Heim joints vs. tapered rod ends

[gearheadmb]

I have a yj that i swapped in dana 44s and went spring over. Now i need to build a drag link for it. I know that the big time wheelers are using heim joints as their steering joints and i was wondering if it is something i should use on mine. I run 35s and it is only steet driven a little bit in the summer. My 4wheeling runs are mostly muddy woods trails, hill climbs and log crossing, there isn't any rocks to crawl in ohio. My main concern is i still want to be able to drive this thing on the roads, will heim joints ruin its steetability? Ive compared prices and there isnt much difference between building with heims and using tapered, stock style rod ends. Also is there a big difference in performance between the economy heims and the high end units or would they just be overkill?

 

[wrangler76]

Oh... here we go.... There will be some opinions flying around now. I don't put heim joints on the steering components of my street driven vehicles.

 

[BESRK]

I've run heims on street driven rigs before. They get sloppy quicker than OEM style tie rod ends.. especially if they see alot of grit/dirt/mud.

However, heims are probably easier to incorporate into a DIY steering setup since you only have to drill straight holes for the attachment bolts. The OEM tie rod ends need a tapered hole.

Another plus for the OEM rod ends.. you can usually walk into any parts store and pick them up. With heims, you need to carry around spares.

If the rig is street driven, I'd go with OEM style tie rod ends. That's just my opinion.

 

[gearheadmb]

Yeah, i had heard that before but not from anybody that had used them in the real world.Thanks for the info.

 

[xjmarc]

With heims you get what you pay for. Been running my q's for about a year and a half and no slop in the steering but it doesn't see all that much street time.

 

[jps4jeep]

This is not opinion...
when my jeep was driven on the street I ran 1 ton TRE from a chevy K30, not because it was a street driven vehicle and not because it was illegal or anything.. simply because if I damaged something in my steering, a replacement TRE was easy to find to get me home, any auto parts store would have it.

I still have the 1 ton TRE on the jeep and they have worked admirably for the past 5 years. With the D60 going in and running full hydro, I will be using Heims. I will also use a rebuildable units and carry some spare parts with me.

 

[Ggg]

I agree with the majority here I run TRE's in my steering links solely due to ease of acquiring parts in a pinch.

 

[BESRK]

I neglected to post earlier that, after recommending TREs for a street driven rig, my current CJ5 is running Heims on a home cobbled high steer setup. Basically, I already had the front D44 setup with high steer arms that I made about 10 years ago. They were already drilled for 3/4" bolts so I just used 3/4" heims and Grade 8 bolts for this "limited street time" rig. I probably put about 200 street miles a year on the CJ and trailer it whenever I take it wheeling. As for spares, I've got about a dozen or so brand new heims sitting in a box in the shop so having trail spares isn't really a problem at the moment.

If I were building from scratch.. TREs for a street rig.