Thordon Bearings is a pioneer in manufacturing high performance, long lasting rudder bearing systems. For the newbuilding vessels the system is accompanied by a 15-Year Rudder Bearing Wear Life Guarantee.

Thordon SXL polymers offer the best combination of strength and stiffness with flexibility and elasticity, along with high abrasion resistance. In addition, Thordon SXL rudder bearings operate without grease or oil lubrication, in dry or wet environments in pintle, stock and carrier disc applications. Due to its elastomeric nature, Thordon SXL bearing is significantly more abrasion-resistant than the more rigid cotton phenolic.

Why to Choose Thordon SXL Rudder Bearings

• Long Wear life guarantee
• 15-Year wear life guarantee for newbuilds
• Proven performance on board over 4,000 vessels worldwide
• Twice the life of replaced bearing to a maximum of 10 years for conversions
• More abrasive resistant than phenolics and other non-metallics
• High tolerance to edge loading
• High shock absorption
• Self-lubricated: operates wet or dry without grease
• Easy to machine and fit
• Global technical and customer support available

Performance
Thordon SXL has a lower modulus of elasticity (440 MPa or 68,817 psi) than other non-metallic bearings, resulting in significantly increased vibration dampening, accommodation of edge loading and better impact resistance.
Thordon SXL is also homogeneous without layers of differing materials. Thus, properties are consistent throughout the wall thickness of bearing, without the need of reinforcing the fibers and their orientation.

Thordon SXL bearing can be easily machined while no dust is produced during the operation. In comparison, other non-metallic materials require dust extraction and tight machining tolerances that may result in product rejection or repair delays.
With Thordon SXL machining tolerance is less critical and it is usually possible to adjust dimensions in order to compensate small machining errors, because of the relatively large interference on the bearings.