Heim joints, when to replace?

Five.five-six

Five.five-six

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How do I know if a heim is worn out?

I did lose 1 heim and about 2-1/2 feet of 1” aluminum bar when my suspension broke.  Kartek has F.K. Which seem like pretty good ones. 

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Looking at the video the heim is worn but not worn out..   Usually you shouldnt be able to move the helm around that easy like you did as well shouldnt make a squeak...  That heim isnt sloppy loose so its not completely worn out,..  If you dont have spares i would buy new ones and use that one thats worn but not worn out as spares.. 

 
It's time to replace when the ball gets play in it. I'd also replace it if the tube it was threaded into had collision damage. A common fracture point is the thread just past the jam nut, something you can't really see just by looking at it. Every 3-4 years would be my recommendation. 

Also food for future thought...even though many cars use 3/4 heims for the upper and lower spindle connections, they really aren't strong enough for that purpose. I've seen way too many of them break upon impact. We rebuilt our front suspension with something much bigger after a hit broke the left front spindle off of our car. 

 
If  you are thinking about if it's time, it's probably time.  How much is a weekend worth?  My neighbor bought a used rzr with AM radius arms in the back....$100.00 in heims could have saved him a TON of money in the long run. 

 
I do mine every 3 years. I don’t care if they are worn or not. 
FK Type 1 is what you want. If you don’t specify Type 1, you will get Type 2. 

Go to YouTube and search for DougsX5 and find the video of him breaking a trailing arm heim. 
Took us about 4 hours to get him out of the dunes. 
He hadn’t replaced his in quite some time. 

 
KLC said:
It's time to replace when the ball gets play in it. I'd also replace it if the tube it was threaded into had collision damage. A common fracture point is the thread just past the jam nut, something you can't really see just by looking at it. Every 3-4 years would be my recommendation. 

Also food for future thought...even though many cars use 3/4 heims for the upper and lower spindle connections, they really aren't strong enough for that purpose. I've seen way too many of them break upon impact. We rebuilt our front suspension with something much bigger after a hit broke the left front spindle off of our car. 
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What thread size and hole size heim's do you recommend?

 
KLC said:
It's time to replace when the ball gets play in it. I'd also replace it if the tube it was threaded into had collision damage. A common fracture point is the thread just past the jam nut, something you can't really see just by looking at it. Every 3-4 years would be my recommendation. 

Also food for future thought...even though many cars use 3/4 heims for the upper and lower spindle connections, they really aren't strong enough for that purpose. I've seen way too many of them break upon impact. We rebuilt our front suspension with something much bigger after a hit broke the left front spindle off of our car. 
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I’m up in the air on this, these heims are only 23 years old. This is the 4th engine in the car.  It’s been driven a lot.  They are 5/8” and I know it hasn’t broken one in the last 20+ years.  

 
Realbadlarry said:
If  you are thinking about if it's time, it's probably time.  How much is a weekend worth?  My neighbor bought a used rzr with AM radius arms in the back....$100.00 in heims could have saved him a TON of money in the long run. 
Click to expand...
The car has 34 heim joints, at $30 each, thats a fair amount of money.  

I broke the forward bolt on my lower trailing arm last trip, camel toe wanted $2500 to get me out. I spent $100 0n pipe and bolts at ace in brawle and drove myself out.  

I am replacing all my suspension bolts with ARP or similar.  

 
lincster said:
I do mine every 3 years. I don’t care if they are worn or not. 
FK Type 1 is what you want. If you don’t specify Type 1, you will get Type 2. 

Go to YouTube and search for DougsX5 and find the video of him breaking a trailing arm heim. 
Took us about 4 hours to get him out of the dunes. 
He hadn’t replaced his in quite some time. 
Click to expand...
Thanks for turning us on to DougsX5 channel, his videos are awesome. I just binge watched 4 hours of them lol. 

 
I just went through this on my car.  

So I amazon'ed the heims (FKs) and Tractor Supply for the bolts.  Tractor supply carries a pretty extensive variety of Grade 5 and 8 bolts.

 
Rockwood said:
If you're asking...

They're probably too old.  Trailing arms?  Less critical.  A arms and steering?  Critical.  5-link? WTF ARE YOU DOING?!?!  REPLACE THEM!!! :biggrin:
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OK, I just pulled the driver's side suspension off and the one in the video in OP was probably the best of the bunch.  The lower outboard front heim is about ready to fall out :(

What's the trick to adjusting all the new ones?

 
Mac said:
I just went through this on my car.  

So I amazon'ed the heims (FKs) and Tractor Supply for the bolts.  Tractor supply carries a pretty extensive variety of Grade 5 and 8 bolts.
Click to expand...
Do you worry about fakes on amazon?  I want to give my business to kartek but it's a lot more money

 
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