Anyone see a great advantage of using Heim Joints in place of the stock tie rod ends? As you can see from my signature below, I have a solid front D44 in my 95 F-150, I notice that when I carry my snow plow the larger tires seem to want to run in the ruts in the road and it is much harder to keep control and steer where I want. I have a brand new double steering stabilizer on this thing, and it still (not all the time) likes to wander some. I have re-adjusted my track bar and have the tie rod and track bar parallel to each other, trying to get rid of most of the bump steer. The alignment is good as for the most part the truck goes stright down the road.

The truck only has about 1500 miles on it since I did all of the work and all of the tie rod ends were replaced when I did this. My end goal is to put hydraulic ram assist steering on the truck, not necessarily for need, but for a bunch of "cool points" and to help out when I need to turn with the plow on the front (I can't even move the front when the plow is raised and the truck is not moving!). I am looking at doing this "upgrade" in stages, and want to make sure that I do this right. So back to my original question, are heim joints/rod ends or tie rod ends better for what I am planning? I need some good opinions.

 

Lots of looks but no replies...

"bump"

 

Well, there are several things to look at:

With a heim joint, if you buy a quality one you know it will be just that.. quality. They can really stand up to some abuse, and will last a long time. They are also adjustable which can by very nice in getting your tie rod just the right lenght.

With a regualr tie rod end you loose all adjustability. The ends can also squeek more over time.

 

Makes sense, and that's what I wanted to hear. looks like I'm gonna go for it.

Thanks for reassuring what I thought!!