I've been noticing that a lot of the off road racing trucks use heim joints on the ends of their tie rods. I was just wondering if, say on a race car, would it be beneficial to fabricate a steering system that used all heim joints (for center link, tie rod ends) instead of regular tie rod ends? It seemed like an interesting thought to me.

 

The tie rod ends at the spindles are rod ends with spacers to correct for bump steer. It's all part of a kit. The center link, idler arm and inner tie rod ends are still OEM. The ball sockets in all the other components work just fine. Converting the entire system to use rod ends is possible but the only advantage to doing so is for cleanliness.

 

I've seen a few of the autoX/RR guys with them for bump steer. Can't remember which ones for sure, but Pablo is one (also has custom fabbed steering knuckles to clear his 17x11's, info for that is on frrax), maybe BIG_MODS but not sure. Also search slicktrackgod or vetruck, same guy, but i think he had them too. All 3 are very awesome track cars.

 

Its been done for years.