https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/mo...l#post11529865

See post #24

Female to female coupler can be threaded any size. Bit heavy in SS.

 

 

So I was revisiting this yesterday as is pertains to my hubs, but I'm running into an issue on the stock LCA that either a male rod end is too long or a female is too short.


An M14 male rod end actually runs into the threaded steering rod. Found this out accidentally when I couldn't get enough tow out. I ended up having to cut 1/2" off of the 5/8" rod end supplied with that mustang kit I bought to try and make work. I don't recall how much longer the X LCA is so not sure if that's an issue there.


They also don't make an M14x1.5 female rod end long enough to work with a stock LCA. Need to be about 75mm to match up to stock tie rod but all available are around 60mm from ball center to end of rod end.


Thinking about asking Aurora bearing for a quote on a stubby M14x1.5 rod end so we can just make a simple bar threaded to M14x1.5 on both sides. No clue on the cost or min qty so it might be not work out.


With my hubs right now my only option is to cut down an M14 rod end unless someone knows who supplies quality but short rod ends..

 

The qa1 rod ends i was looking at have 2.7 inch dimensions between the ball axis and end of the threaded female face. These of course were the 5/8 ends. Look them up on their site and let me know if my memory serves. Of the QA 1 ends, i like the endurance series the best. Part injected nylon, part steel. These exact ends came on some NRG DME rear toe/camber arms i purchased last year and they've held up wonderfully to lots of tracking, including heavy rain. Upon inspection last month they're still super tight and show zero signs of wear.

 

Female only works if its actually M14x1.5 and I don't see that series in metric. Might Email QA1 also and see if they'll do anything custom.

 

To bring this back up, I now have a bunch of couplers with M14x1.5 on one side and 5/8x18 on the other for my uprights. One thing to note, the steering rod is long enough that any rod end will interfere with it on stock control arms so I am cutting the rod ends down and fully threading on the couple to the rod end with a jam nut. I have to cut about 1/2" off the rod ends to make sure there is enough adjustment before steering rod and rod end bump uglies.

Probably less of an issue with folks running less camber or longer control arms. Will try and post pics tonight.

 

Just checked on the extra space I can get with my current coupler. Its 50mm long and fully seated as shown (rod end bottomed out in coupler) gives an extra 5mm spacer theres plenty of thread to increase that another 10mm so 15mm of spacer.

In my case, I will be cutting the rod end down 1/2 since there doesnt exist any with a short enough shaft for high camber and stock control arms.

 

You go with the SAE rod end and not metric due to availability or price or just convenience?

 

Yes and yes. Its far more convenient to run a 5/8 rod end than a 16mm rod end and for the price typically there are cheaper but equivalent quality parts.

I'm still torn on which rod end to use. I have two different ones on the way but I may just offer the better one at the cost difference. The cheaper ones from Ruff Stuff have great reviews on wheelers and lifted trucks and are about $10ea. The QA1 rod ends are $20/ea and may start out a little bit tigher. I have 4 of the RuffStuff and they have significantly less stiction than the ones I got from the mustang kit and I have 1 of the QA1s on the way to evaluate.

 

I bought (2) QA1s to replace some on my Nagisa LCAs that were loose.

The (2) QA1s were quite different from each other for stiction. One I could rotate with my fingers with a decent amount of resistance. The other I couldn't move around until I put a bolt through the eye and got some leverage on it.

You could just provide no Rod Ends and let people make their own purchasing decision.

 

My offroad car that I've posted the picture of the front suspension a few times on here, has all ruff stuff heims on the front end, including the steering. They have lots of miles on them with no issues.

 

That's a good point. Some are willing to spend a lot on rod ends and others (like me) would rather replace them each year as preventive maintenance. Maybe I'll supply the standard one and let people upgrade that as they see fit. That way at least they have a full solution from me.

The other thing is I have to cut 1/2" off the threads for it to fit with the steering rod. Its required in my case because of running a lot of camber and toe out. Less aggressive setups may not require it but whats the point of buying billet uprights if you aren't already aggressive

 

Thanks for the feedback on them. Seems the offroad guys love the price/performance ratio you get with them.

 

And others with extended LCAs will have to probably make their own longer coupling nut. Hard to standardize the offering since the whole rod end in the coupling nut creates an interference issue.

 

I could probably look back through here and find it, but how much longer is the X control arm? I think I remember it being 15-20mm but could be wrong. If its just 15mm, then I think this might be right in the middle with just a little trim to fit when dealing with the short side.