so im looking at putting together some rear endlinks from mcmaster. i have 3 setups i can go with. i want something that will be strong enough and not fail from track racing (road course). they are all similarly priced. but have varying load capabilities. also they are all made from different materials and offer diffrent levels of corrosion protection (which i'd like to have corrosion protection if i can, but i wont do it if i have to sacrafice the possibility of the link failing), and they all have PTFE liners for low/no maintenance and self lubrication. but i really dont know how much load a SB endlink will see. i know it will depend on the sway bar setup itself. so for clarity, i currently have a 22mm ST swaybar on my CRX and 500/600 f/r spring rates (not sure if it matters)

my list of options right now are:

2x 60745K241 - High-Strength PTFE-Lined Ball Joint Rod End 3/8"-24 Rh Male Shank, 9550 Pound Load Capacity
2x 60745K441 - High-Strength PTFE-Lined Ball Joint Rod End 3/8"-24 Rh Female Shank, 9550 Pound Load Capacity

this is a 3/8" set (same as whats on there now) male and female ends. they provide 12* of ball swivel, do not require lubrication (PTFE/teflon lined) and have a load capacity of 9550lbs. the housings are zinc plated chrome alloy steel and they are $18.38/ea. total cost of $73.52

or

2x 59915K274 - PTFE-Lined Stainless Steel Ball Joint Rod End 3/8"-24 Rh Male Shank, 3040 Pound Load Capacity
2x 59915K484 - PTFE-Lined Stainless Steel Ball Joint Rod End 3/8"-24 Rh Female Shank, 3080 Pound Load Capacity

these provide 19* of ball swivel, do not require lubrication (PTFE/teflon lined) and have a load capacity of 3040lbs. they are stainless steel however and will greatly reduce corrosion. they are $15.76/ea. total cost of $63.04.

or

2x 60685K111 - PTFE-Lined Aluminum Ball Joint Rod End 3/8"-24 Rh Male Shank, 4208 Pound Load Capacity
2x 60685K341 - PTFE-Lined Aluminum Ball Joint Rod End 3/8"-24 Rh Female Shank, 3952 Pound Load Capacity

these provide 12* of ball swivel, do not require lubrication (PTFE/teflon lined) and have a load capacity of 4208/3952lbs (m/f). the housings are anodized aluminum (low corrosion) and the ball is chrome plated 52100 bearing steel. total cost is $54.62.

so the first one is the strongest, but offers the least corrosion protection.
the second will provide good protection, but is the weakest.
and the third is a little more load capacity, and made of anodized aluminum which should provide good corrosion protection. i am a little iffy about using aluminum here though.

what are your thoughts?

 

I dealt with salt water corrosion at work not too long ago, some things to consider:

zinc plating does not last long in salt water so you can bet it wont last to long under a car.

stainless steel is the best option, but you don't want stainless steel threading into stainless steel of the same type/hardness they will gall and you will never get them apart. some thread lubes will prevent this but i dk how long they will last.

Aluminum is a good option but i have no clue if it is strong enough. i know it is strong enough by the specs but i would worry about cycle failures.

 

Gut reaction - the car weighs what? 2300 lbs + or -? So if the swaybar endlink were carrying the entire weight of the car (which it won't), then it would be 2300 lbs. of force?

You can google "Sway Bar Rate Calculator" and find a number of links for determining the swaybar rate, but most are between 200 lbs/in and 350 lbs/in (a really monstrous bar could exceed that, but then it's unlikely it would deflect very far). So if it deflects 3 inches total (inside droops 2 inches and the outside compressed 1 inch) then you are probably seeing less than 1000 lbs of force. For the reasons stated above, aluminum would be the best material, and the listed ratings offer sufficient capacity to manage the expected force.

All that being said, I've used bearings that bent because of binding. I think the capacity rating is specific to vertical movement and not lateral, so that is likely the force you'd need to accommodate.

 

thanks for the info. this car is not driven in the winter. and really only driven on track and to/from the track. some salt may hit it, but very very little. a lot less than if this were a daily driver. thanks for the info on the stainless on stainless. i didnt know that. i would use anti-seize on whatever i end up with, the links that i just took off (the stock ST ones) were corroded to all hell and a royal PITA to get apart.

also i will probably put rubber boots around the spherical joint to protect it further from corrosion.

 

thanks for the reply. i realize that 4000+ lbs rating is a lot. but im thinking about more impact forces. you are driving along and hit a bump or kerbing or whatever on one side. that impact could create more force on the link due to the sudden acceleration of the wheel upwards. much more than just a static load. and fatigue is also a concern as well.

so i think im going to rule out the stainless links, but now to decide between aluminum or the steel.

 

I personally run OEM style jobber endlinks. OEM, spherical or jobber, they all only last 1 to 2 seasons...

I am pretty sure you can find a size (lenght as well as bolt OD) that fits your bar perfectly at the part store.

Total cost : 24$ CAD...wich should be like 10$ US cause we're getting it without vaseline here.

 

To be honest, i would probably go with greasable stainless steel heim joint. My reasoning is stainless has by far the highest hardness and there for will take the impact loading without deforming the race surface. I say greasable because the ones you suggested have a pfte liner that i would think will just get mushed out after repeated abuse. if you have a greasable one you wont have that issue. And I think it is fair to say that you wont see that kind of force to affect any of these heim joints.

 

i dont think the PTFE liner will be a problem. ive seen them used in lots of suspension applications which see much more abuse (like LCA mounting and shock points) without issue. shouldnt be a problem here.

 

The sway bar is a relatively isolated suspension component in that it won't see shock loads.

 

so what's everyone's consensus? try out the aluminum ones? they are the cheapest too.

 

The endlinks that come with the st bar are beefy rod ends no need to change them and they are stronger than the aluminum ones for sure. You shouldn't have a problem with them unless they bind and then they might bend. As well not all rod ends are created equal just because it has a liner doesn't mean its a good quality as there are so many heim coming from china now and they are garbage with so much play from new. If you are going to upgrade buy 1 to check out the quality first. Or just buy Aurora or QA1

 

Whatever came with my ST bar is going on 6 years without a noise.

 

I'm not replacing them because I feel like it. I'm replacing them because they are corroded and worn out.

Where do you buy aurora or qa1 links?

edit, looking at some of the specs from aurora on FK bearings, they match with the specs from mcmaster on the first set so they may be aurora bearings. not sure about the aluminum ones.

 

http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?tp...ction=category


edit, they could be aurora it will say on the bearing race


if there is no play in yours i would leave them alone though

 

there IS play lol. and the whole ball is corroded and does not provide smooth movement.

i think im going to take your advice and buy 1 aluminum 4000lb rating , and one steel 9550 lb rating and check them out. see what the brand is ect.

 

Strength and articulation are two important considerations...articulation should be your first criteria, then strength.

Some hiem joint endlinks do not have enough articulation and will bind at some point during the suspension stroke. Remove the springs...and perhaps the dampers and run the suspension through a full stroke to check for any binding.

A bind may cause an endlink to fail but a bind will definately cause the car to sort of skip through a turn.

hiem joints have somewhere around 22-23degrees of articulation and ball joint types usually exceed 50 degrees. The later is more important on Mac Strut set ups where the endlink is attached to the strut body; it has to posses enough articulation to cope with up and down as well as a spinning strut - these rotate in a strut bearing.

PowerGrid make some incredible racing endlinks in OEM design style. These are well designed and very durable. But, I don't think they manufacture the really small endlinks used on honda/Acura SLA set ups...I met the engineer at Lime rock about 6 years ago and talked with a couple of teams using them. I bought a couple of sets for another application and I am very happy with them...one of the cars is driven 60K miles a year on horrible roads in snow and salt...I put a little silver anti-sieze on the threads and no problems!

 

Interesting design. According to their website, they use parts from THK so it looks like you can build yourself a set fairly easily. Here's THK's site for their product with engineering specifications. THK's own stress test results also bode well for automobile use.

I couldn't locate a US supplier for a price check, but if the prices are similar to this Japanese seller, you should be able to put together a set for about $50. The threaded rod and jack nuts should be easy enough to locate. Sure beats spending $160 for the PowerGrid set.

 

THK...very nice find! Dunno why I never looked that far...?

 

well i got the parts from mcmaster. they are FK bearings. so good quality.

im gonna send back the steel 10,000lb rated ones, and stick with the anodized aluminum ones. i bought some seals-it rubber rod end boots from ebay for these as well. so i should be good for strength, longevity, low/no maintenance, and good corrosion resistance.

 

If you are driving in winter I suggets you use silver anti-sieze on any exposed threads...just be aware that you will be able to torque these with greater ease...be carefull!

 

THEY NEED TO BE VERY STRONG! GOOD ENOUGH ANSWER?

 

what was the point of this? the solution had already been found, and even if it had not what does this help?

 

Why? The whole body is anodized, so the threads are too. But the car won't be used in winter, its on track only duty and will be garage kept in winter.

 

i don't bother reading other peoples posts.. usually ricers.. lmfao

 

figured id update this with what i ended up doing.

i went with the aluminum links, then used Seals-It rubber rod end boods. these are 3/8" rod ends, but i used the size smaller boots (the ones for 3/8" were too loose for my linking)

comparison with/without boots:


finished links, anti-seized up, lock nut in place, and spacers installed: