What rod ends for your suspension

Just changing out a load of my GMG components as the rod ends (which look like FK) have worn so much you can manually make the rear wheels wobble. Not a cheap exercise as rod ends vary from like £10 to £100+ each. But you get what you pay for. I personally would have paid a lot more for better rod ends if I had known what i do now when I originally purchased them.

This is a great guide you should use as a reference to see what rod ends your selected suspension company use before you purchase...

How To Choose The Correct Rod End

NMB / NHBB are considered to be the finest quality rod ends and spherical bearings available and are the choice of professional racers worldwide, including CART, IRL, F-1, NASCAR, World Rally and similar teams. For most applications, the ART series rod end and ABT series spherical bearing is more than suitable. If higher strength is required, choose the ARHT series rod end or ABWT spherical bearing. For high misalignment applications, such as tie rod ends or suspension components, use the ARYT series rod end or ABYT spherical bearing. All are aircraft quality, teflon - lined, with stainless steel bodies and races and are available in left and right hand threads. Since only male configurations are available from NHBB / NMB, use Aurora Chrome Moly Rod Ends for female applications.

Aurora and FK Rod Ends are supplied for lesser duty requirements than NHBB / NMB, although for many applications the Aurora AM or FK JM series will provide the strength required at a substantially lower cost. At the bottom of the line in terms of strength and cost are the FK series CM, CB, CW and CG economy rod ends with steel bodies and sintered steel balls. Next in terms of quality is the precision grade FK JM and JF series, with steel bodies and alloy steel races and balls. These are sometimes preferred for racing categories where it may be preferable for the rod end to break instead of the suspension or chassis. For racing applications, we recommend the AM, AB, AW and AG series with alloy steel bodies, races and balls and the XAM, XAB, XM, and XB series, and HXAM and HXAB high misalignment series, which have 4130 alloy steel bodies and races. For lightweight applications, we carry the ALM, ALB, XALM and XALB aluminum body rod ends. All are available in both male and female configurations and left and right hand threads. For spherical bearings, look at the COM series. To decide what you need, look at the charts showing load capacities on each page.

FK Rod Ends are the equivalent of Aurora in every respect. Again use alloy steel body rod ends such as the JMX series for critical applications such as suspension components and check the application charts for load capacities and acceptable misalignment angles.

Source: How to Choose The Correct Rod End

And FYI I have 15k miles on my aftermarket suspension components now.

 

By the way, from what I have been told here by many rod end supply companies; NMB only do high grade rod ends, Aurora do a huge range from low grade to high grade, and FK only do low grade.

I am changing all my rod ends to either high end Aurora or NMB - as they wear out.

...plus adding rubber bootie ends to give some extra weather protection going forwards.

My suspension tuner is going to take some 'worn' FK pics and comparison to NMB rod ends when he has the chance this week. I will post them here when i have them.

 

Alex as always stellar info! Thank you!

 

Thanks for the tidy up DJ - only have my iPhone on me so not as neat as I would normally post

 

FYI - my car is all fixed now.

Insanely expensive exercise just to fix a rattle (£2k!) but I have upgraded all GMG rod ends in my toe-steer and dog-bone kits to MNB rod-ends and I am happy to say no more rattles. Both my rear tyres were shredded from wobbling about so much the wear on the FK-rod ends was so bad.

The real surprise though is in the handling difference. Having aerospace/F1 level rod-ends has resulted in a MUCH smoother rode and more compliant too! We put on rubber booties to all rod-ends and waxed them to add more weather protection. I will post a load of photos when my suspension tuner sends them to me.

Moral of the story: check with your suspension supplier what rod-ends they use. If they are FK then you should get them to swap them for top of the line Aurora or MNB rod-ends BEFORE YOU BUY THEM (at a relatively small premium) and get them to supply rubber booties too!

 

I'm happy to hear that your car is fixed, Alex! It took me and two other friends with the exact same suspension mods almost 2 years to finally eradicate some groaning noises coming from the suspension. It was crazy but it's a great feeling knowing it's finally gone!

 

Old FK vs new NMB rod-ends:

 

New NMB rod-end example:

 

Dog bone (control link arm) with NMB rod-end fitted with rubber bootee as protection from elements