American Star heims too tight

[YamahaNutz]

I found its a common issue on some ASR joints after some use. But never found an answer besides "try again" with another set. Mine are brand new. 3 of the 4 are way too tight. I tried cycling them with chain lube, and allowed it time to dry. It was a bit looser before the lube dried up, then just as tight as they started. I was nearly lifting the atv up by one wheel to get it to move with no shock attached on the side with 2 stiff joints. I tried more lube a few times over a few days, cycling them again, and no change. I tried riding the quad around a bumpy yard for a couple hours and it got worse. It has smoother up and down movement but I'm flexing the handle bars trying to turn it.

Steering stem is very free with tierods disconnected.

I got a response from ASR saying he personally uses wd40 after washing. So I tried that. Helps for a few minutes and then tightens right back up

I wanted to buy the sealed balljoints, but they sold out a couple days before I was going to buy them.

Anyone had any luck getting them to free up? Heat gun or hair dryer? Boiling? Maybe spinning them in a drill press and dropping in water to cool off?

You can't safely ride a atv at high speed if the steering is nearly locked-up.

 

[beastlywarrior228]

Mine were tight but broke right in.

 

[PineyPower]

Having a similar issue with full flight ball joints, did they eventually loosen up?

 

[YamahaNutz]

No. Actually, they did slightly.

I ordered some more aluminum round stock. I'm going to cut and thread a piece I can thread on and chuck into a drill or drill press. I think some spinning friction with water, to keep it from melting, will help loosen them a bit. I seen this solution on other forums for people with off-road rigs and drag/track cars. You spin it till it starts to get warm, stop, cool it down, check the stiffness and repeat till it's where you want it. You do the minimum, as to not melt the teflon out.

All-stars response, "I've never had this issue. Just lube it with wd-40 and ride!". I exaggerated the response, but that is basically what I got. Same joints fullflight uses.

To go into it further, I noticed the treads cut into the pins were a little dirty. I chased the threads out. Maybe that allowed more clamping force to apply when I torqued them? Maybe the ball slightly deforms when torqued? They were stiff, but I could move them by hand before I torqued the pins in. I might try to break one loose before i spin them in a drill, if I can without heat, to confirm this.

 

[YamahaNutz]

This is kind of nuts. First joint, which is the one that mostly moved free, took very little spinning and it came free with easy movement. The second one, the worst, took 6 cycles of spinning it till it heated up, and dropped in a bucket of water. I nearly smoked my drill doing it. Cleaned it off after every cycle, and found a small amount of wd40 helped it spin back up again.

My arm is sore. I don't think my drill press would have spun it. I'm going to attempt to do the other two tonight. Has to be just poor quality control where they are made.



Edit: I have to find a new means of spinning these. I did smoked my drill. I have a hole hawg 90 drill to try. Ridiculous how tight these heim joints are. I can barely wobble them by hand with the adapter on them. This is insane how tight they are. How do you sell a product that is this far out of wack?

I also have to shim the taper with brass shim stock as they fit too loose in the knuckle. The taper is too small and hits the pin's shoulder before it can tighten up to the knuckles taper. I'm at a awe with the quality of these. The tapered pins were spinning in the knickle when I turned the handle.

American Star Racing, you have some very serious quality control issues on the joints you use.

 

[PineyPower]

Hour number 3 of trying to break the joints in the old fashioned way...
This thing is a damn arm workout! I'm purposely hitting the twistiest, root filled trails I can at full bore to try to beat the joints I to submission but so far, no good

 

[YamahaNutz]

I think I may have bested your break-in. Got all the joints done. I can turn the handle bar with a finger. No slack in the joints, but they turn like a heim should. Still a bit stiff before installing into the knuckles. Once bolted in, I can actually turn the handle bar as I did with the stock ball-joint arms.