Resolved Seized tire rod ends?

Hey there,
I am using tire rod ends to connect each of my motors to my rig like the ones in my screenshot.
Two or three of these have gotten quite seized. They still move, but make a lot of noise squeaking, and are not very smooth at all. One of them is almost completely seized up. I tried using a oil, lubricant, and I also tried using WD-40. But I haven't gotten them to go back to being smooth like they were when I first bought them. I'm just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem? And maybe I'm using the wrong type of lubricant.
Just looking for some suggestions before I purchase some new ones.
Thanks!

WD40 isn't a great lubricator for a component like this, some light mineral oil, or even some engine oil if you have that lying about should do the trick.

The brass fitting in the side is designed to allow you to lubricate them

imo use a thin grease or an oil

thanks @Gadget999 @90kgOver300m
As it turns out it ended up not being a lubrication issue at all. I must have had too much play in my motion and the nuts that screwed these rod ends onto my machine ended up digging into the brass section and that was causing the bearings not to move smoothly. I ended up having to buy a whole new set of them, and i am attempting using washer to space the nuts further away so the corners of the nuts can't grind against the brass when extending to the limits of the rod ends. Im still not confident that the washers won't end up damaging them as well, but I don't know what else to do

Ahh I see, on the picture, what position is your rig in? And where abouts does it attach onto rig? A cap head bolt with no washer could possibly be an option, although I think the diameter of the cap head would only be very slightly smaller than what looks like your spring washer.


^ ignore most of that, managed to look through your thread and find out that info, nice build BTW!
Hopefully the washer works for you, I don't see what else you could really do without having to machine a spacer.

I used some short sections of tube over the threaded section. Its thin enough to not get in the way

Hey @90kgOver300m, I think the washer are helping but I decided to make a alteration of the geometry of my motor arm-to-rig and give it a bit more space to that the arm is starting of in a mo neutral position. This seems to be working well and I dont think I come to the full range of the tire rod ends very often now.

yeah thats a good idea @Gadget999 , I do have plans for that. I have a bunch of tarp poles where the tubing is the exact size i need so I just need to clean them up and then fit them over to add more strength.

Let me know how the washers work. I have gone through a couple of these myself due to the same thing. These may be an option but I havent purchased any to find out. https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=3068

@ChuckyP these look like the perfect solution!
So far the washer seem to be helping, but I can tell that they are still driving into the brass section that surrounds the berring, but they are just not gouging it, the same way that the nut edges were doing.
But that retaining washer looks like the perfect solution. I am going to look around and see if I can find them sold in canada.
Thanks a lot for that suggestion!

You can find them on Amazon as well. Search for Heim Joint washer and they have a few different designs and sizes available. Some don’t have that shoulder which may be an even better option.