A few question about rod ends

[MGrobe]

This is going to be my first foray into heim joints. I have a few questions.


1) Is the joint supposed to be non-lubricated? I assume it should be left dry.
I am in the Chicago area and see a fair amount of road salt in the winter. Plus when I wheel water and mud is usally unavoidable.

2) Any other maintenance that should be performed regularly or after trail rides?
If cleaning of some sort is recommended, then please specify with what.

3) When using them in a shock application for the front axle, which way is best for mounting the orientation of the eyes? My bilstein shocks have them both upper and lower. I am worried about avoiding daily wear and tear, plus hyper-extending the joint during extreme flex. I have a blank sheet at the moment as far as mounting is concerned, so now is the time to setup the rod ends in my preferred configuration.

Feel free to move this to modified if the mods deem it more appropriate there.

 

[xj4life]

i'm running heims on my long arms, also a first time user. i ran one weekend in the mud no problems, came home and washed the whole jeep down. next weekend hit the rocks and all the hiems were very squeaky. headed back to the trailer and put some bearing grease on them and they were quiet again. the previous weekend i had sprayed them with some teflon spray. other than that i've been happy with them.

 

[Goatman]

This is going to be my first foray into heim joints. I have a few questions.


1) Is the joint supposed to be non-lubricated? I assume it should be left dry.
I am in the Chicago area and see a fair amount of road salt in the winter. Plus when I wheel water and mud is usally unavoidable.

2) Any other maintenance that should be performed regularly or after trail rides?
If cleaning of some sort is recommended, then please specify with what.

3) When using them in a shock application for the front axle, which way is best for mounting the orientation of the eyes? My bilstein shocks have them both upper and lower. I am worried about avoiding daily wear and tear, plus hyper-extending the joint during extreme flex. I have a blank sheet at the moment as far as mounting is concerned, so now is the time to setup the rod ends in my preferred configuration.

Feel free to move this to modified if the mods deem it more appropriate there.

You can get a rod end with a grease zerk, but they're not commonly used. Mostly, they don't get any special attention but a little lubrication can't hurt. The quality of the rod end has everything to do with how they will hold up. I live in the dry west, so no salt or mud, so I can't help with experience in those elements.

Normally, the mounting bolt is perpendicular to the axle to allow maximum movement for articulating. But, on some rigs there is quite a bit of twist to the front axle also as it cycles up and down, so the best answer is to mount them the way it works best in your situation. BTW, if you didn't already know it, JKS makes a nice shock adapter for rod ends on the upper front mount.

 

[MGrobe]

Thanks for the information Goatman. It does help with some of the questions.