[red90q]

I'm going to be fabbing up some lower control arms from 4130 chromoly 120 wall tube. I want to put heim links on the one side to make my camber and caster adjustable to my vehicles needs. My question is about heim links. I have no experience in choosing or fitting them. Should I use a chromoly link ?
Thanks for the help. This is my first post but your site is very interesting. I'm a welder by trade and LOVE anything on 4 wheels

[powerrodsmike]

Speedway motors has a good selection of "Heim" style rod ends.

They have suggested applications listed with each type they sell.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/m/296_...-Tie-Rods.html

There are a bunch of suppliers selling rod ends, I understand that the Aurora brand is top shelf stuff. Shop around.

Which ones you use depends on what the car will be used for. For a street car, you definately want a greasable rod end or a teflon lined one, and using the seals is advisable.

Even with grease, the rod ends that have metal to metal contact get loose after a short time on the street, and start to rattle.

For a race car, the chrome moly ones are strongest. They do require maintenance to stay tight.

If the car is any kind of daily driver, or sees a moderate amount of street miles, I would use a urethane bushed rod end, with replaceable bushings instead of heims.. It seems like every car that comes into my shop with Heim style rod ends on something, they are loose and rattle.

Later, mikey

[cboy]

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

If the car is any kind of daily driver, or sees a moderate amount of street miles, I would use a urethane bushed rod end, with replaceable bushings instead of heims..

What Mikey says!!!!! The bushing type ends are shown on the middle 4-bars in this picture.



I've used both types of rod ends but as Mikey says, the bushing type are preferable in a street car.

Here's bushing type on my roadster.



And here's heim type on my sedan/delivery.



BTW, these particular rod ends and swedged 4-bar tubes are all from Speedway.

[red90q]

Thankyou very much guys. I will definitley look into the bushing type. Do you know the price difference between the 2 types? I'm thinking that going with the bushing end would save some bucks?!
Thanks

[powerrodsmike]

That link to speedway motors that I posted has prices listed for the different types..

Speedway motors generally has the best prices around. You can find better quality elsewhere, but the price goes up.

Later, mikey

[ScoTFrenzel]

Originally Posted by cboy

What Mikey says!!!!!
And here's heim type on my sedan/delivery.



BTW, these particular rod ends and swedged 4-bar tubes are all from Speedway.

Those are really interesting front ends on your roadster and sed/del.
I don't think I have ever seen a twin I beam done that way.

How's the unsprung weight?
Thanks for the looksey.

[cboy]

Originally Posted by ScoTFrenzel

How's the unsprung weight?

I don't know exactly...but certainly on the heavy side compared to most typical T-bucket or roadster type set ups.

I can't tell from your post, but in the event you haven't seen how these suspensions were put together you can check them out in much more detail in my journals. Most of the suspension stuff is near the beginning of each journal (you can use the handy index that will come up when you click on the journal or just click the "View from Beginning" tab and start from there).

See the twin I- beam suspension in my sedan delivery here.

See the twin I-beam suspension in my '32 pickup and my '31 roadster here.