Railko vs Cone ??

[Kimsl70]

G'day all,
I'm replacing my swivel hub housings and I was wondering what the benefits are of going with the Raiko bushes vs Cone. I can't seem to find anyone who has the cone bushes swivel hub housing for a price that anywhere near decent. My old swivel hubs were so badly pitted they had to be turfed so i am replacing the whole assy at any rate. Any guidance / assistance would be great.
Cheers

[123rover50]

The swivel housings are the same.
You can fit splined cones, Railco bushes or tapered roller bearings to all of them.
I bought new Britpart a few years ago and they seem OK.
Splined cones I would not bother with as the splines wear and I dont think new ones are available.
I am building up one with bearings top and bottom using a bottom arm on the top cutting off the arm. Should be like a disco as long as the preload is correct. Some have tried this and report bad wheel wobble or shimmy.
Probably you are best to stick to Railcos as parts are readily available.

[JDNSW]

As stated, the problem with the cones is the splines wear, and then you get shimmy.

[354 chamberlain]

The swivel housings are the same.
You can fit splined cones, Railco bushes or tapered roller bearings to all of them.
I bought new Britpart a few years ago and they seem OK.
Splined cones I would not bother with as the splines wear and I dont think new ones are available.
I am building up one with bearings top and bottom using a bottom arm on the top cutting off the arm. Should be like a disco as long as the preload is correct. Some have tried this and report bad wheel wobble or shimmy.
Probably you are best to stick to Railcos as parts are readily available.

Tapered bearings fit ok and work well except that after a time they will collapse and bind due to lack of lubrication on top bearing and because the bearing is not rotating fully it wears only where the rollers come into contact with the cone . It happened to Me ,luckily I was going slow as the steering locked completely ,could have been very nasty .
Doug

[JDNSW]

Rover started with tapered bearings top and bottom, but changed very early to the cone and spring on top to prevent shimmy. This was changed during 2a production to the railko bush, which provided some damping but was simpler and cheaper to maintain. Latest production went back to tapered roller bearings top and bottom, relying on the damper only for shimmy prevention - probably only satisfactory with the coil spring setup where, with the panhard rod paralleling the draglink, there is no way that shimmy can happen without the damper moving - unless there is a worn tie rod end. With leaf springs, the damper is not necessarily moved with steering movement as the wheels rise and fall, since the sideways location of the axle by the springs is independent of the steering linkage geometry.

Tapered roller bearings have always been used on the load bearing bottom swivel, and these are usually long lasting despite operating over a small angle. Bearings (or bushes or cones) at the top should be properly lubricated provided oil is used and free wheel hubs are not used. Bearing failure at the top with oil and no free wheel hubs is probably the result of incorrect preload - any free play will lead to hammering on this bearing, the vehicle weight ensuring that the free play is nearly always at the top.