Alright, so i've had really poor 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. That isn't working out worth a damn either because they don't have enough range of motion for my suspension setup, 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? I also heard you will feel some slop in the bars because the ball in heim joints float around in the socket a little, is this correct?

 

Wow, good question. We use them on our race car. But that's on pavement, not in mud. I can say there is NO slop in a well made Heim joint.
I just can't answer the mud question though. When I get into a deal like this I email the manufacture and ask them. They will give you the straight story.
If you find out about this deal let us all know so we can all learn.

 

I've emailed ASR twice and no response[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

But I talked to a few guys that use them on trail quads. One guy I talked to seems to really know his stuff, he fitted a cbr600 engine into a warrior and built his own suspension. He used heim joints for the tie rods, and he says after 2 years of riding hard and not taking care of them very well, just a little grease here and there, they're still as tight as when he installed them. I think i'm going to go the same route as he did, put together my own set, and then if these heims would start to get loose sometime down the road i can pick up new ones for about $6 each from most race part suppliers. And even if they would wear out quick for whatever reason, the same part suppliers should also have some sealed ball joints that would work for me.

 

Well that sucks!!!!
One thing to remember, there is more than one manufacture of Heims. I went to a PRI show in Reno years ago. There was like 10 manufactures of Heims there!!!! I could not believe how many manufactures of Heims there were!!!

PS The good ones are VERY expensive!!!!!!!!! I remember that too!!!!

 

i know someone who run heims on his 400ex trail quad and he uses maxima chain wax on them.i`ve never heard him complain yet about them failing on him.

 

they make sealed heims and they make grease-able ones for industrial crap.just get the ones with the wiper seals.ck aroura and QA1 websites out