Endlinks, Spherical or Bushing type?

Okay, both front and rear endlinks are clunking like hell. And spring is around the corner, so it's time to think about fixing this crap.

 

I'm leaning towards the Kartboy as they're a simple bushing design and relatively cheap.

 

Any opinions on this? My suspension is stock and I'm not upgrading the swaybars. I just want better endlinks that in 30,000 miles it won't start clunking like the stock endlinks.

Another concern is the stock endlinks and the cheaper AVO endlinks is that if something happens to the bolt in them, you need to buy all new endlinks. This has already happened to me. I replaced the front endlinks last year with the adjustable AVO ones, and now they are clunking and I can't get the nut off of it without cutting the bolt. Which means new endlinks. I'd rather just be able to replace the hardware instead of a $100+ endlink.

 

Also, what's better, the Spherical bearing endlinks, or Urethane bushing endlinks? I might even go for the MSI endlinks because they have replaceable bushings.

I have Kartboy endlinks and they are top notch quality

Put your name on the GB then!

I have Kartboy endlinks and they are top notch quality

 

That's encouraging coming from someone who gets snow as well

I upgraded to Perrin 22 F&R sways. Within a month both F&R stock endlinks needed replacement. I got kartboys and they are beefy as hell. No problems at all.

 

If you want to keep the stock design, but beef up, Rallitek makes a great product. 5 yr garuntee and about half the price of the Kartboys (or at least significantly less). With stocker sways, the ralliteks should hold up.

I just put 25mm perrins on and I was looking at the Kartboys also. I do like the Rallitek 5 yr thing though.

Put your name on the GB then!

 

+1 for these MSI endlinks. I've had them on my car through 3 New England winters and 3 road racing seasons. Not a single problem.

+1 Another vote for the MSI's. A simple, yet functional design.

I have had the Perrins for a year now. I am on the MSI Group Buy. My Perrins are crap and started wearing out very fast in the NYC winter.

I have run the Whiteline Adjustable Front and Rear sway bars with the kartboy endlinks for a few years. Great setup!

 

-mike

rallitek HD front and rear endlinks are built very solid and matched well with my perrin 22mm front and rear sways

I ended up going with the KartBoy endlinks. Looks like a lot of people were having issues with the spherical bearing ones. I also don't like "stock designed" endlinks due to if anything happens to the threads or nuts, you need to buy all new ones. I know this "shouldn't" happen, but it has happened twice for me. Once trying to take off the stock endlinks and once with the AVO adjustable endlinks.

 

The MSI's looked great too, just out of my price range!

Also the spherical ones are great in a track situation where they don't see salt. I see you are in the NE like us here in NJ and the salt just kills the spherical ones.

 

-mike

^ +1. Killed my Perrins fasssst.

I have the Perrin ones in the front and ended up with AP sphericals for the rear. Huge size diff between the two. Ap's are way more substantial. Time will tell how they survive our winters.

Plus the spherical Perrin's can turn noisy as hell. My KB's have been dead silent, are beefy, and I believe can be rebuilt with a little bushing kit from Kartboy.

Yeah. I made a mistake buying them. They are so noisy my ECU reads knock on bumps, lol (its really not that funny). I am first on the list for the MSI group buy. I can't wait to ditch the Perrins.

Any suggestions on removing the factory front end links. Is there any way to keep the shaft from turning? I purchased Perrin front end links and after reading all this should I even bother installing them.

May have to cut em if you can't get vice grips on it to prevent it from rotating.

 

-mike

Any suggestions on removing the factory front end links. Is there any way to keep the shaft from turning? I purchased Perrin front end links and after reading all this should I even bother installing them.

 

Unless they're truly rusted on, you should be able to insert an allen key into the end of the shaft to keep it from turning.

My stock ones were so messed up that the whole bolt was turning inside the endlink, and the allen key just turned in it's slot. So grabbed a Black and Decker rotary tool (MUCH more torque than a dremel) and hacked it out. Probably going to have to do the exact same thing with these AVO adjustable ones. You just can't get the right force on an allen key. It just twists out. Thats why I wanted to pick endlinks with separate hardware that can be easily replaced. The KartBoys did just that. And to hear you can rebuild them with a bushing set from KartBoy is great!

I don't see a location for an Allen key, the back side of the end link has four yellow plugs in it that don't come out... just gonna cut them off.

And to hear you can rebuild them with a bushing set from KartBoy is great!

http://www2.kartboy.com/x4/product.php?productid=16190&cat=0&bestseller=Y

You sure can which was the final deciding factor for me. A full set of beefy endlinks for, IIRC, $200 with great reviews from a cool vendor was all I needed.

I don't see a location for an Allen key, the back side of the end link has four yellow plugs in it that don't come out... just gonna cut them off.

 

You're looking at the wrong side

 

The allen key fitting is in the end of the bolt itself. There should be a walkthrough on the site that details this.

Yes you are correct, 5mm allen key and a 14mm pass through socket worked, they right off. Thank you very much.