Do you realize how sloppy a heim would be in order for it to fall off the ball? Rediculous claim!
Sure I do. I see failed heims fairly often. They are used quite a bit in industry. It does happen. What's a ridiculous claim? They are NOT DOT approved.
That being said I ran my last set of heim steering for roughly 60,000 rougher than normal offroading and crawling and when I sold the assembly all of the 7/8 heims we're still tight. Actually hard to turn the ball. Like new. That throws worrying about them wearing to the point of separating right out the window.
Understood. When properly engineered and sized I have no doubt a
high quality joint will perform just fine.
Speaking of DOT, not one single suspension component, steering component or brake modification is DOT legal. Your disc kit and hydroboost ILLEGAL. Anything that is not as engineered by Ford for that model year is illegal.
That may be. Some components do have DOT exemption numbers/certs though. But, heims have never been "approved" for on road use. I don't know of any OEM that has used them from the factory, nor do I think they can.
Now back to reality, your 100 times more likely to get a mudflap ticket than a ticket for heim steering
Maybe in CA but in VA with our annual vehicle inspection depending on who is doing the inspection it is completely possible to fail because of a heim and/or modified suspension.
Agree with me or not, phred was asking for opinions pro or con. I offered one.
My understanding is that because of the way they are made they don't meet the criteria for safety factor and therefore are not approved for on road use. They may perform just fine. Mounting them in double sheer or using a safely washer definitely increases the likelihood that a joint failure would not be catastrophic.
In phred's situation where it is a misalignment issue and the joint would be mounted in double sheer the joint would likely perform just fine and probably better than the bushing. But IMO correcting the geometry is a better approach as if there is that much misalignment at the top there is still going to be an alignment issue with the bottom bushing even with a heim at the top of the trac bar.
