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Originally Posted by insite
kirk -
awhile back, i designed and built some sway bar links. i tested the rod ends in your pictures. they are rated at 4,000lb radial and 1,500lb axial. wanna know what they tested at? 800lb radial and 240 lb axial. i'd remove them from your car; they are garbage.
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Yeah I got some conical spacers to try these heim joints out as sway bar drop links. One of the seals on a rear drop link on my car is bad and I want to replace it with something using heim joints. After looking at the parts I would agree that they're probably not up to the task as a sway bar link. I think you need something fairly robust for that application, probably made of steel. At least I know what size to get now for the spacers and heim joints. I'll have to see what parts I can find.
For the stress bars though they won't be exposed to as much of a dynamic load as the sway bar drop links. Their role is to support and reinforce the thin sheet metal stress plate that Porsche puts in there. So I think that in this role they will be more than sufficient, especially in use on the smaller, secondary bars. Either way, they can't hurt and can only really help in this application!
I'll know more in a couple weeks. I weighed them this morning - 5 oz for the side bars and 6.8 oz for the main bar - super light weight! I'll get them installed soon and then put the car through its paces and see how they hold up.
Kirk