While under my MCS this past weekend to install trailing arm bushing inserts, I once again noticed that my heim joints (16 in total) had some dust and debris on them, which is not good for their longevity...

What is the best way to remove the crud? I used a Q-tip, but I was worried about accidentally pushing some particles further in...

Once clean, I spray a light coat of silicone of them, and then wiggle or rotate them to spread the lubricant, and to make sure that they are free...

I've heard of boots or covers, which sound cool, but I also heard that those might not be advisable, and they will crack over time...

Curious to hear thoughts/ideas... Thanks!

Just found this neat historical link on Heim joints:

http://www.monstertower.com/HeimJoint.htm

 

im running heim joints on my other car (camber rods). honestly, i don't
do any maintenance on them. the joints are very clean since new,
no noise, no rattle, etc.

if there are crud on it, i would spray either brake cleaner or RC car
motor spray liberally to wash out the crud.. then wipe down with
WD40 on a papertowel. that's about it.

 

Thanks Ken. It gets a little dusty here in the canyon sometimes (no dirt roads though), so mine might require a little more attention than most... Brake cleaner would certainly clean it alright. I didn't think about that...

 

WD-40 is OK but I'd rather used a dry film lubricant.
They're getting to be cheap and easy to find. I use a teflon based product.
Think about those nasty hood latches on your MINI... not mine

 

^^ true. it's best not to have conventional lube on there as it only
attracts more dust and ends up grinding the joint.

 

exposed heim joints are wear items. Go with the dry film though, as anything wet will just let the dirt stick....

Matt

 

Actually, I thought I saw some dry silicone lubricant while at The Home Depot recently... I will add this to my monthly maintenance plan. Thanks guys!

 

Tony,

There are many dry lubricants to be found in high end bicycling shops - you know I race these too. I use this type of lubricant on my chains - works great. The road bike doesn't get too bad, but mountain biking is another story.

You could try to shrink wrap the joints...I don't know what that small amount of heat will do to the teflon in the heim joints ???

That written, I opted for poly when I purchased all four control arms. If this car becomes a track only car, I'll change these out to heim joints.

Michael

 

moly disulphide. But it can be messy (grey powder). IF you want to get real trick, suspend some in a solvent that isn't bad for any of the parts, and then dip heim joint in, and run it in an ultrasonic cleaner. This will get the stuff into all the nooks and crannies. Then the solvent leaves, and you're just left with the dry lube.... PITA, but effective. If the parts are on the car already, paint some on with a q-tip or the like, and let the wicking action suck it into place....

Matt

 

Seals-It, see: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...2&autoview=sku

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

Very nice

 

Michael, Matt, and Neil - thanks for the additional input.

Working in reverse... Neil, I was made aware of those, and was quite excited when I found them! When I approached Alta on them, they said that they can actually trap-in dirt, and make matters worse. And, apparently they get dry and crack after some time... Thoughts or experiences???

Matt, that sounds like some pretty slick stuff. I can sort of sense or visualize the capillary action that you are speaking of... Where could I get my hands on such stuff? I suppose it's not cheap...

Michael, all things considered, I'll probably go this route (dry lubricant). I will check various sources, but would like some input on the bearing seals that Neil mentioned also...

Thanks guys.

 

Guys, I thought I heard of such a discussion before, and found it, here on NAM. Look at the bozo who started it!

I'm either getting too old, or under too much stress... or both...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?p=492965

 

it's the stuff in pretty much any silver/grey high temp anti-sieze....
And pretty much any solvent will do... Ethanol, methanol, acetone whatever. Just make sure it's compatible with the materials it will be in contact with. And the lower the boiling point or the higher the vapor pressure, the better. It dries faster...

Matt

 

if there's some tension on the joint from those covers, it might actually
reduce rattling noise from heim joints used on endlinks. pretty cool
stuff.

 

I think those seals would work well if they truly sealed good stuff in, and bad stuff out. What happens when the Heim swivels, like how some of mine are positioned at this moment? So long as it's centered (like in the photo), great, one will have coverage. But, it certainly seems that when they are rotated to any extreme, the cover will not be protecting as it should...

Something that goes over the entire rod-end would be more desirable.

 

^^ +1

 

and really strong condoms?

Matt

 

Matt, you have me thinking though, seriously. Anything comparable, but more durable?

 

Neoprene tubing or heat shrink tubing. Both come in diameters up to 2" id.

 

meb mentioned heat shrink above, but the tubing that I've seen (and have) is not closed at one end, like the aforementioned condom. Do they make neoprene "socks" or something along those lines? Doing a search now...

 

I suppose I can just get some material, and make something:

http://www.allproducts.com/plastic/s...-material.html

Or, just make cleaning part of my monthly check/maintenance...

 

I could find vinyl caps. http://www.stockcap.com/prod_detail.asp?id=129&cat=17
Another option would be to try to make your own.

Use the aforementioned prophylatic device or balloon to shield the joint and then Plasti Dip. Punch the hole out for the through bolt and you're done.
It is fairly rigid so there's not telling how well it will flex with the heim joint. Considering most of your motion will rotate around the bolt this may not be an issue.

 

kenchan, Tony B, Obehave, Matt, and the others,

Seeing all of you on this thread, just made me want to respond. Hope that all of you are fine and continue to enjoy your cars like I am enjoying mine.

The rear of my dual purpose MINI is 100% heim joints, except for the top and bottom of the struts. The front has heim jointed tie rods, part of a shaggy dog story that involves a bump steer correction. At this point, I have given up trying to "maintain" the joints. I just wipe them off after my post track day inspection, and let 'em rattle, if that's what they want to do. I am not convinced that additional lubrication in that environment will change the wear characteristics of the joints one iota. The noise level and handling seems stable for the last 3 years. So, wear is not a big issue that I can identify.

Am putting my efforts into reducing the "compliance" and improving the reliability of the driver.

The best to all of you.

John Petrich in Seattle

 

Thanks obe. I'm feeling more and more that I'll just maintain them... but I do think that there might be a market for something like this.

Hey there John! Actually I don't detect any noise from mine. They obviously trasmit more noise (road) into the cabin, but I don't sense them as the origination point...

If the joints are indeed making noise, isn't that an indicator that there is play or loosness in those connections? When it comes to compliance, you have been on the vanguard, so I would tend to think that such noises would be undesirable, and that you wouldn't find it acceptable. Hope you can explain why you think it's not so big of a deal, performance-wise...

Thanks John!