New Rod Ends

[4.3LXJ]

A while back I was at Parts Mike, and talked to Mike of all people. Great guys there. These guys are smart, appear to have some engineering background and wheel their daily drivers. Of course Mike and I hit it off because he has just about the same set up with engine, tranny and Atlas that I do. They are real world wheelers that make a living off their hobby. Anyway, I was talking to them about rod ends and they said they were developing their own. So here it is.



You don't have to go to Wendy's and ask "Where's the beef?" with this one. The threads on the shank are 1.25" in diameter and the spherical end is almost 3" in diameter. These are fully rebuildable with a nylon liner. Mike says that the nylon will outlast the teflon. Another cool feature is that the sides screw in, not held in with a snap ring. This allows you as a user to rebuild, or off set the center a little if wanted. One disadvantage with screw in sides is that they can come unscrewed, but these are locked in by set screws.



I asked about rebuild kits and he says I should never need one. The ball is make large to spread out the forces on the liner which extends from one edge of the ring to the corresponding edge on the other side. Their website does not do this joint justice. Cost for rod end and adapter sleeve to weld on is 54. You can bet I will be getting some more of these in the future for other projects.