Alright, so i've had really ****** luck with my tie rods and ends so far. I was breaking the standard yamaha type frequently, so I switched to one of the honda-style kits, and that isn't working out worth a **** either because they don't have enough range of motion, and are binding up on me and all 4 are already wore out because of this. My question, is how much maintenance is required to keep heim joints in good shape, since they're not sealed with a rubber boot and grease? Will I be dooming myself from the start if I get these and ride in mud and water like I usually do? Thanks guys.
Heim joint owners... i got a question for ya
- Thread starter yamarider
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jasonp
Well-Known Member
Is it the tire's that you have on the front end that are causing all the breakage?? I've hit so much **** with my front tires and it's kicked me off the bike.. I'm suprised I haven't broke one. What the hell??
The broken ends and rods can be contributed to a number of thinks. I had flipped wheels, my 8 inch wide front tires, and pennsylvania's trails are notoriously rocky. Now my issue is, for whatever reason, I have so much more travel with my burgard arms and works shocks that when the suspension unloads it drops down more than my ends can handle, and they bind.
ridinfast03
Well-Known Member
I would look into EPI tie rods, they claim to be much more stronger than oem
I'm not sure that they would make any difference. It doesn't look like they even sell them with honda threads and a yamaha taper, and most likely they won't have a better range of motion than the ones I have now. Thanks for the idea though.
Try the ASR Pro Racer kit. It's a little pricey, $140 I think but they're great. The heim joints are nice, just make sure to keep them clean and packed with some kind of crap to keep them lubed. I'd just smear grease on mine every so often, but I've heard of a lot of good ideas to keep them lubed up.
The ASR tie rod kits were the ones i'm looking at, which is why I started this thread. The "keeping them clean" thing is the part i'm worried about. You know how the trails are here in pa, after we get a little rain there's no such thing as keeping anything clean. I'm worried that the joints will end up worn out after a few rides because of this.
Nah, I beat mine relentlessly and they held up really well. Just after you ride blast them off with the hose to get all the grit out of them and slap some kind of grease or something on them. Hell, I'd usually just spray them with chain lube...lol. Anything that can hold up to the PA trails gets a thumbs up from me, and they did really well. The only thing is you'll feel a little slop in the bars with them on cause the ball will float a little in the heim, but it's totally normal and you'll get used to it quickly. Seriously though, they're really nice tie rods.
dave76
Well-Known Member
Hey yama according to the owner of Wicked, he said the heim ends are kinda rough on the rest of the suspention because it just passes off the weakest link to another component, like your a arm which is pretty expensive, or in our case the steering stem which will bend with ease. ASR sells tie rod ends to fit oem that way stronger then stock. Thats what I went with.
Dave, do you know if ASR's upgraded stock-style ends have a better range of motion than the stock ones? It isn't the strength so much, i'm pretty sure my entire problem is because the ones I have don't have enough travel. Maybe it's just because these ****** tusk ends are built different too.
You also have upgraded A-arms and shocks, which even though they're "standard travel" can add suspension travel. With that in mind it's entirely possible that your tie rod ends are binding. If you look at the ASR website they're advertising the arms as "high misalignment" which means the heim joints will allow more travel than a conventional balljoint. I'm sure you already know that, but if you're looking for them to allow more movement the heim joints are the only thing that will do it probably.
dave76
Well-Known Member
Yamarider I've never seen what the Tusks look like, but if their too fat on the big end then yeah it will limit travel, I didn't recieve mine yet so I can't tell ya, but the owner of Wicked recommends stock end links.
jonaddis84
Well-Known Member
Dont spend $140 on a set of tie rods.
Go to www.colemanracing.com call them, they sell 5/8"od tappable aluminum tubing for 3/8 x 24 threads (about $15 shipped maybe). Its already the correct ID for that thread size so all you need is a right and left hand 3/8 x 24 tap ($12 total).
Finally go to www.midwestcontrol.com browse through to the "Performance Products" section, in there you will find heim joints/rod ends. Keep browsing in whatever grade you would like. I know for sure in the zinc yellow plated they sell 3/8 x 24 rod ends with studs pressed in so you dont need misalignment bushings. I cant be certain that these studs will hold up as I just recently switched to this style on my bike and havent ridden it much. If you are worried about that, get a set of chromemoly ends and browse through to find their misalignment bushings. Problem there is you will need to switch to a 1/2" rod end to use 3/8" bolts, then the tubing above will not work.
All else fails PM me and Ill make you a set for cheaper than $100. Ive had the same +3 tie rods on my 600rr quad for 3 years and just now replaced the heim joints, although they were still fine I just wanted new looking ones to sell the quad. The aluminum is no problem.
Go to www.colemanracing.com call them, they sell 5/8"od tappable aluminum tubing for 3/8 x 24 threads (about $15 shipped maybe). Its already the correct ID for that thread size so all you need is a right and left hand 3/8 x 24 tap ($12 total).
Finally go to www.midwestcontrol.com browse through to the "Performance Products" section, in there you will find heim joints/rod ends. Keep browsing in whatever grade you would like. I know for sure in the zinc yellow plated they sell 3/8 x 24 rod ends with studs pressed in so you dont need misalignment bushings. I cant be certain that these studs will hold up as I just recently switched to this style on my bike and havent ridden it much. If you are worried about that, get a set of chromemoly ends and browse through to find their misalignment bushings. Problem there is you will need to switch to a 1/2" rod end to use 3/8" bolts, then the tubing above will not work.
All else fails PM me and Ill make you a set for cheaper than $100. Ive had the same +3 tie rods on my 600rr quad for 3 years and just now replaced the heim joints, although they were still fine I just wanted new looking ones to sell the quad. The aluminum is no problem.
Thanks for the info. I might take you up on that offer. I don't have much luck when it comes to tapping threads and things of that nature.
Do you notice any slop or looseness in your heim ends like yakuza mentioned?
jonaddis84
Well-Known Member
Not at all, I was always used to my quad having the issue where you could turn the bars back and forth quite a bit and the wheels wouldnt move. Now there isnt a bit of slop, even after 2yrs of having the same heims on it and not taking very good care of them there was zero slop. All you really need to do to take care of the heims is spray some white lithium grease on them, it supposedly cleans them and also lubricates, only problem is that its messy stuff.
Sweet.
Would you happen to have any pictures of the setup you have on your warrior?
Another thought - would you know of any places that might sell heim ends with metric thread? When I got my a-arms Burgard made me some nice +2 chromoly rods to work with the honda-style tie rod ends.
Would you happen to have any pictures of the setup you have on your warrior?
Another thought - would you know of any places that might sell heim ends with metric thread? When I got my a-arms Burgard made me some nice +2 chromoly rods to work with the honda-style tie rod ends.
jonaddis84
Well-Known Member
I believe the www.midwestcontrol.com site I gave you sells metric's. Not 100% positive though.
