Heim joints?

[orang-kr8]

Anyone have any suggestions on heim joint ratings? I am looking to make my own rear control arms on my chevelle, but most of the heim joints I can find are only rated at 7,000-15,000. Obviously safety is the most important thing to me, so I would not mind dropping a few bucks more for a higher quality set (say 40,000?). Or is this static rating plenty for a 3,600 lbs 450hp chevelle? Any suggestions on a brand?
THANKS

[MrQuick]

QA1 and also get a bunch of seal jobbers for them. Keep them lubed and clean.Then they will last a long time.

[David Pozzi]

My Herb Adams book says on a panhard bar loads of 2000 lbs are common, but PEAK loads can see 10,000!

He doesn't mention rear control arms, but from that, I'd be looking for joints in the 15,000 range minimum.

Allways run joints with the largest body you can. By that I mean if the bolt through the the Rod end "eye" is 1/2", buy a larger joint and bush the end down to 1/2". That allows a larger shank to fit your tube and the larger body and ball have more strength.

I use Teflon lined chrome molly body with steel ball rod ends on my race car.

[pav8427]

Its a little more work,but you could check out spherical bearings also.
They're the same as heim joints only they're pressed in.


Doug

[quadfather]

check out f-k bearings at www.fkrodends.com they have extra streanght rod ends that are rated in the 40,000 range they are the rsmx series they come with a 3/4 shank and 1/2 or 5/8 hole sizes as well as teflon liners to keep the brg. races clean.

[David Pozzi]

Doug has a great idea. If you don't need the adjustability, spherical bearings are a lot safer. Rod ends have much less strength when side loaded. This isn't normally a problem in your application but if you hit something like junk on the road or ride over a curb or such, the rod end could be bent or broken much easier where the spherical bearing in a good housing would be much much safer, and last 10 times longer due to the surface contact area being larger.

Another problem with rod ends is a small amount of clearance will cause it to rattle, which hammers the joint apart with time. The ball can come out of the body. Some rod ends have two "races" that hold the ball in place, the races are staked or swaged in place which isn't as secure as a one piece body.

Lift bar setups load the rod ends on an angle, they have a flat steel surround made so if the rod end breaks, the suspension will be loose but not completely disconnected. No one in their right mind should run lift bars with rod ends, they should have spherical bearings, but I guess they want more adjustability...
David

[gt1guy]

Here you go. This should work. I'm using them on my LCA's.

http://www.stockcarproducts.com/susp3.htm

Kevin

[shep]

http://www.currieenterprises.com/ces...nnyjoints.aspx What about these?

[TBART70]

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=34676
used the johnny joints on my uppers, I believe the larger ones come with one piece housings.

[jason@gmachine]

here is our line of heims,

from 1.25" to 1/2" they are hands down the best quality for the price.




For our 3 link kits and for a-arms we use the 3/4" heim with the 5/8" bore (chromoly heim with teflon liner), it has a Static Radial Load rating of 40,572lbs. We sell them for $26,21 each both online and in our showroom. If you want something stonger you can step it up to a 7/8" heim.

we also have all the 4130 threaded bungs and spacers for many applications.

www.gmachinestore.com

http://www.gmachineracing.com/gmrheims.html

Jason

[SN65]

When considering useing rod ends for a control arm, it is important to take impact loads as well as static loads.

For control arms, I like useing rod ends that have a tougher race material (Like Kevlar for example).

Jason, do you offer different race material than the teflon shown on your site.

[Marcus SC&C]

Give the Currie Johnny Joints a close look. The one piece forged joints use HUGE threaded shafts and they`re greasable. Compared to the hardcore offroad/rockcrawling use they were designed for they won`t even notice a 450hp Chevelle is there. The urethane races give some NVH isolation and their enclosed,greasable configuration makes them impervious to water and dirt (remember they were designed to run off road). Heims are strong and compact but they`re exposed to the elements and have tiny close tolerance races. A little grit can quickly wear them enough to introduce lash and cause vibration and buzzing in the passenger cabin. We`ve experimented over the years with different brands and types of heims and seals to find a configuration that held up well long term on the street and ended up with a big drawer full of 1/2 worn out heims and a shop policy that we`ll only use them in high load applications on cars with open headers. I don`t mind them much for things like swaybar end links,linkages and so on though. Mark SC&C

[jason@gmachine]

When considering useing rod ends for a control arm, it is important to take impact loads as well as static loads.

For control arms, I like useing rod ends that have a tougher race material (Like Kevlar for example).

Jason, do you offer different race material than the teflon shown on your site.

actually i was mistaken, the information i gave before was wrong. The heims with the black liner are teflon the red are of this makeup, sorry for the confusion. We are very super busy with all the new projects and products coming out, so things are a bit crazy.

here is the correct info,

RACE- Injection molded
Nylafiber Matrix

ball-52100 Bering Steel
precision Ground
Heat treated
Hard chrome plated

body- 4130 chromoly steel
heat treated
chromate plated


here is the link to our site with the correct info. I changed it tonight because of this typo. the online store will change tomorrow.

http://www.gmachineracing.com/gmrheims.html

thanks,
Jason