Rod end bearing for aircraft use

A rod end bearing for use on aircraft comprising:

• a rotatable inner ring having at least one ball raceway around its outside surface;
• a stationary outer ring having at least one ball raceway around its inside surface, the inside surface having a larger diameter than the diameter of the outside surface of the rotatable inner ring;
• said stationary outer ring having an integral shank;
• a plurality of balls located in the annular space separating the inner and outer rings and in rolling contact with the inner ring and outer ring ball raceways;
• the outer ring and the integral shank being made of a martensitic stainless steel with said stationary outer ring ball raceway having a surface and a sub-surface zone hardened by a nitriding process thus providing a rod end bearing having an outer ring with a high rolling contact hardness raceway while the remainder of the outer ring and shank is relatively soft and ductile to resist fracture.