Heim joint rattle

travisk · Jul 13, 2013

My XJ suffers from a rattle at idle that courses through the entire unibody and it's driving me mad. I finally tracked it down to the heim joint on my Rough Country adjustable track bar. There's a little bit of horizontal play in the joint itself. The lift is only 6 months old.

Should I replace the joint, or is the rattling just the nature of heim joints? I sprayed some lube on it but I doubt that will help.

rockclimber · Jul 13, 2013

If the Heim is worn out and has play it should be replaced.

That Heim doesn't look like it has enough surface area on it to prevent excessive bearing wear.

GrimmJeeper · Jul 13, 2013

heim should have no play whatsoever

joe_peters · Jul 14, 2013

GrimmJeeper said:
heim should have no play whatsoever

Agree.

Consider replacing the joint with a higher quality piece.

Action Fab · Jul 14, 2013

travisk said:

The problem is that is a POS "spherical rod end", not a proper Heim. That rod end doesn't have a proper race. It is just a bearing pressed into a metal case. It's metal on metal without a liner or barrier. It's honestly a pretty/shiny tractor joint.

What you need is on of these.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=34RE

Hellbent · Jul 14, 2013

seconding what action fab said...
that is a CRAP heim. i would go even better than the link he posted and use something like these: http://www.fkrodends.com/JMXJMXL15.html - 3 piece, heat treated, w/ a teflon liner. we use them as replacements in the re track bars all the time, MUCH better than what you've got going there.

Kingkong0192 · Jul 14, 2013

Ditch the track bar and buy an IRO Double shear bar.

The RC bars are known to be total junk.

Action Fab · Jul 14, 2013

Hellbent said:
seconding what action fab said...
that is a CRAP heim. i would go even better than the link he posted and use something like these: http://www.fkrodends.com/JMXJMXL15.html - 3 piece, heat treated, w/ a teflon liner. we use them as replacements in the re track bars all the time, MUCH better than what you've got going there.

You're joking right? FK rod ends are nowhere near the quality that Ruffstuff heims are.

"With all the Heim Joints we sell it only made sense to make them the way we wanted them... This is a 3/4" shaft with a 3/4" bore (16TPI). Don't let the price confuse you, these are a very high quality Heat & Cryogenically Treated 4130 Chromoly rod end, we can sell them for a tad more than a cheap mild steel heim because we sell so many and avoid the middleman.

The housing is made from 4130 Chromoly, the Ball is made from 52100 Bearing Steel. It has a hard chrome finish. The race is made from injection molded Teflon impregnated Nylon that we have had tremendous luck with. When completed the entire structure is both Heat & Cryo Treated.

Ultimate Radial Static Load - 32,400lbs. These are not tested to breaking point, they are tested to first deformation, that is a key point, deformation is not breaking. Several of the other companies making Rod Ends test to destruction. You will stop using the heim after it has bent so why even care at what point they fall into a pile of pieces on the ground, that number just dosen't make any sense to the actual user... "

Ruff stuff is now the largest buyer of heims in the world. Most high quality heims are made in the same factory over seas. Their heims are nearly identical to QA1. But they go a step further with a better race and the cryo the joint after heat treating to super harden the liner and to further normalize the metal. They are the strongest and best quality heim on the market.

Boostwerks.com · Jul 14, 2013

Action Fab said:
You're joking right? FK rod ends are nowhere near the quality that Ruffstuff heims are.

Something tells me you haven't seen or used the higher end FK stuff.

If your comparing the FK economy rod ends, then sure. However, FK's higher end stuff uses a full 360deg Kevlar/Teflon race. In terms of liner strength, it all comes down to surface area. For comparison, the ruff stuff heims utilize the typical 180deg Teflon race. The high end FK's are easily the highest quality heim on the market.

However, the other variable in the mix is cost. You can easily pay upwards of $75 for a high end FK rod end, where as you can get the same size joint from ruff stuff for 1/4 of the price. Just keep in mind that heims are rated for static loads. This does not at all give a good indication of how they're going to hold up under repeated shock loads.

Heims by design (especially those without a full liner) do not like shock loads. Over time the liner get's worn out from taking a beating, and you end up with the typical heim "clunk." In my experience, using a rubber or poly bushing on the other end of the link to absorb these shock loads greatly increases the life of the heim.

Vanimal · Jul 14, 2013

Action Fab said:
You're joking right? FK rod ends are nowhere near the quality that Ruffstuff heims are.

Ruff stuff is now the largest buyer of heims in the world. Most high quality heims are made in the same factory over seas. Their heims are nearly identical to QA1. But they go a step further with a better race and the cryo the joint after heat treating to super harden the liner and to further normalize the metal. They are the strongest and best quality heim on the market.

Sorry, but ruffstuff heims are NOT as good as some quality fk heims.

travisk · Jul 14, 2013

A closer look.

I'd prefer to just order a better quality end rather than replace the whole track bar setup. What are the important dimensions? The threads and the spacing outside of the joint?

Boostwerks.com · Jul 14, 2013

You need the size of the threaded shank, as well as the through bolt.

Action Fab · Jul 14, 2013

Boostwerks.com said:
Something tells me you haven't seen or used the higher end FK stuff.

If your comparing the FK economy rod ends, then sure. However, FK's higher end stuff uses a full 360deg Kevlar/Teflon race. In terms of liner strength, it all comes down to surface area. For comparison, the ruff stuff heims utilize the typical 180deg Teflon race. The high end FK's are easily the highest quality heim on the market.

However, the other variable in the mix is cost. You can easily pay upwards of $75 for a high end FK rod end, where as you can get the same size joint from ruff stuff for 1/4 of the price. Just keep in mind that heims are rated for static loads. This does not at all give a good indication of how they're going to hold up under repeated shock loads.

Heims by design (especially those without a full liner) do not like shock loads. Over time the liner get's worn out from taking a beating, and you end up with the typical heim "clunk." In my experience, using a rubber or poly bushing on the other end of the link to absorb these shock loads greatly increases the life of the heim.

I have. I use to use FK and QA1 stuff before ruffstuff redesigned their rod ends about two years ago. I've been building rigs back before ruffstuff even existed. I still stand by what I said.

Action Fab · Jul 14, 2013

Boostwerks.com said:
Something tells me you haven't seen or used the higher end FK stuff.

If your comparing the FK economy rod ends, then sure. However, FK's higher end stuff uses a full 360deg Kevlar/Teflon race. In terms of liner strength, it all comes down to surface area. For comparison, the ruff stuff heims utilize the typical 180deg Teflon race. The high end FK's are easily the highest quality heim on the market.

However, the other variable in the mix is cost. You can easily pay upwards of $75 for a high end FK rod end, where as you can get the same size joint from ruff stuff for 1/4 of the price. Just keep in mind that heims are rated for static loads. This does not at all give a good indication of how they're going to hold up under repeated shock loads.

Ruffstuff rates their heims by first indication of fatigue. FK rates their joints by full failure. Also Kevlar, although very hard and resilient, works as it's own destroyer. As Kevlar wears it creates dust that works almost like sand paper to destroy itself. It also doesn't lubricate itself like the ruff stuff heims do. I'm not saying FK heims are garbage. But from what I've found they are not the best and don't last the longest.

rockclimber · Jul 15, 2013

ruffstuff doesn't make their own heims. their are re-selling midwest control heims.

they are great, but the Aircraft grade FK stuff is going to be better.

Action Fab · Jul 15, 2013

rockclimber said:
ruffstuff doesn't make their own heims. their are re-selling midwest control heims.

they are great, but the Aircraft grade FK stuff is going to be better.

Wrong. they did up until the end of 2010. They have their own heims made now.

rockclimber · Jul 15, 2013

Action Fab said:
Wrong. they did up until the end of 2010. They have their own heims made now.

if they are so badass, why do I keep killing them? I'm on my 3rd 7/8" ruffstuff heim and it lasted about 6 months

at least they ware warrantying them...

Action Fab · Jul 15, 2013

rockclimber said:
if they are so badass, why do I keep killing them? I'm on my 3rd 7/8" ruffstuff heim and it lasted about 6 months

at least they ware warrantying them...

Are they binding? I've built a lot of rigs with them and every single one of them is still running the same exact set I originally installed. Many are years old and thousands of miles old.

rockclimber · Jul 15, 2013

No bind. I've sent pics to ruffstuff and they have confirmed that everything should be fine... And yet I've had 2 wear out excessively and a third pushed the race halfway out.

It's one of the downsides to I the injection molded races.

MoparManiac · Jul 15, 2013

None of my 1.25" heims from Ruffstuff are loose and they're 3 years old under my pig of an MJ.

Heim joint rattle

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