Help choosing a rod end and other strength questions

[vette427-sbc]

Im getting ready to place an order for the 16 rod ends for my C4 rear suspension... I did a bit of research and so far Ive settled on the FK RSMX series with the PTFE lining. The body is alloy steel, heat treated, zinc plated chromate treated. They are rated for 40,000lbs radial load with a .625" or .5" bore and 3/4"-16 thread. I plan on using 6061 aluminum hex tubing in either 1" or 1.25" OD.
My 4 forward trailing links are in single shear at the spindle (stock vette design) and .625" bolt. The frame brackets will be double shear with a .625" bolt.
The lower camber rod has a .625" double shear bolt at the spindle and a .5" bolt on the diff. Was thinking of using the same rod ends here.
Not sure what size to use for the toe control rods. I assume I dont have to go too crazy here with load ratings? .5" bolt with 5/8-18 thread is probably more than adequate?
I know this is somewhat vague but does this sound ok? Different rod ends recommendations? How does aluminum tubing handle misalignment?

[Motorcitydak]

You are more than fine with those rod ends. Think about it like this, if you launch your car, corner or brake at 1G the whole car see's 3000# of force (yes, there are leverage forces, etc...... at play, but.....). If you were able to concentrate all of that load into just 1 control arm you are still WAY over any sane safety factor. The only way you really could get much over that figure would be a sudden impact, say you slide the car sideways into a curb or something. I ran 5/8 rod ends on my off road truck with heavy axles and 35 inch tires, still never beat one up. The shear strength of a good grade 8 bolt in 1/2 or 5/8 is more than enough, no worries there either. If you were to actually run some engineering numbers and use what is strong enough, you would be terrified by just how small hardware you could run, I'd bet 5/16 stuff 'could' survive in there

FK is a great brand, cannot go wrong there. Before you order I'd recommend you check out ruff stuff specialties as well, they supply the off road world but with excellent stuff, great prices and service too. Usually you can find some discount codes for them as well

Tubing and misalignment really do not affect each other, in the end force can only the transferred in a straight line down a toe link. Aluminum is great for this area since it decreased un-sprung weight, just remember to put some anti-sieze on the threads so the will not corrode together being dis-similar metals

If you do not really need mis-alignment or high mis-alignment spacers, there are also rod end reducers out there that just slide into let's say a 5/8 rod end so that you can use a 1/2 inch bolt.

[vette427-sbc]

Great info, thanks Steve!
I went with the FK RSMX series joints with the .625 hole and 1" hex tube with a .5" ID.

[shmoov69]

Awesome info! All I know is that the "economy" ones from speedway stress cracked and egg shaped on my TQ arm mounts after less than a year of thrashing. I guess the engineering stuff means something eh?!? LoL! I can't remember what ones I bought to replace them though, but they were NOT the cheapies!