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| There has been a lot of folks posting about parallel arms recently and I decided to share my thoughts about bearings versus bushings on parallel arms.
OEM bushings were designed for slow speed and lower down force pressure planting... a stationary bushing wearing directly on the parallel arm.
Dirt, dust, and grit would enter the wear area accelerating the creation of slop and play at this joint. Bushing would usually wear on about 1/3rd of the surface in the high load area.
Moving into the era of pneumatic and hydraulic down force systems there was an increased load on the traditional bushing / parallel arm linkage systems. OEM's kept the original bushing design enjoying the shorter service life from these parts = increased frequency of service parts sales!
Aftermarket companies devised updated bushing designs utilizing a dual bushing setup that would virtually eliminate the need to replace arms due to wear; only replace bushings once worn out. Being a bushing connection system, there is still a certain amount of play that must be allowed to prevent binding. The connection points are still prone to wear due to dirt, dust, grit, and moisture getting in there causing wear and corrosion.
Exact Align Pro came onto the scene in 2021 utilizing sealed ball bearings in place of bushings at critical connection points. This design eliminated any play in the parallel linkage. Bearings have proven to work excellent in this application over many seasons of use. Bearings are press fit into arms and allow smooth movements of the row-unit in the field without any play (lateral or vertical) as compared to all of the bushing setups on the market. Their custom bearings are filled with the maximum allowable EP grease and are made by SKF.
Any of the upgraded parallel arms on the market will perform better over the OEM, but if you want the longest wearing, lowest maintenance arms out there in my opinion Exact Align Pro are the way to go. They make them for Deere XP/ME5, CaseIH 1200 series, and Kinze 2000 & 3000 (trailing and interplant). Kits include hardware. They were designed by CFC Distributors and produced in Indiana. They are sold through dealers for CFC/Granit Parts.
TPG
(EA225 (full).jpg)
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EA225 (full).jpg (151KB - 7 downloads)
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