I'm borrowing this photo from a post made by speedybenz



has anyone made them? it looks like a simple construction. I noticed that the heim joints have the extra pieces machined, this could be skipped if a high-misalignment rod end was used instead of that.

It seems that a simple camber bar could be made rather easily. Take a rod of steel, bore a hole in the centers of both ends, tap both ends. Paint the rod, install heim joints, install on car and adjust accordingly.


am I missing something?

I would much rather make something myself, than pay for something.

It seems to me this would be a superior solution to installing OEM material, but, what are the specifics? I'm not familar with the "heim" products.

__________________
1995 E320 -171k-km
1995 S420 -333k-km

You may get more responses on the Performance Paddock Forum.

The Heim products have been used in race cars with great success since their introduction at least 35 years ago.

You can probably get these components from MSC. Their website and online catalog are at: www.mscdirect.com

A little simple measurement and exercising the grey matter will come up with adjustable members that will be far stronger than original as well as, of course, adjustable.

Good luck,

Thats the idea, I was looking to actually replace all the links in the rear with adjustable rods.

I did a similar thing on my 67 camaro, I litterly took out all the rubber bushings and replaced them with either heim joints, or nylock racing bushings (steel bushings lined with nylon, no deflect). I want to eventually do a similar thing with my 300e, slowly replace all the rubber with a similar setup. I know the ride will be harsher, but right now the ride is to soft for me.

Those two-part inserts are to match the width and bolt size of the benz. A high-misalignment rod end would not solve that problem. You can get the rod and better rod ends from http://www.rodendsupply.com I've tried the rod ends shown in your pix for the steering linkage in my chevota, they were loose in less than 1K miles and they do not see much stress. I suggest American made 3-piece moly.
Depending on what the links job is and it's angle will determine how harsh it will feel. If you really want to go cheep you could make a solid one piece replacement from scratch, or even weld the center inserts to the body of the oem unit. Another option would be to weld one end solid, but leave the other alone. Twice as stiff, but not nearly as harsh.

Yes, you need to make sure that the particular end you are using is plenty strong for the job. This would be a GOOD place for some OVER engineering.

Also, due to the rubber mounted subframe, I don't think you would feel too much harshness, but I don't know for sure. The handling should be much more precise.

Good luck and keep us posted on progress.

Have a great day,

Over building would be a good idea. The only thing I want to know is how strong is strong enough? the heim joints I have been looking at are rated for 10,000lbs. How much force do the parts come in contact with?

I think it's more of what it can take before it stretches/deforms rather than failure. I've had lot's of them become loose, and that is extreeemely annoying. I don't believe my steering linkage or other items I've used rod ends on have ever seen anywhere near their rated loads, but they still become loose very quickly. Without rubber to cushon them, they really wear fast. The 3-piece moly end @ ~$35 ea are the only ones to get imo. These are all you will see on race vehicles.

wow, I just looked at the specs on some of the 3 piece bearings and they have a static radial load of up to 40,000lbs

Having done some tuning of GP bikes, I can tell you that a wheel that weighs 12 lbs at rest, behaves like a 60lb wheel at 100mph.

This being said, I am sure that a 4000lb car can creat loads of 40,000lbs or more on it's suspension. (E=MC2 means that the force level increases exponentially as speed increases...)

-DaveL