My rod ends are holding up pretty good but Im noticing a little bit of slack in them. I should have got the ones that had the teflon seal.
Heres something else Ive been thinking about,
Have you ever seen the rubber stuff you can dip the handle of your pliers, etc, in to coat them with? I was wondering if you might could dip the heim joints in this stuff to get a good seal, maybe put a little grease on the ball part so it doesnt stick right there and prohibit movement.
Just a thought

 

I installed a Polaris Heim joint rubber boots over my after-market 1/2" Heim joints. They are a tight fit but with a smear of grease and the use of leather gloves it's not too difficult. Once installed I filled the Heim joint and the boot with grease via the grease zerk until it forced it's way out of the boot. After each ride I give it a squirt or two of grease to displace any water or other grunge that may have found it's way in. The Polaris boots cost about $3.50 CAD. Up to now it’s working great.

 

Somthing to keep in mind on the tie rod end issue, Greasing is a great defence against wear, but much of the problem with the ends comes from the tiny bit of slack that is built into the "heim" joint to allow movment. As you are riding this slack to getting beat out. The inner portion of the joint is forcing the outter to expand slighty, allowing the inner to wear faster and faster, the small ends are not built for great latteral load. It takes a good size joint to overcome the load being transfered to them by our wheelers stearing system, look at how how much "beefer" the new style are compared to the old.