Greg_E

I recently purchased a set of T1 endlinks advertised as 1000mi of street use. The seller went back to stock endlinks.Two of them are in the condition I would expect for a fairly new part. The spherical bearings move freely in the race, but are not sloppy. No clicking noise if I try to make them rattle.
The other two have enough play on both ends that they will make a click if I move them back and forth in the race. The bearings are not scored, just loose. Also, one of the bearings has a slight bind at certain points near the limit of its travel. It looks like the spacer that goes on the bolt may have damaged the outer edge of the race. I know these Heim joints are prone to make noise. I don't know if these are OK or unusable. Is this normal after they get some use or should I ask for a refund on the two?
Thanks for your replies.

davidfarmer

Heim joints don't last forever....the become a normal wear item like you ball joints, tie rod ends etc.

Good news is, if one breaks (and they do), it's not the end of the world. I've broken several rears over the years.

I'd run them as long as they last, and I certainly wouldn't expect to get a refund on used racing parts.

Greg_E

Except they were represented as nearly new (1000 miles)with only street use.
If you bought a set of racing tires advertised as 90% tread left, priced accordingly, and two were 40% tread remaining , that would be OK?
To get back to my original question:
It does not appear they were ever lubricated.
My question is: Would you expect to see that much wear on endlinks with that little use?

CHJ In Virginia

In my humble opinion, there should be no noticable wear / sloppyness with only 1000 miles of street driving. I ran heim joint end links on my last car and had over 15K of street / track miles on them before they started to rattle. They probably would have gone farther but I would rather replace than have a failure. I would ask for a refund.

ghoffman

David, how did you break rears? The rear bar is so much smaller than the front....