Total chaos long travel heim joint

[tyr0981]

So i was crawling under my runner the last sunny day, and noticed both my tie rod ends need to be replaced, the bushings on both ends are falling apart. My steering has become more and more sloppy ever since the day i started messing with components. 2.5" EMU lift, and 1.5" body lift affected her the most, and yes i've done many alignments, i purchased the Firestone lifetime alignment when it was on sale a couple years ago.

Question is, does anybody run there articulated heim joints? do you recommend them? did they smooth out any issues you may have been having?

thanks for the feedback guys!

:behindsofa:

 

[JayRolla]

So i was crawling under my runner the last sunny day, and noticed both my tie rod ends need to be replaced, the bushings on both ends are falling apart. My steering has become more and more sloppy ever since the day i started messing with components. 2.5" EMU lift, and 1.5" body lift affected her the most, and yes i've done many alignments, i purchased the Firestone lifetime alignment when it was on sale a couple years ago.

Question is, does anybody run there articulated heim joints? do you recommend them? did they smooth out any issues you may have been having?

thanks for the feedback guys!

:behindsofa:

Steering being loose not really related much too the lift. More the tie rod ends like you state are bad, upper and lower ball joints, inner tie rod ends, bad steering rack bushings, bad steering rack and or loose steering wheel column shaft.

Now the alignment issues can be fixed with after market upper control arms like Total Chaos, or SPC or any of the other after market arms.

 

[tyr0981]

i failed to mention some maintenance things, i replaced the LBJ's a couple years ago, the power rack shortly after that also, the Upper Ball joints are OEM. I just hadn't seen this kind of tie rod end, ever! it looks bullet proof, and it's about double the price of OEM ends anyway...

are these ends only helpful if it's lifted way up high? (too high in my opinion) ?

 

[snivilous]

Personally I don't see a real reason to run heimed arms with the offerings out there.

Pros:
Stronger than bushings
No deflection of the joint from impact like a bushing
More adjustability

Cons:
Require more maintenance since it's not just a piece of rubber and a sleeve
Costs more

The pros seem to outweigh the cons, but honestly you don't need a stronger inner joint, won't care if the bushing flexes a bit, and don't need the adjustment if you get any other aftermarket UCA (or get the LR ones with the adjustable ball joint locations) and then you'll have to do more maintenance while not really needing any of the pros. For the record, I don't have Total Chaos UCAs but I do have heimed uniball UCAs.

 

[eatmorechickenx]

I believe hes talking about the heim steering links, which can only be used with TCs Long Travel.

 

[tyr0981]

alright, understood thank you for input guys!