Heim rod ends good or bad for regular driver

Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction

Active Member
Hey all,
I have a drag link set up for 5/8" Heim type rod ends with safety washers and before I commit and drill out the holes on the drag link and knuckle I just want to be sure it's safe for my application. My CJ5 will probably not see much off road at this time and is used mostly for running around town so I have a few questions.
Are they safe?
Do they wear out fast for street use?
Anyone have trouble with a vehicle inspection because of them?

Thanks
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Can't speak about safety inspections but our JK is running an EVO high steer kit on our ProRock 60 front axle and every link on it has heims. They work well but like anything, they will wear out. Replacing them is easy - maybe easier than TRE's.
 
Upvote 0
wayoflife said:
Can't speak about safety inspections but our JK is running an EVO high steer kit on our ProRock 60 front axle and every link on it has heims. They work well but like anything, they will wear out. Replacing them is easy - maybe easier than TRE's.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply! If I replace the drag link can I lose the drop pitman arm and gon with the stock arm?
 
Upvote 0
Heim is a company that makes quality rod ends, but Heim isn't the only rod end manufacturer. Using the term "heim joints" to generically refer to rod ends isn't correct. I bring this up because it concerns the protection of intellectual property which is important to content creators.

About twenty years ago, I made a tie rod and drag link with rod ends to eliminate the Y link used in the XJ steering. The XJ was lifted and sat on 35 inch tires and was a daily driver as well as an off-road rig. Since we lived in a little town just outside the south entrance of the Grand Canyon, we used the XJ to explore the backcountry almost every week. We also had to make trips into Flagstaff every two weeks for groceries, which was almost 80 miles away over a mountainous road. The rod ends never gave me any trouble for more than two years of constant use. I used sealed rod ends and kept them lubed them with a silicon spray.

My JK came with 3.75" of lift. It had a dropped pitman arm, raised drag link bracket, factory drag link and factory tie rod. I installed a factory pitman arm, one ton flipped drag link and one ton tie rod. I don't feel any bumpsteer. The dropped pitman arm was worn and steering was scary. Installing the factory fixed the scary part. (I'm using ball joints on the JK.)

When messing around with drag links, panhard rods and tie rods, it’s important to pay attention to the angles. If the angles are off, you'll get bumpsteer. When you replace the dropped pitman arm with a factory style pitman arm (which you should do), you want to keep the angle of the drag link and the panhard rod (track bar) parallel.

ETA- Corrections & clarifications in italics.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
GP NOIR said:
Heim is a company that makes quality rod ends, but Heim isn't the only rod end manufacturer. Using the term "heim joints" to generically refer to rod ends isn't correct. I bring this up because it concerns the protection of intellectual property which is important to content creators.

About twenty years ago, I made a tie rod and drag link to eliminate the Y link used in the XJ steering. The XJ was lifted and sat on 35 inch tires and was a daily driver as well as an off-road rig. Since we lived in a little town just outside the south entrance of the Grand Canyon, we used the XJ to explore the backcountry almost every week. We also had to make trips into Flagstaff every two weeks for groceries, which was almost 80 miles away over a mountainous road. The rod ends never gave me any trouble for more than two years of constant use. I used sealed rod ends and kept them lubed them with a silicon spray.

My JK came with 3.75" of lift. It had a dropped pitman arm, raised drag link bracket, factory drag link and factory tie rod. I installed a factory pitman arm, one ton flipped drag link and one ton tie rod. I don't feel any bumpsteer. The dropped pitman arm was worn and steering was scary. Installing the factory fixed the scary part. (I'm using ball joints on the JK.)

When messing around with drag links, panhard rods and tie rods is the angles. If the angles are off, you'll get bumpsteer. When you replace the dropped pitman arm with a factory style pitman arm (which you should do), you want to keep the angle of the drag link and the panhard rod parallel.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. No panhard rod on my jeep so it shouldn't be an issue. Looks like a good way to go.
 
Upvote 0
GP NOIR said:
Heim is a company that makes quality rod ends, but Heim isn't the only rod end manufacturer. Using the term "heim joints" to generically refer to rod ends isn't correct. I bring this up because it concerns the protection of intellectual property which is important to content creators.

About twenty years ago, I made a tie rod and drag link to eliminate the Y link used in the XJ steering. The XJ was lifted and sat on 35 inch tires and was a daily driver as well as an off-road rig. Since we lived in a little town just outside the south entrance of the Grand Canyon, we used the XJ to explore the backcountry almost every week. We also had to make trips into Flagstaff every two weeks for groceries, which was almost 80 miles away over a mountainous road. The rod ends never gave me any trouble for more than two years of constant use. I used sealed rod ends and kept them lubed them with a silicon spray.

My JK came with 3.75" of lift. It had a dropped pitman arm, raised drag link bracket, factory drag link and factory tie rod. I installed a factory pitman arm, one ton flipped drag link and one ton tie rod. I don't feel any bumpsteer. The dropped pitman arm was worn and steering was scary. Installing the factory fixed the scary part. (I'm using ball joints on the JK.)

When messing around with drag links, panhard rods and tie rods is the angles. If the angles are off, you'll get bumpsteer. When you replace the dropped pitman arm with a factory style pitman arm (which you should do), you want to keep the angle of the drag link and the panhard rod parallel.
Click to expand...
Thank you for saving us from ourselves and offering zero answers to his questions.
 
Upvote 0
Heh! I was gonna say I didn’t notice any noise from the rod ends, but that may have had something to do with the Flowmaster 40 series muffler.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom