heim vs bushing ends

whats the pros and cons of bothc and what would be best for a fullsize upper links

This is another one of those questions that has been asked many times before. Do a search and see what you come up with, if you can' find anything let me know.

i've heard heim joints arent the best. My friend used a universal paraellel 4 link on his single can first gen and they squeek and stick sometimes, once he even hit sides and the truck got stuck. Im not a fan of them what so ever, BUT other people have other examples and opinions. I loved the polyurathane basic bushings and bar ends from Suicidedoors.com. They are pretty heavy duty and would work well on a fullsize. Hope you get somethin figured out

^^^That is exactly why you should ALWAYS use high quality spherical parts. The cheap parts are like a grade 5 bolt and are not designed to be used in a stressed application. The heims that I use are high grade and teflon lined. They don't bind, squeak or rattle.

exactly ^^^^^^^^ my point was to research and find something "heavy" duty for a full size and not to get the cheaper part because it will save money, sounds stupid but "safety" first ya know? .... my friend cheaped out and bought a "kit" to bagggggg his truck, i myself and about 10 others told him it was a bad idea. but good luck with the truck

check out ballistic fabrication. they have good parts at decent prices.

Now here is a good thread question! I was reminded of the heim vs bushing arguement when i seen aaron iha uses heims alot on 4 links. (aaron if your reading this PLEASE chime in!) I want to know if there is something im missing here. is spending all the extra money for heim joints going to be worth it? If you look at a heim joint, jam nut, and with a bung pricing. not to mention miss alighnment spacers. Compared to 2 bushings, some steel and a sleeve. I dont see much of a difference. Yes with a heim you can get adjustability. But alot of shops like avs, suicidedoors and kp offer a threaded "rod end" with a bushing.

I know there are pros and cons but if you get the correct heim joint, your going to spend alot more money compared to a nice realiable healthy sized bushing. the only time ive ever used a heim joint is when i absolutly had no other option. So i see them being compact a plus.

Are heim joints seriously that much more bad ass then bushings? are they easier to work with? whats the deal?

The universal 4 link kit with heim joints never works out in the long wrong due to ethier the cheap heim joints used or the installer doesnt cinch up the jam nuts causing them to destroy the threads and eventually rip right out of the threaded tube.

There is a time and place for either of them. I am building a truck right now that is using heims, eurethane and delrin. The heim will pivot freely in all directions, the eurethan bushing will give to an extent and then begin destroying itself, Delrin will allow movement along it's axis with very little deflection off-axis and for the pivot points that you want as little deflection as possible bronze oilite works well.

On a 4-link I would prefer to use heims only on the rearend end of the bars, but 95% of the time I don't becaue it isn't necesary. On a standard 4-link the twisting of the joints caused by the articulation of the rearend is shared between each joint, so if the rearend articulates 20deg then each joint only sees half of that. But in a situation like a wishbone 3-link the single point of the wishbone sees all 20deg and will wear out prematurely. In that situation, I will always use a heim.

I could write a book about the different places to use the different joint.

So technically a heim is needed if that joint is going to be seeing any kinds of serious articulation? Half bushing, half heim links would be optimal in that situation? And spend more than 20 bucks on a heim joint. I think any kind of bushing or rod end is going to see wear. I think we've all been ruined by the idea of a 4 link made with heim joints because of all the kits that have been sold in the past. We all seen what happened with those.

I've had heim joints on my 4-link for 7-8 years with zero problems. I purchase mine from a local race shop and they are around $25 each.