Which rear LCA's?
Which rear LCA's? Currently:
-Bone stock suspension with much miles
Moving to:
-MWC 9" billet clutch posi and watt's link
-Within a few months strano springs, koni DA's, strano sways blah blah
Anyways, the car is probably going to be 50% street/40% auto-x/10% strip, maybe a little more street since I enjoy driving it. (not my DD)
I'm trying to figure out which rear LCA's to pair with the rear end that should be here in about a month. I'm leaning towards MWC's adjustable. Basically I know they need to be adjustable since I'm going to have an aftermarket rear. What are you guys on here running? (Brand, which ends, double or single adjustable)
I understand that the car is essentially a hodgepodge of compromises, but I don't want to run into any issues with binding rear LCA's at Auto-x. Might as well do this right the first time!
-Bone stock suspension with much miles
Moving to:
-MWC 9" billet clutch posi and watt's link
-Within a few months strano springs, koni DA's, strano sways blah blah
Anyways, the car is probably going to be 50% street/40% auto-x/10% strip, maybe a little more street since I enjoy driving it. (not my DD)
I'm trying to figure out which rear LCA's to pair with the rear end that should be here in about a month. I'm leaning towards MWC's adjustable. Basically I know they need to be adjustable since I'm going to have an aftermarket rear. What are you guys on here running? (Brand, which ends, double or single adjustable)
I understand that the car is essentially a hodgepodge of compromises, but I don't want to run into any issues with binding rear LCA's at Auto-x. Might as well do this right the first time!
I have a set of these for sale, $180.00.
Add 2.9% for Paypal and you pay for the ride, very low street miles. Mostly all track duty.
http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...p89j0nt1eeric5
Add 2.9% for Paypal and you pay for the ride, very low street miles. Mostly all track duty.
http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...p89j0nt1eeric5
Free bump. I'm in the same boat as you and have been trying to figure out what the best solution is.
Given that bind-free articulation is key for folks interested in handling, the roto-joint and rod-end options seem to be the two most logical choices (outside of simply pressing in Moog rubber bushings into the stock ones).
I'm leaning towards going with a roto-joint setup based solely on the fact that FFB was pleased with them on his car, however I haven't pulled the trigger because I want to educate myself more on the alternatives before buying. Hopefully others will chime in here and share their thoughts.
Given that bind-free articulation is key for folks interested in handling, the roto-joint and rod-end options seem to be the two most logical choices (outside of simply pressing in Moog rubber bushings into the stock ones).
I'm leaning towards going with a roto-joint setup based solely on the fact that FFB was pleased with them on his car, however I haven't pulled the trigger because I want to educate myself more on the alternatives before buying. Hopefully others will chime in here and share their thoughts.
I ran a set of roto joints on my car about four years ago. They made a lot of noise and I couldn't handle it so I went back to stock. They might have a better design now I'm not sure.
BTW, I also have the spanner wrench for mine, extra $20 to buy it...you will need it.
Is anyone running the MWC Heim joints? I've seen a few threads that suggest they may be better than your average rod end, plus I can tack on a new set to my rear order for not all that much.
When they start rattling, and they will trust me....you are stuck with them.
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I have one car, in my sig, and so it's obviously my daily driver. I use Unbalanced Engineering rod end LCA's and I've had them installed for almost a decade. They originally came with Aurora rod ends but once they got noisy I've only ever used FK Rodend JMX12T and JMXL12T rods and they have a long life (at least a year). The last two times I replaced them I also tried the Seals It rod end seals and that seems to help also. UE now offers the LCA's in aluminum, which I would prefer if I were to buy them again.
Last year I temporarily swapped in the stock LCA's with new Moog solid rubber bushings to isolate some noise, then put the UE's back in with all new hardware. I couldn't tell the difference in noise but could tell the difference in the feel of the car, I preferred the rod ends.
Consider buying FFB's pieces, and if you decide you don't like those ends, perhaps try out the JMXT & Seals-It combo.
Everything I've read indicate weld-in is preferable to bolt-in relocation brackets, but I'm not an engineer.
Last year I temporarily swapped in the stock LCA's with new Moog solid rubber bushings to isolate some noise, then put the UE's back in with all new hardware. I couldn't tell the difference in noise but could tell the difference in the feel of the car, I preferred the rod ends.
Consider buying FFB's pieces, and if you decide you don't like those ends, perhaps try out the JMXT & Seals-It combo.
Everything I've read indicate weld-in is preferable to bolt-in relocation brackets, but I'm not an engineer.
I can tack on brand new MWC heim joint LCAs to my rear end order for $180, or I can pick up your used UMI roto-joint for $195. If I were 100% sold on the fact that heim joints aren't for me I'd be all over yours. I'm not trying to say that yours are a bad deal or anything, but after doing some more reading and research they may not be for me.
I can tack on brand new MWC heim joint LCAs to my rear end order for $180, or I can pick up your used UMI roto-joint for $195. If I were 100% sold on the fact that heim joints aren't for me I'd be all over yours. I'm not trying to say that yours are a bad deal or anything, but after doing some more reading and research they may not be for me.
I have one car, in my sig, and so it's obviously my daily driver. I use Unbalanced Engineering rod end LCA's and I've had them installed for almost a decade. They originally came with Aurora rod ends but once they got noisy I've only ever used FK Rodend JMX12T and JMXL12T rods and they have a long life (at least a year). The last two times I replaced them I also tried the Seals It rod end seals and that seems to help also. UE now offers the LCA's in aluminum, which I would prefer if I were to buy them again.
Last year I temporarily swapped in the stock LCA's with new Moog solid rubber bushings to isolate some noise, then put the UE's back in with all new hardware. I couldn't tell the difference in noise but could tell the difference in the feel of the car, I preferred the rod ends.
Consider buying FFB's pieces, and if you decide you don't like those ends, perhaps try out the JMXT & Seals-It combo.
Everything I've read indicate weld-in is preferable to bolt-in relocation brackets, but I'm not an engineer.
Last year I temporarily swapped in the stock LCA's with new Moog solid rubber bushings to isolate some noise, then put the UE's back in with all new hardware. I couldn't tell the difference in noise but could tell the difference in the feel of the car, I preferred the rod ends.
Consider buying FFB's pieces, and if you decide you don't like those ends, perhaps try out the JMXT & Seals-It combo.
Everything I've read indicate weld-in is preferable to bolt-in relocation brackets, but I'm not an engineer.
I'm expecting to pick up some noise from the addition of the watt's link anyways. When you say your rod ends were lasting about a year, how much driving were you doing?
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,798
Likes: 16
From: St.Charles MO
As already stated that the roto-joints won't make noise if they are tightened. Mine started making noise and I tightened them up and haven't had any noise since.
Ohhhhh mine were tight lol. I even contacted UMI directly and sent them pics and everything. They offered that I send them back to them so they could check them out, but I sold them before I had a chance to send them. Nice folks over there. I'm not bashing them at all just for my particular application they didn't work out for me.
Ohhhhh mine were tight lol. I even contacted UMI directly and sent them pics and everything. They offered that I send them back to them so they could check them out, but I sold them before I had a chance to send them. Nice folks over there. I'm not bashing them at all just for my particular application they didn't work out for me.
I'm running poly/rod LCA's and rod/rod panhard, no noticeable difference at all. Just lubed em' up real good and bolted them in. Maybe if you're real picky you may say there's more of a 'jolt' going over potholes but it wasn't nearly as bad as people were saying it was gunna be.
I don't have any clips of mine. The noise was kind of like a dull thud like something was loose and rattling. Going over expansion cracks on bridges was the worst. Also if the car had any lateral movement you could hear them clicking. I was a little crazy so I used to open my hatch and shake the car side to side so I could figure the noise and it would click and rattle when it shook. I put the stock arms back on and no noise. I'm guessing it must be the rubber bushings that absorb the noise and vibration. Now my car groans when I back up or go over curbs so I know the stockers have to be binding, but I'm OK with that because I'm not out tracking every weekend so that extra articulation I'm not missing it.
If you're doing much street driving I'd definitely recommend using roto-joints. Like the others have said the rod-ends will make noise. The rubber of the lower control arms absorbs a lot of the noise/vibration into the chassis. The Roto-Joint is able to absorb some of it with the delrin races inside the roto-housing.
The roto-joint will allow the articulation you want with road roacing. If you have any further questions let me know!
The roto-joint will allow the articulation you want with road roacing. If you have any further questions let me know!