Heim Joint Steering Questions

[eand28]

Got a question for the offroad suspension gurus.

I have some tapered studs to go from a typical tie-rod to a heim joint.

The tapered stud is two pieces and the 12 pt bolt is what holds the two pieces together sandwiching the ball of the heim joint.

For safety purposes I know I need to run a safety washer on the bottom side with the bolt but I'm not sure the best way to do it.

One option I thought of was machining a custom washer like this with the I.D. to match the bolt diameter.

The other idea I had was have a spacer like this machined so that it is one piece sort of like this.

Any advice is greatly appreciated and any machine shop recommendations are also appreciated. I'm leaning towards the one piece route to replace the existing washer (circled).

The ID of the heim joint is 3/4 and the bolt is 3/8.

 

[rivermobster]

Might want to mention where you are at?

 

[eand28]

Might want to mention where you are at?

I’m in Pennsylvania but I haven’t had much luck with the machine shops locally

 

[rivermobster]

And why Exactly do you want to replace the piece you circled?

If you're actually trying to eliminate the lock washer, I'd recommend these...

Nord-Lock Washers

Wedge-locking security for bolted joints subjected to extreme vibration and dynamic loads.

www.nord-lock.com

You can buy them with different ID and OD. I'd use em under header bolts (just like in your first pic) and they would never come loose.

Expensive, but worth it.

 

[eand28]

And why Exactly do you want to replace the piece you circled?

If you're actually trying to eliminate the lock washer, I'd recommend these...

Nord-Lock Washers

Wedge-locking security for bolted joints subjected to extreme vibration and dynamic loads.

www.nord-lock.com

You can buy them with different ID and OD. I'd use em under header bolts (just like in your first pic) and they would never come loose.

Expensive, but worth it.

I was going to do something different and not use the lock washer. I think a one piece spacer with the safety washer as a part of it would be cleaner looking

 

[JL95]

Check out Barnes4wd

High Misalignment Spacers For 3/4 Bore

Barnes 4WD, parts for the everyday wheeler. Jeep bumpers, 3 link kits, 4 link kits, and DIY builder parts.

barnes4wd.com

The right idea. There's a ton of the misalignment spacers offered from all the offroad vendors, just hard to say which ones offer the safety/ lock washer properties. Matching o.d. would be sleek.

1 Piece Misalignment Spacer with Safety Washer

You asked, we listened! Our new 1 piece high misalignment spacer with built in safety washer is perfect for steering or single shear rod end mounting applications. These new safety high misalignments can shorten the overall height of your heim steering kit while providing high misalignment and...

www.tmrcustoms.com

 

[eand28]

Check out Barnes4wd

High Misalignment Spacers For 3/4 Bore

Barnes 4WD, parts for the everyday wheeler. Jeep bumpers, 3 link kits, 4 link kits, and DIY builder parts.

barnes4wd.com

The right idea. There's a ton of the misalignment spacers offered from all the offroad vendors, just hard to say which ones offer the safety/ lock washer properties. Matching o.d. would be sleek.

1 Piece Misalignment Spacer with Safety Washer

You asked, we listened! Our new 1 piece high misalignment spacer with built in safety washer is perfect for steering or single shear rod end mounting applications. These new safety high misalignments can shorten the overall height of your heim steering kit while providing high misalignment and...

www.tmrcustoms.com

What I need is a one piece misalignment spacer to match the 3/4 ID of the heim and the Id of the spacer to be 3/8 for the bolt to hold the spacer to the tapered stud.

 

[JL95]

mmm so the 3/8 is the constraint. Would the 10mm id not suffice?

 

[eand28]

That misalignment/safety washer combo TMR has is basically what I’m looking for just with the 3/8 ID.

 

[Backlash]

Any way to make changes to this arrangement to simplify the necessary parts? That way, later on down the road, replacing these wear items would be much easier? What is this installed on?

 

[Backlash]

Here are two cruddy pictures of the tie rod arrangements on one of my trucks. This has some miles on it and has proven solid, reliable and readily available. I basically have a Double-shear mount at the spindle. So there is a high misalignment spacer on top of the heim and a high misalignment spacer on the bottom of the heim. One bolt through everything and that's it. These parts are readily available, easy to service and foolproof. The reason I asked in my previous post, "Is there a way to simplify the arrangement you have?" so that you end up with something like this.

 

[eand28]

Here are two cruddy pictures of the tie rod arrangements on one of my trucks. This has some miles on it and has proven solid, reliable and readily available. I basically have a Double-shear mount at the spindle. So there is a high misalignment spacer on top of the heim and a high misalignment spacer on the bottom of the heim. One bolt through everything and that's it. These parts are readily available, easy to service and foolproof. The reason I asked in my previous post, "Is there a way to simplify the arrangement you have?" so that you end up with something like this.

View attachment 1209755
View attachment 1209756

My preferred method would be to have it double shear but I don’t have that option.

I’m lifting a truck and the spindles I got were reamed out to run a 5/8 bolt which in my opinion is not the correct way. I’m resuming the stock spindle and using that tapered stud to till use the heim joints and reuse my exiting tierod bars. The tapered stud is an off-the-shelf part from cognito. Heims are from FK rods ends

 

[MARCYTECH]

I would first find out how much misalignment the set up requires. There might be a reason why the top is running a custom top spacer like that. I’ve seen instances like that where a typical misalignment spacer like the examples above won’t provide enough angle for the setup.

If it were me personally I’d get the correct flat washer for that 12 pt bolt and put it together. You’ll break that bolt long before you bust that ball out of its housing.

 

[eand28]

I would first find out how much misalignment the set up requires. There might be a reason why the top is running a custom top spacer like that. I’ve seen instances like that where a typical misalignment spacer like the examples above won’t provide enough angle for the setup.

If it were me personally I’d get the correct flat washer for that 12 pt bolt and put it together. You’ll break that bolt long before you bust that ball out of its housing.

I just want the extra piece of mind of having a safety washer. Truck will maybe see 4K miles a year

 

[MARCYTECH]

In that case I would get a thick washer and put it on top of the existing misalignment spacer that was included. I wouldn’t run a different style misalignment cuz it might create bind

 

[eand28]

This is what it’ll look like installed. Doesn’t need a lot of misalignment

 

[MARCYTECH]

That looks a lot different than the assembly you have and I would call that alot of misalignment. especially if that’s at ride height. When the suspension drops out it’ll need even more

 

[eand28]

That looks a lot different than the assembly you have and I would call that alot of misalignment. especially if that’s at ride height. When the suspension drops out it’ll need even more

The suspension on the truck in the picture is set higher than where mine will be. The tierods will be parallel to the ground. I wasn’t able to find any pictures of what I have but I imagine they both have enough misalignment. Truck will not see any off-roading

 

[Backlash]

Like I posted above, even if you can't make the steering knuckles "Double-shear" at this point, you could still drill out the knuckle for a larger standard size (Readily available) bolt, and run the heim with the two misalignment spacers. That should be sufficient for what you're utilizing the truck for.

The way mine is set up, it cycles almost 15" with NO problems. The front end is currently limited by the 4wd axle cages, not by the misalignment spacers. It's damn near perfect.

 

[eand28]

Like I posted above, even if you can't make the steering knuckles "Double-shear" at this point, you could still drill out the knuckle for a larger standard size (Readily available) bolt, and run the heim with the two misalignment spacers. That should be sufficient for what you're utilizing the truck for.

The way mine is set up, it cycles almost 15" with NO problems. The front end is currently limited by the 4wd axle cages, not by the misalignment spacers. It's damn near perfect.

So I have a set of knuckles that had the taper machined out for a 5/8 bolt and the holes are wallowed out so I can’t use them without putting a sleeve in them or machining them for a larger bolt

 

[BamBam]

Just one more guys opinion. I always try to double shear whenever possible (sometimes forcing the issue), however no stock tie rod end is in double shear anyway. As you state the truck will be driven less than 4k miles a year and never taken off road. In that case why even worry about the safety washer. The FK heim has to fail and come apart for you to need the safety and for how you describe how the truck will be used I say leave it off. My concern would be the 3/8" bolt holding it all together. If the 3/8" bolt falls out of fails it will all fall apart anyway (safety washer or not). If the part that is prone to failure I would assume that the mfg would not be selling it. Just run it and keep an eye on it...

 

[Backlash]

So I have a set of knuckles that had the taper machined out for a 5/8 bolt and the holes are wallowed out so I can’t use them without putting a sleeve in them or machining them for a larger bolt

You can drill the larger size hole yourself, it isn't that difficult. Or if you need it to be precise, have a machine shop do it. But I would go that route, and size the hole to a common size high strength bolt. Single shear a heim joint and call it done like Bam Bam said. Especially since you won't be running the truck off-road.

 

[eand28]

Thank you for all the advice and ideas