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heim steering

S

sandyeggoxj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Sure would be nice to have a home...
I need new steering in the next week or so. I basically have stock steering. I was out playing yesterday and just waiting for my steering to take a shit. It was not feeling or sounds good.

I want to go heim and I was looking at the barnes and ruffstuff kit. The price is pretty damn similar on these kits. What should I do? Should I piece something together? Anywhere else I should look for kits? I have heard that heims are not legal on the road, and I really don't care. If a cop wants to bust me for my steering then good for him. The 2 factors that I care about: getting the parts in by next Monday or so and longevity. I only drive this thing a few miles a month and almost exclusively on trails.

HP d30 from a 99. 4ish inches of lift. Radius arm suspension. 35's. I pretty much have 12" of wheel travel and as soon as I put longer shocks on i'll be able to push 14" travel. So steering should be able to handle that.

thanks.
 
As for longevity, I've been using 3/4" chromoly for years. As long as I spray them down with silicon before a ride, they're fine.

Legal on the road, I don't know nor do I care.
 
personally I would go with Ruffstuff.

Dan is a great guy, they are a Naxja supporting Vendor and they are good people to deal with. their warranty is great.

plus the word on the street is that Barnes has taken a lot of designs from them and sold them as their own.


just my .02
 
rockclimber said:
personally I would go with Ruffstuff.

Dan is a great guy, they are a Naxja supporting Vendor and they are good people to deal with. their warranty is great.

plus the word on the street is that Barnes has taken a lot of designs from them and sold them as their own.


just my .02
Click to expand...

I agree. A lot of their stuff looks identical.

I have also had fitment issues with barnes products and a differential cover weld that leaked. (not saying you can mess up shipping out some DOM and tube inserts)

Never had an issue with ruffstuff. I learned my lesson
 
Ruff Stuff 7/8" heim kit run OTK. Tabs welded to the top of the tie rod to connect the drag link. Tie rod hit the coil buckets and limited my steering severely.

IMAG0080.jpg


Fixed the problem with a Iron Rock tie rod with bends at the ends to clear the axle brackets. Used the RS drag link and made a heim track bar out of the old tie rod.

IMAG0295.jpg
 
As far as legality I'd like to know myself since I do drive it around town and sometimes to work if it snows and I don't want to take my van! I heard they weren't just like full hydro steering, but I see them all the time! I did run one heim on my V8 XJ for years put it was the pitman arm end which is pretty far tucked up under the winch bumper and never had legal issues! I need to change to a more solid steering! I have one ton tre's flipped over the knuckles on my 44 Ford front and one ton on the drag link as well but the drag link is connected to the tie rod and not a knuckle so I seem to get some wobble of the drag link! So if anyone knows the legality it would help!!
 
I'm actually thinking about doing the same thing. The one thing that holds me back from doing heim joints is that a lot of people don't like them because they are noisy on the road. That usually doesn't bother me but what do you all think?
Yes I know I'm still a newb around here but hopefully you guys are nicer than pirate...
 
Boss Cherokee said:
As far as legality I'd like to know myself since I do drive it around town and sometimes to work if it snows and I don't want to take my van! I heard they weren't just like full hydro steering, but I see them all the time! I did run one heim on my V8 XJ for years put it was the pitman arm end which is pretty far tucked up under the winch bumper and never had legal issues! I need to change to a more solid steering! I have one ton tre's flipped over the knuckles on my 44 Ford front and one ton on the drag link as well but the drag link is connected to the tie rod and not a knuckle so I seem to get some wobble of the drag link! So if anyone knows the legality it would help!!
Click to expand...

Legality varies by location
in SoCal, the consensus is that heims are good to go.
 
So '90,

What about the setup that sunburned is running? THink I could get 14" from that? I hate seeing potential travel go to waste! Sunburned's setup looks pretty legit. I am exceptionally confident in my welding skills so I don't mind throwing some tabs on my tie rod for that. But I have heard that inverted-t setups have a dead spot. Will I notice that?!? I don't drive on the road. When I drive fast (60+mph) it is on gravel and it is dumb.

I also plan on hydro assist until I get my 1-tons built and then going full-hydro. This setup needs to be strong enough to handle rocks and hydro assist. when I have my front locker engaged I can't f#$%ing steer. drives me nuts.
 
im doing the same thing but im doin it all myself not some kit from someone and so far its been hell im trying to figure out how to keep it from hitting the diff cover and coil bucket plates when turned all the way but i have ballistic fabrication set up but im also trying not to bend the tube
 
So it looks like barnes is out. Going a different route. Ruffstuff is still in the game. I was looking at ballistic as well. Don't bash me. I've hung out with the owner and I'm confident ordering from them. I also need to order a few other odds and ends and they seem to be winning overall. Plus I should get a ground shipment in 1, maybe 2 days. They are in the same state after all...
 
camojeep88 said:
im doing the same thing but im doin it all myself not some kit from someone and so far its been hell im trying to figure out how to keep it from hitting the diff cover and coil bucket plates when turned all the way but i have ballistic fabrication set up but im also trying not to bend the tube
Click to expand...

I have a bender and I can just pickup a 1.5" die (which I should have anyways) to "clearance" the tie rod if I need to. I'm just running the stock cover and a chin guard.
 
im running the riddler cover and its real close but im hitting the end of my coil plates but i think im just gonna give up a few degrees of steering so i dont have to worry
 
Ok, so another question. Should I go 3/4 heims and use 5/8-18tpi grade 8 bolts which have an estimated shear strength of 23k#, or use 7/8 heims and 3/4-16tpi grade 8 bolts with have an estimated shear strength of 33k#? How much force am I likely to exert with the locker on and a hydro assist ram doing some pushing? Can I "get away with" 5/8 bolts? It would be easy to carry a couple of those bolts. I plan on buying longer bolts with a non-threaded shank and then cutting the excess threads off. So that would actually increase my estimate shear strength of the bolts by adding 4500# to the 5/8 and even more strength to the 3/4 bolt.

An additional question: do the 7/8 heims allow for more misalignment on the draglink and thus allow me to get a full 14" of travel out of both wheels?
 
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