After reading this this this a couple days ago, it brought-up something I've been wondering for some time... What is the best way determine when it's time to replace a Heim joint?

I'm pretty **** about checking my car for wear and tear items, marking bolts / nuts to check for movement, re-torquing as necessary, etc. Curious to know what signifies that a Heim is shot, or ready for replacement. Thanks much for your input.

 

IMO a heim joint is worn when you can easily detect looseness in it. A Teflon bushed joint starts off with a fair amount of stiffness. Over time this slacks off, but should not result in the joint knocking around loosely. Most of the wear comes from dirt grinding away inside the ball interface, this can be lessened by using heim seals that can be found from places like Summit. These allow you to grease the ends as well, extending their life.

 

Thanks for the reply Greatbear.

I actually posted on those (Heim seals) over a year ago. Between an Alta PM, and others, I was essentially told that these will not keep-out all dirt and debris, and that what does enter, the seals retain it, making matters worse. Also, from what I was told, these dry-up and crack after a short amount of time. I was essentially left with... don't bother going this route, so I did not.

So, by what method would one easily detect unwanted movement or looseness? Have the rear end jacked-up, wheels/tires suspended, and check for play or slop comes-to-mind...

 

Tony,

Mine have been on the car about 6 weeks and they are coming off this weekend...mine came from IE, so they are not Aurora teflon lined rod ends. Aurora cost about $70.00 each and the IE about $25.00 each.

The movement is about 1/8" along the axis of the arm now and that is all I can tolerate; the back end will begin to sag, most alignment folks will not notice and will align based upon what they see. so the alignment will actually cause some very funny motions while at 10/10s on a track.

I highly recommend these for the track! I purchased these as a street experiment...I wanted to go thru the process myself. I drove as I usually do and after about 5,000 miles on public roads they are done.

Also, the wear is most evident on the inner lower bushing; this was true with the poly bushings I had before the rod ends. All others were absolutely fine. So, keep an eye on those two. The poly bushings only lasted about 20K miles and showed 1/4" deflection along the lower arm's axis...these should have been replaced at about 10-12K miles. but again, just the inner lower bushing was bad, all others were in perfect condition.

Got new SPC arms, thanks to K-huevo. About the same weight or a hair heavier than stock, adjustable, stock bushing material.

Hope this helps

 

Michael, I seem to recall a thread with your experiences. I will check mine, focusing on the lower, inner rod ends this weekend. Looking at the Alta website reveals that they are nylon impregnated:

http://www.altaminiperformance.com/p...r-Control-Arms

Thank you for your input.