Polyurethane Bushing where Hicas Ball Joint Goes. Anyone done it?

[Rush]

Has anyone used a polyurethane bushing in place of a Hicas rear ball joint with their stock tie rod ends?

I want to do this because I need new rear ball joints but I have a Hicas lock bar so its pointless to get ball joints (since they no longer move). And ball joints are 60 bucks each while bushings are 5 bucks each. Is this do-able?

Heres a pic of what I mean except this person has a Driftworks total eliminator kit. They have the toe control arms in place for the stock tie rods.










So what I am asking is if you can use bushings (instead of ball joints) with your stock rear tie rods (instead of buying the eliminator kit) and use it with a standard Hicas lock bar?

Thanks.

[M13]

probably doable but the hardest part is pressing out the ball joint anyways.

[Rush]

Some body said to use a solid bushing rather than polyurethane so theres no play at all.

[cschepp]

the ball joint will be a bitch to get out. just make sure you have a ball joint press and you should be good. I installed a driftworks kit which seemed to be pretty good. Driftworks actually uses all these kits on their drift cars so i wouldnt worry about the play really. Replacing the bushings are also going to be super easy as well! hope this helps

[Rush]

Does anyone know where to buy individual bushings like these? DW is cheap.. like 3 bucks a bushing but the shipping is 86 GBP!!! Anyone know anything local? Energy and SPL and those companies seem to only sell them in kits... which consist of 10 or so bushings.

[Black BNR32]

Some body said to use a solid bushing rather than polyurethane so theres no play at all.

that's definitely what i would do...delrin or steel or whatever

[frankiman]

how would you attach the stock tie rod ends using a poly bushing?

you can't just replace a ball joint with by a bushing

[Rush]

how would you attach the stock tie rod ends using a poly bushing?

you can't just replace a ball joint with by a bushing

With an M12 Bolt maybe? How do you think the DW kit does it?

[Chewy]

yeah an m12 bolt would work fine.

[Rush]

yeah an m12 bolt would work fine.

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll be doing that soon.

[frankiman]

With an M12 Bolt maybe? How do you think the DW kit does it?

i know how the DW kit does it, i have it, i installed it

but the tie rod end mounting surface is made for a "ball joint", so i don't know how good the linking will be against the poly bush's flat surface, regardless of the bolt used

[Black BNR32]

rush, aren't the stock tie rod ends tapered on the inside?

[frankiman]

rush, aren't the stock tie rod ends tapered on the inside?

^^this

[Rush]

Nope. The rear tie rods are flat like this.

http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=147&products_id=1816&osCsid=8iajv3tko9i428ssm3ee2i35s2

So a washer in between the poly and the tie rod with a M12 Bolt through the whole thing with another washer and nut on the end and its good. I got poly bushings on their way already so i'll snap a pic once its complete. Ball joints are way more expensive than bushings and are useless when you have the hicas locked out already.

[Black BNR32]

your pic doesn't show if the inner bore is tapered or straight through. your first post shows the ball joint is tapered, so one must assume the tie rod must be too.

now, i suggest drilling out your tie rod ends so they have a straight through bore and match it to your bolt as tight as possible. the same fit should exist between the bushing and bolt.

its hard for me to explain why in laymans terms, but hopefully the other mechanical engineers here can. if you leave your tie rod ends tapered, you will have to match the bolt size to the smallest diameter of the taper which is on the 'outside' of it (where your bolt head meets the tie rod end). this will be where the tie rod end transfers a point load force to the bolt and vice versa. this situation causes a bending moment between this point and the 'bushing to tie rod end' joint. depending on the forces invovlved you will risk bending the bolt at the 'busing to tie rod end' joint. if you eliminate this bending moment/point load/tapered tie rod end you will only subject your set up to shear forces and thus have a stronger design.

in short, your idea will work great if you can drill out your tie rod ends(or somehow create a straight through inner hole), match the sizes of your bushing's inner holes to your tie rod end's hole, match the bolt size to both of your inner holes, and hope like hell your bolt is strong enough!

bryn

edit - i suppose if you turned the tie rod end 180 degrees so the small end of the taper is against the bushing, that will help the bending moment situation. but, you will still have a bending moment on the tie rod end itself and thus the inner one too. not sure if thats a problem or not