Out of curiosity, I talked to the guys at Total Chaos yesterday and inquired about their heim-joint tie-rods. They are required for their King Kong steering system but they informed me that the heim-joint tie-rods are compatible with the factory centerlink in the 1st gen xterras and frontiers. While yes they are very pricey ($535/set), heim-joints are probably the strongest option you can get to upgrade your steering. This eliminates the common worn/failing ball-joints in the OEM TRE's as well as a much stronger adjuster.
For you guys who want to keep your X with IFS but want to build the ultimate steering system, these are the way to go. Excellent for those building pre-runner setups.
I've always questioned longevity. Unlike a tie rod they have no boots or grease zerks. I understand they have a teflon seal within the bearing but I'd be interested to see how they compare in rough midwest conditions.
Largely depends on the quality of the heim. I have the highest rated metric aurora's on my 240's tension rods, they have been daily driven and abused for over 2 years now and they still look brand new. On the other hand people will buy cheap ebay links and wonder why there heims don't even last 6 months.
Granted off road wise might seem some more forces, but they are also going to be a larger bearing too. That and the individual heims are still replaceable should one go bad.
i had my heim set up using an L&P steering system all built up and ready to go... but i DIDNT install it and sold it to danny for these reasons...
first and the BIG BIG one is their not DOT approved, get in accident... your royally fucked insurance wise and the other can sue you for running them, its happened numerous times
second, there is NO way with the stock steering set up (the king kong system mounts the heim horizontally... for more travel versus vertically like stock would) to double shear it... this is extremely dangerous... there's not any room even when using a 5/8 inch heim to fit in a safety washer... a safety washer will capture the heim in case the ball of the heim pops out of the socket... the reason for no room is from the front crossmember, look at your steering when your turned lock to lock, even with a TRE there's not much clearance
third, to prevent wallowing of the taper when drilling out the stock TRE tapers, they include a taper to allow you to run a 1/2 inch bolt (so no drilling is needed)... a 1/2 inch bolt in single shear... well it is very dangerous, double shear is ok... but id personally use 3/4s if it were me
think about it, a bolt thats got to be 3 inches long and only a half inch thick, the forces will act as a cantilever beam versus a simply supported beam that would spread the load over 2 points versus one.... it puts a LOT of shearing stress on where the bolt is captured in single shear, so much so that i bet your power steering could over come it when wheeling
if you want to run heims, run there entire kit
also, to get enough travel for our front ends (about 25 degrees) you have to run high misalignment spacers... this again adds to the total length the bolt needs to be... again causing further clearance issues and more stress on that measly half inch bolt
You could find quality parts much cheaper than that through most IMCA racing suppliers I ran heim joints on my last stock cars steering to adjust the bumpsteer and I didnt spend near that amount for chromoly heim joints...
I have had the stock length total chaos tie rod assemblies with a centerlink from richard(rockhumperfabworx) on my truck for about 10k miles now. So far so good. I can post up some pics if you'd like, also my bolts dont look nearly as long as the other pics in this thread and still allow for plenty of misalignment at full droop.
are people interested in heim tie rods? if so I can make them for a heck of alot cheaper than 500 or whatever the tc ones are. Single shear is fine for steering, most hard core rock racers dont even use double shear. let me know if you are interested.
I have run Full Heim Steering on my X for about 5 years now. Heim Steering .... OMG!!! No not OMG more like know what your getting into.
1. Heims do wear out I replaced mine about every 18 Months, not because they were worn out but because of the lack of dust boots and I live/work on rough dirt roads. So I figured since they are so cheap to replace why not do it and then your good to go. I also ran grade 9 bolts and yep it was all single shear. Taking some crazy insane abuse.
2. Heims are strong!!! They will handle the forces very well.
3. Dont use anything less than a grade 8 bolt.
4. Jam nuts are your freind. USE EM!!! Hell I used Jam nuts and Locktite.
5. A Chromoly Heim Joint can be replaced for less than 20 bucks a piece normally cheaper if you shop around.
6. A 3/4" Chromoly Heim will begin to deform around 30,000 lbs of force NOT FAIL.... DEFORM. That is ALOT of force.
I have had the stock length total chaos tie rod assemblies with a centerlink from richard(rockhumperfabworx) on my truck for about 10k miles now. So far so good. I can post up some pics if you'd like, also my bolts dont look nearly as long as the other pics in this thread and still allow for plenty of misalignment at full droop.
are people interested in heim tie rods? if so I can make them for a heck of alot cheaper than 500 or whatever the tc ones are. Single shear is fine for steering, most hard core rock racers dont even use double shear. let me know if you are interested.
1st off, why you don't wheel with stock steering and a worn centerlink,
and some damage caused the to the frame from the worn centerlink.
Some pics of the centerlink from rockhumperfabworx.
and what you actually want to see the tc tierod assemblies
Overall I have been really happy with these, the only thing that had to be done was the bolt on the centerlink side had to be cut short since is was contacting them frame in the same manner as the stock tres with the worn centerlink did. I do realize now after looking at the price of heims these could definetly be made much cheaper than what I paid for them.
are people interested in heim tie rods? if so I can make them for a heck of alot cheaper than 500 or whatever the tc ones are. Single shear is fine for steering, most hard core rock racers dont even use double shear. let me know if you are interested.
I'd be interested in hearing more about the Heim tie rods.
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