Hot Rods Rubber, clevis or heim for Hairpins

Hi everyone,

Ive been told to have my hairpins built with all heim rod ends front and back.
I dont remember seeing any built like that, most having either rubber bushed or clevis in the front and tie rods 0r rubber bushed in the back. Os thos kist for 'traditional" matters or there is no gain in using heims at all ?

Thanks for any help
Diego

PS: Im currently building a 33 chevy 3 window coupe.

 

Tie rods and rubber bushes are mainenenence free. Heim joints are not. They deteriorate when dust and dirt get into the bearing surface and depending on the type, may need lubrication.

Rubber also alows a small amount of flex as one wheel lifts reducing stress on the axle and frame.

 

Tie rod ends on the back and clevises up front have been the standard forever.

Urethane bushings up front are a modern street rod thing and look it. Same for the rear.

 

There shouldn't be any rotation at the attachment of the hairpin to the axle, so Heims there would be pointless. Clevises are simple and entirely adequate.

 

How long does it take them to deteriorate ? Mine have been in service for 50k miles & 22 years , I can't feel or see any problem with them , a friend has had to replace his " big name" polyurethane bushings twice in the same time period ..

 

I never mentioned polyurethane.

 

Just going thru a similar delima now , have clevis and bushings ,but also split bones

 

When the trend to use rubber bushed ends began back in the 70’s (?), it was to isolate components from noise and vibration as well as to allow less stress on them with the slight compression.
It may have been P&J who started it, I can’t remember.
The steel encased rubber bushings were Chevy sway bar pieces. They worked great on the street.

 

I have had a four link rear suspension with pan hard bar a total of ten heim joints and have never had any problems. There are various types of construction for heim joints in different materials and lot of difference in quality. If you are worried about dirt/corrosion there are two styles of rubber seals, a full boot and a washer style with metal center and rubber flange.

 

Those Chevy sway bar bushings were never designed for the twisting motion imposed by a 4 bar front end and failed relatively quickly. P & J didn't switch over to "micro-flex" urethane bushings because they thought orange was pretty IMO.

 

Those wishbones would look good; but with a tie rod end on the rear.

You could seek out an earlier axle; the wide spread perch bolts on that '37-'41 may effect your turning radius.

 

And they squeak.....

 

Thats the functional difference between rubber and poly. Poly still has a wear surface. The P&J reference just shows that rubber parts are rarely used correctly away from their original application.

 

I'll ask same question. I built a car in 1980 using heim joints at frame end. Car has about same mileage and they still look good.

 

The first car I built in the mid 70's with a 4 bar front and rear used heim joints on both ends of the bars with left and right hand threads. These joints each had a grease zerk. This car went 60,000 plus miles with the same heims before getting hit in the rear and totaled. When I started doing customer chassis all the 4 bars had urethane bushed ends. The hair pins and ladder bars had clevis's on the axle end and urethane bushings on the frame end. I have quit using urethane bushed ends on the hairpins and now use tie rod ends at the frame attachment point for more flexibility.

 

High quality heim joints are available these days that are easily up to the task of supporting a hot rod front or rear suspension duties. Here's an example:
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/R1648.html

I may be wrong, but I think those Heim joints will last as long as a ball joint, which is not fail proof either.

 

Clevis on axle and Heims on frame for me . The Heims are proven strong and if I need to replace $25 worth of t them in 50,000 miles or what ever so be it .

Mount with a normal hole and bolt and do not need a tapered hole like a Tie rod end does .

 

I'm with you blues man, the determining factor being lubrication. Whatever is used needs a grease zerk. Proper maintenance will make a dog tird last longer. Periodic shot of grease in either a tie rod end or a heim will provide lubrication, and force out contamination. Of course this is only my opinion. But as for the original question, if it is a fixed connection, that doesn't rotate, that's the job for a clevis.

 

When I built my avatar roadster, I used Magnum axle hair pins and bat wings. The hair pins use poly bushings fore and aft, two in the front one in the rear. By using those bushings everywhere any bind is mitigated. I have about 40k miles on them without any problems or wear.

 

Once bolted up, a hairpin becomes a triangle that only pivots at the rear point. Heims or soft bushings offer no advantage at the front.

Gary

 

Hey Biggun. Can you recommend who should I buy clevis from or at least what brand ?

I'll go with heims for the frame. I'm interested in fkrodends

Thanks !!

 

I have purchased some heim joints from a company named Midwest Controls Products. Their website is https://midwestcontrol.com/shop/ They pretty much have everything heim joints, clevis, ball joints, cables, etc. just do a search. Even if you don’t purchase from them it is a good resource to know what is out there for planning, sizes, materials available. I’m not involved with this company in any way other then a customer of a few items. Your mileage may vary.

 

I thought rod ends were tradition because they were available at every auto parts store in town

 

I buy Pete & Jakes clevises as I feel they are legit parts, not mystery imports.

 

Find out where P&J sources their parts , no mystery necessary !

 

I hear this myth about heim ends rattling, wearing out, or transferring noise to the car for many years, and it still perplexes me. I've used heim ends on tie rods, drag links, hairpins, four links, ladder bars, etc., and never run into this stuff. The heim ends on my Austin gasser are all over the car front and rear, and have over 15,000 miles on them and still no excess play, or issues.
I'll keep building using heim ends on my car builds.

 

The Heim joints on the hairpins on my A may rattle, but if they do the sound is drowned out by all the other squeaks, rattles, exhaust and wind noise...

 

Just a quick question ( not worth starting another thread )
Has anyone used the rubber rod ends on split wishbones and had problems with the lock nuts coming loose due to wishbone flex/twisting ?
And if so how did you fix it ? Would - Spring washer, nyloc, loctite or wedge lock washer help ?
Thanks !

 

No, but Loctite blue or red always keeps all my suspension locknuts tight.

 

^^^^^ Thanks, I was still editing my question when you answered, I was thinking of a combination of loctite and spring washer.