Plain bearing unit, and associated assembly methods

A spherical plain bearing 12 having an inner ring 18, an outer ring 20, a sleeve 14 lining a bore 18b of the inner ring 18, and an elastic circumferential retainer ring 16 being within an external circumferential groove 22 of the sleeve 14 and within an internal circumferential groove 24 of the inner ring 18. The outer dimeter of the retention ring 16 may be greater than that of the groove 24 of the bore 18b, and the inner diameter of the retention ring 16 may be smaller than that of the groove 22 of the sleeve 14. The retention band 16 may be discontinuous with a gap on its circumference. The retaining band 16 may be in the middle centre of the bearing 12. A chamfer 14c (fig 1) on the sleeve may assist assembly. Also claimed a method of assembling the bearing by inserting the sleeve 14 into the bore 18b and radially deforming the retaining ring 16, until the retention ring 16 elastically returned to be in the groove 22 of the sleeve 14.