball bearings wear out, and on the VAZ 2107 this happens much faster than the driver would like. There are two reasons: the mediocre quality of domestic roads, and the equally mediocre quality of "native" ball bearings installed on the "seven" by the manufacturer. As a result, one day the driver will definitely face the question: how to replace broken ball joints? Let's try to figure it out.
The main function of the ball joint on the VAZ 2107
The task of a ball joint on any car is to selectively limit the movement of the wheel. In no case should it swing in a vertical plane, but at the same time it should move freely in a horizontal plane.
If this principle is not followed, the driver has serious problems with driving. And if one of the ball joints is damaged too much, an extremely dangerous situation can arise: the wheel at full speed turns out at a right angle to the engine.
After this, the car almost always skids, and the driver is very lucky if at that moment he is on the road alone and does not collide with other cars.
The device of ball bearings for cars
As you might guess from the name, the ball joint is an ordinary hinge mounted behind the wheel of a car. The main element of any ball joint is a ball rod. There is a thread on one end of the stem and a ball on the other. It is pressed into another important part of the support - the eye. It has a hemispherical recess, perfectly matched to the size of the ball on the stem. The resulting design is closed by the so-called anther. In modern supports, this is the name of plastic caps that protect the swivel joint from dust and dirt. Today, more and more anthers are made of translucent plastic, which is quite convenient: the car owner does not have to remove the boot to assess the degree of damage to the hinge. Supports with an opaque anther often have another design feature: a technological hole near the ball stem. It allows you to assess the wear of this part without removing it.
It should also be noted here that on the very first VAZ 2107 models, ball bearings were equipped with clamping springs, designed to increase the reliability of the swivel. But in the later models of the "seven" it was decided to abandon the springs.
Ball joints from various manufacturers
First of all, it should be said that the ball joint is a very important part. During operation, it is subjected to the strongest shock loads, so the technical requirements for it are very high. There are very few companies that can meet these requirements. We list the most popular companies.
Ball joints "Track"
Supports "Track" are very popular among the owners of the VAZ 2107.
The reason is simple: these poles are good value for money. Here are the main features of the ball bearings "Track":
- the ball rod in all Trek bearings is manufactured using cold heading technology, after which it is subjected to heat treatment;
- the ball on the support rod "Track" is always carefully processed, the surface roughness class is 10;
- the thread on the ball rod is applied only by knurling;
- liners on the Trek supports are made of a special wear-resistant polymer, which significantly extends the life of the supports;
- bearings in the Trek bearings are made of cermet and thoroughly lubricated, so that there are no problems with sliding of the ball rods;
- the body of the support "Track" is obtained by cold stamping. Then its parts are fastened to each other using spot welding, and between the fastened halves of the body there is always a layer of industrial sealant;
- the anther of the support is very durable, and what is especially important for our country, frost-resistant. Due to this, the service life of the anther almost always exceeds the service life of the support itself;
- a special coating is applied to the body of the Trek support, which reliably protects the support from corrosion.
The manufacturer claims that the Trek poles are guaranteed to cover 40 km, and the actual mileage of the poles can reach 100 km or more. The cost of a set of four "Track-Champion" supports starts from 1500 rubles.
Ball bearings "Kedr"
In the Kedr ball bearings, which are the second most popular among the owners of the VAZ 2107 after the Track, the manufacturer has implemented several technical innovations that should definitely be mentioned.
These are the features:
- all ball bearings "Kedr" are equipped with a compensator. The manufacturer claims that this part allows you to increase the service life of the support by 30%;
- all cases of supports "Kedr" are protected by a special cataphoretic coating, which has increased adhesive properties;
- before applying the cataphoresis coating, the housings of the supports are subjected to shot-blasting, which guarantees the complete absence of surface defects and dirt on the surface of these parts;
- The material for the liners of all Kedr supports is graphite polyamide. This material is able to halve the friction in the support and thereby increase the service life of the part;
- anthers on supports "Kedr" are made of rubber used in the aviation industry. Rubber has increased oil and gasoline resistance, and is practically immune to sudden changes in temperature;
- a special Nilbor-20 material is applied to the rod of Kedr ball bearings, which several times increases the antifriction characteristics of the rod and reliably protects it from corrosion;
- all ball rods "Kedr" are controlled by ultrasound for internal defects. Thus, the probability of marriage is practically excluded.
The manufacturer provides a guarantee of 18 months for the Kedr supports (for comparison: the guarantee for the Trek supports is 12 months). The guaranteed mileage of the supports is 40 km. The cost of a set of four Kedr supports on the market starts from 1400 rubles.
Ball joints "Belmag"
Finding ball bearings "Belmag" on the shelves of car dealerships has become not so easy.
Nevertheless, they are in demand among car owners. Here are some of the features of these parts:
- ball rods on Belmag supports are produced using three-dimensional cold stamping. In the future, they are subjected to heat treatment, which exactly meets the requirements of AvtoVAZ;
- blanks for the production of ball rods are provided by the Avtonormal plant. It is this manufacturer that supplies rods for AvtoVAZ (in fact, this is their only supplier);
- all blanks received from the Avtonormal plant are subjected to eddy current testing at the Belmag plant, which makes it possible to identify all internal defects in the metal and get a complete picture of the structure of the part;
- each hinge of the support is capable of withstanding a load of 2.5 tons, which is almost twice the mass of the VAZ 2107, and almost eight times the shock loads acting on the support when driving;
- each Belmag ball joint has an individual number consisting of six digits. In addition, each support has a hologram to further protect the product from counterfeiting.
The cost of a set of four Belmag supports starts from 1200 rubles.
LEMFORDER ball joints
The German company LEMFORDER is a recognized global manufacturer of high-quality ball bearings. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell something specific about the features of production and the technologies used. The Germans simply do not disclose this information, citing a trade secret. On the official website of the LEMFORDER company, one can only read assurances that their supports are of the highest quality, and the most modern technologies are used in their production.
Practice shows that the Germans are telling the truth. The vast majority of VAZ 2107 owners declare the high reliability of the LEMFORDER supports (and the equally high price, which, frankly, bites). The cost of a set of 4 LEMFORDER supports for the VAZ 2107 starts from 3 thousand rubles. The warranty period is 2 years.
About other manufacturers
As mentioned above, the production of high-quality ball joints requires serious costs. And this cannot but affect the final cost of the product. Therefore, there are only four major manufacturers of supports for the VAZ 2107, and all of them are listed above. Of course, there are smaller companies that offer motorists ball bearings for almost half the price. But any sane person understands: if a ball joint costs half as much, it means that the manufacturer saved on something in its manufacture. Most often, they save either on ultrasonic analysis of blanks for rods, or on heat treatment. Neither the first nor the second bode well for the buyer of the support.
And if the car owner is in his right mind, then he will not react to a seductively low price and save on a detail on which his life literally depends. It is for this reason that little-known manufacturers of cheap supports will not be considered in this article.
Here, one more unpleasant thing should be mentioned: fakes. Recently, ball bearings of well-known brands have begun to appear on the shelves of car dealerships, which are suspiciously cheap. Upon closer examination, the vast majority of them turn out to be fake, and often fakes are made so high quality that only a specialist can recognize them. For an ordinary motorist, the criterion for selecting supports is still the same: price. It should be something like the one above. And if the ball joint of a well-known brand costs half as much, then it is strongly not recommended to buy such a part.
Video: about fake ball joints
Reinforced ball joints
Any serious manufacturer offers customers a wide range of ball joints: from ordinary to sports, or reinforced. For example, the Trek supports have a reinforced Track-sport modification.
Supports "Kedr" have a reinforced modification "Kedr-trial-sport", etc.
All these products, designed for extreme loads, have a number of common features. Consider them using the example of the Track-Sport supports:
- universal design. This means that reinforced supports can be placed on both the upper suspension arm and the lower one. Moreover, reinforced supports can also be installed on other cars (in particular, the Track-Sport supports can be put into the suspension of the Niva car without any problems);
- increased pull-out force of the ball rod. In order to pull the rod out of the suspension, it is necessary to apply a force of 7 thousand kgf to the Track-Sport support (while on conventional Track-supports the force is 5 thousand kgf);
- the mileage guaranteed by the manufacturer for sports ball bearings starts from 60 thousand km (for ordinary bearings - from 40 thousand km);
- sports support liners have a special design. They are stiffer, and they have special grooves designed to remove excess lubricant and wear products. This technical solution doubles the service life of the reinforced support.
Video: an overview of track-sport ball bearings
As you can see, there are few reliable manufacturers of ball joints, and the only criterion for choosing these parts is the thickness of the car owner's wallet. If a person is not constrained by funds, you can immediately purchase LEMFORDER supports and forget about problems with the suspension for several years. In second place is Trek, but here the situation is seriously complicated by the abundance of fakes of this brand. The counters of car dealerships are now literally littered with fake "Trek". Well, if the issue of price for the driver is critical, then you can pay attention to the products of Kedr and Belmag.
