Four Links & Raduis Rods

[Mr. Fixit]

I would like to know which brands/suppliers rods and heims everyone is using. I am looking for stainless or cobalt. Something that will really last, can be polished, etc. Any ideas will be much appreciated since the ones that i have originally came from Total Performance and they are Total Crap.

 

[Rick]

I have a Total car but i did change a few things i used Tie rod ends for the tie rod and drag link.The radius rods i used A clevis at one end and a heim at the other.Not a problem after about 1,000 miles.Just in case you should use over size washers to prevent separation of the heim ball and the main body.But using a quality heim is the rule.Just my opinion.

 

[RexRod]

Hi Steve,

I get all of my shperical rod ends from midwestcontrol.com. They have the best prices on chromoly rod ends that I've found. They come chrome plated, so they should clean up. You can get them lined or plain. I prefer the nylon lined ones. They also sell stainless rod ends, and the "El Cheapo Delux" ones as well (stay away from the real cheapy ones). They offer a ton of stuff, you should check them out.

Their quality is not Aurora, but then Aurora's stuff is ten times the price without being ten times better. If you rate Aurora's stuff at a 10, I would rate the midwestcontrol.com products at a 7.5 to 8.

David

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Hi Steve,

I get all of my shperical rod ends from midwestcontrol.com. They have the best prices on chromoly rod ends that I've found. They come chrome plated, so they should clean up. You can get them lined or plain. I prefer the nylon lined ones. They also sell stainless rod ends, and the "El Cheapo Delux" ones as well (stay away from the real cheapy ones). They offer a ton of stuff, you should check them out.

Their quality is not Aurora, but then Aurora's stuff is ten times the price without being ten times better. If you rate Aurora's stuff at a 10, I would rate the midwestcontrol.com products at a 7.5 to 8.

David

Thanks David, I will definately check them out.

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Hi Steve,

I get all of my shperical rod ends from midwestcontrol.com. They have the best prices on chromoly rod ends that I've found. They come chrome plated, so they should clean up. You can get them lined or plain. I prefer the nylon lined ones. They also sell stainless rod ends, and the "El Cheapo Delux" ones as well (stay away from the real cheapy ones). They offer a ton of stuff, you should check them out.

Their quality is not Aurora, but then Aurora's stuff is ten times the price without being ten times better. If you rate Aurora's stuff at a 10, I would rate the midwestcontrol.com products at a 7.5 to 8.

David

David, I checked out the site and rod ends look nice. I dont see any various length rods themselves. Do they sell them too, or do you use another source for those?


Thanks,

 

[eafree]

Steve, Speedway sells various different lengths of tubing, they are already tapped for LH thread on one end and RH on the other. www.speedwaymotors.com/Tie-Rod-Drag-Link-Kits-5-8-Rod-End,3305.html

I don't know what size tubing your looking for, but I thought this might help.

Why not build your own? I built my radius rods myself, when to the local steel place and dug through there drop rack. I built all for radius rods for 27 dollars (less clevises and rod ends. The LH tap was about 50 dollars.

Eric

 

[RPM]

We here at RPM can custom make any length radius rod or tie rod you might need. ALL radius rods are made from 1" dom with a .219" wall. Tie rods, drag links and panhard bars can be made from that same tube or we have 7/8" tube with a .156" wall also for those that want a smaller tube on those parts.

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Steve, Speedway sells various different lengths of tubing, they are already tapped for LH thread on one end and RH on the other. www.speedwaymotors.com/Tie-Rod-Drag-Link-Kits-5-8-Rod-End,3305.html

I don't know what size tubing your looking for, but I thought this might help.

Why not build your own? I built my radius rods myself, when to the local steel place and dug through there drop rack. I built all for radius rods for 27 dollars (less clevises and rod ends. The LH tap was about 50 dollars.

Eric

Eric,

I did see the Speedway stuff and had noticed that there was an option for custom lenths. I think I want to go with stainless rod, so they can be polished and I dont have to worry about peeling or scratched/rusted chrome. I was thinking about getting some DOM (drawn over mandrel) tubing in stainless and making my own as you have mentioned and guess I should pursue that option.

Thanks,

 

[Mr. Fixit]

We here at RPM can custom make any length radius rod or tie rod you might need. ALL radius rods are made from 1" dom with a .219" wall. Tie rods, drag links and panhard bars can be made from that same tube or we have 7/8" tube with a .156" wall also for those that want a smaller tube on those parts.

Ron, is the dom stainless or ?? How are the completed parts sold? Also, my front four links are 3/4" diameter.

Thanks,

 

[RPM]

Ron, is the dom stainless or ?? How are the completed parts sold? Also, my front four links are 3/4" diameter.

Thanks,

We don't do any stainless, and don't have a source for chrome. Just raw steel. We have had some parts ceramic coated and it looks great. The same ceramic that is put on the headers.

 

[RexRod]

David, I checked out the site and rod ends look nice. I dont see any various length rods themselves. Do they sell them too, or do you use another source for those?


Thanks,

Sorry Steve, I only answered half your question. As far as the tubing, I just buy DOM locally and cut it to length and tap it myself. I'm not a chrome person, so the stainless sounds like a good idea. We all know you have a bad-*ss shop and kick-*ss skills, so you should be able to do it easy enough.

Tip: I know it doesn't apply in this case with your four-bar setup, but if you make anything in stainless that you want polished later, and you need to do some welding on it, finish machining and polishing all your parts before you weld. Be careful when you weld not to scratch anything, and then when you're done, it's easy to touch up polish the welded areas. You can use soft aluminum pads for clamping without damaging the finish. An assembly is always harder to polish than individual parts.

RPM has presented an interesting idea. I've heard of using the ceramic coatings for parts other than headers before. I have to admit, the radius rods he shows look pretty good.

David

 

[Brucer]

Sorry Steve, I only answered half your question. As far as the tubing, I just buy DOM locally and cut it to length and tap it myself. I'm not a chrome person, so the stainless sounds like a good idea. We all know you have a bad-*ss shop and kick-*ss skills, so you should be able to do it easy enough.

Tip: I know it doesn't apply in this case with your four-bar setup, but if you make anything in stainless that you want polished later, and you need to do some welding on it, finish machining and polishing all your parts before you weld. Be careful when you weld not to scratch anything, and then when you're done, it's easy to touch up polish the welded areas. You can use soft aluminum pads for clamping without damaging the finish. An assembly is always harder to polish than individual parts.

RPM has presented an interesting idea. I've heard of using the ceramic coatings for parts other than headers before. I have to admit, the radius rods he shows look pretty good.

David

the ceramic coatings have come along way in the last couple years, a friend of mine showed me some late 60's camaro hinges he had ceramic coated, they looked as good as chrome... you could see your reflection in them..

 

[benT]

We don't do any stainless, and don't have a source for chrome. Just raw steel. We have had some parts ceramic coated and it looks great. The same ceramic that is put on the headers.

My whole front end is ceramic coated, along with my valve covers, intake, air cleaner, and of course, exhaust. The items that don't see the heat are clear coated, so there is no maintenance--just waxing like the rest of the body. Looks like polished alum, and I don't have to polish it. Now I will clarify that we own a coating shop that specializes in Ceramic coatings and powder coating. In fact, researching ceramic coatings for my car was the reason we got in the business in the first place. Since we have done my front end components, we have done similar for a lot of street rods and the like. We are currently looking into adding the spray chrome process to the business and this would be a perfect application. Compare the windshield posts and the wheels which are polished alum to the headers, valve covers and front end which is ceramic coated...

 

[butch27]

benT: Just welding up my windshield posts and would be interested in the spray chrome durability.?

 

[benT]

I really don't know yet. We were studying the different manufacturers and the set up requirements pretty seriously this summer, but have gotten sidetracked with expansion of our production ceramic work. We just bought another direct pressure blaster and a third paint booth. I imagine we'll revisit the spray chrome seriously in the spring. The durability appears to be good as it will be similar to paint, but with a smaller price tag than real chrome. For us, its a natural as our client base is automotive, motorcycles, and racing. We do very little architectural or standard production work. The polished ceramic (CermaKrome) is still a good option as it is very durable and still less than chrome. Another alternative is powder coat, which is less expensive and can be done in hundreds of colors, tints, and "chrome". The chome powder (with clear coat) is a little less reflective than chrome and ceramic, but is a good durable low cost alternative. Here are a few comparison pics:
Ceramic: These torque arms were Ceramic Coated for a '32 that was featured in Street Rodder.

The rear end below is Chrome Powder:

Hope this helps.

 

[Mr. Fixit]

We don't do any stainless, and don't have a source for chrome. Just raw steel. We have had some parts ceramic coated and it looks great. The same ceramic that is put on the headers.

Ron,

This seems like a good alternative. I will give it some thought.

Thanks,

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Sorry Steve, I only answered half your question. As far as the tubing, I just buy DOM locally and cut it to length and tap it myself. I'm not a chrome person, so the stainless sounds like a good idea. We all know you have a bad-*ss shop and kick-*ss skills, so you should be able to do it easy enough.

Tip: I know it doesn't apply in this case with your four-bar setup, but if you make anything in stainless that you want polished later, and you need to do some welding on it, finish machining and polishing all your parts before you weld. Be careful when you weld not to scratch anything, and then when you're done, it's easy to touch up polish the welded areas. You can use soft aluminum pads for clamping without damaging the finish. An assembly is always harder to polish than individual parts.

RPM has presented an interesting idea. I've heard of using the ceramic coatings for parts other than headers before. I have to admit, the radius rods he shows look pretty good.

David

Thanks David, I appreciate it...

 

[Mr. Fixit]

My whole front end is ceramic coated, along with my valve covers, intake, air cleaner, and of course, exhaust. The items that don't see the heat are clear coated, so there is no maintenance--just waxing like the rest of the body. Looks like polished alum, and I don't have to polish it. Now I will clarify that we own a coating shop that specializes in Ceramic coatings and powder coating. In fact, researching ceramic coatings for my car was the reason we got in the business in the first place. Since we have done my front end components, we have done similar for a lot of street rods and the like. We are currently looking into adding the spray chrome process to the business and this would be a perfect application. Compare the windshield posts and the wheels which are polished alum to the headers, valve covers and front end which is ceramic coated...

Beautiful work, thanks for sharing...