Heim joint tie rods??

Does anyone know if there are any places that sell, or even make a him style outer tierod ends for a 1st gen? One would think this could be a good thing if you could flip the tierod to the top of the mount on the spindle. It would reduce the hard angle on the rack and flatten the tie rods out for those of us with a coilover lift. Just wondering.

 

Make your own, they sell ones made up that are longer for long travel rigs. I'm going the home made route since the tie rods are weak as hell.

 

Where could a guy find the longtravel ones? And what are your plans on making them.

 

Plans .. pretty basic part actually so, What ever I whip up when I get to it.

Camburg dirt king, ect those are the only long travel fab shops I can think of right now. Google works wonders and there is alot of good info in the suspension thread.

 

Our factory tie rods are forged or cast, I would not do that personally. That coming from a national cert. Welder of 10 yrs. Now threading dom tubing and putting a heim joint I can see. That is the same and probably what you really saw on the cruiser. The drag link for a cross over steering setup. Welding one heim in and the other end with jam nuts is a normal practice.

 

This is the concept you would be using.

 

This is probably what you saw on the land cruiser which is a cross over steering. Car
Manufacture companies usually just took a short road to the drivers tire off the pitman arm and then a long tie rod across to the passenger. Makes it tough to turn big tires and breaks alot. So using leverage and going crossover steering makes life easier for parts and the driver, in a straight axles vehicle.

 

Whoaw, well if the tie rods weldable why not. Have a will find a way!

 

You peaked my interest I looked just now since it's been a year, and a outfit makes them but alas they are for 05 and up. They are also a low price of 900.00 . Yeah wowzers.
I just need to find a source for the heim joint bolt.
https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/inde...jlxGVWDjFt5c-uxflTEmUU5iV8L_q_rRoCoewQAvD_BwE

 

Just go to McMasterCarr and see what they have, lol... Of course, then your weak point would be the inner tie rods which are harder to replace than the outers...

IMO, best to have a weak point that's easy to replace on the trail if you need to.

 

not necessarily but it really depends on how you join the rack to the knuckle. You still need 2 pivot points for the steering (inner and outer TREs), and I suppose you could replace the inner TRE, but that can't really be a heim because you need something that's shaped like a ... inner TRE... Would likely take a lot of work.

I dunno, it would take a decent amount of work and would make your weak points definitely harder to replace than a simple OEM type outer TRE.

 

I found the inner easier to replace them the outer. That's probably cause I carry saftey wire and the right size wrench.

I was more or less thinking these that are more worth the fab time.

https://www.tmrcustoms.com/suspension/rod-ends/chromoly-rod-end-packages-with-round-tube-adapters

But yes the 1st ones I posted would be the ideal goal, the cup and ball inner tie rods always goes first for me. I dont over power the steering but outers are constantly problematic.

 

I haven't check yet,.but using a "bolt" (term used lightly) for the heim joint to attach to the spindle, you should be able to attach it on top vs bottom. On a lifted truck Decreasing the severe angle of your tie rods and increasing strength and life of the inner tie rod ball socket. Maybe I'm just that tired, research for another day.

 

This sounds like a thread for @Luv my yota

Maybe he cab fabricate some heim joint tie rods

 

The only thing a heim will afford is a higher misalignment angle. They are inferior to ball joints in nearly every other way, especially weather corrosion. Definitely don't move your connection points around on your steering links, lol. Read a book.