Open vs Closed rod ends

[skom25]

Hi,

What is the difference between open and closed rod ends? Is it matter or friction, stiffness or ... ? Which are better?

Above only examples. Do not look on sizes.

[BuggyDad]

The open ones have the advantage that you can unscrew a hex drive ball stud without popping them off first, which would help them to last longer. 

I'm guessing there are other advantages of open I don't know about though, because manufacturers seem to make the open ones the upgrade parts (although you can get harder "low friction" closed ones too I think). 

The design of the open ones seems to have a bit more material thickness where it counts too, but that's not an advantage of open vs closed - they could make beefed up closed ones. 

[Simon998]

The open ends on my shock rod ends always get pushed in when I have an accident in a race and it stops them moving freely. I've put o-rings behind them to stop this happening. Apart from that I think open ends are more for shocks and closed ends are more for steering componants

[Saito2]

I'm guessing the advantage of closed ends would be less wear due to dirt/grit intrusion. I've seen little foam donut "washers" that go on underneath them to help seal off the bottom too, like these on a TRF201.

[skom25]

I had open with TT-02B turnbuckle set for sterring, but to be honest, they look silly. Probably I will use low friction reinforced.

[TurnipJF]

If the end goes down on top of the ball, closed helps keep dirt out. However if the end clips upwards onto the ball from below, closed traps dirt while open lets it fall out freely.

[matisse]

On 4/28/2023 at 9:45 AM, skom25 said:

I had open with TT-02B turnbuckle set for sterring, but to be honest, they look silly. Probably I will use low friction reinforced.

The low friction are good, but i like the open rod ends as the cups lose there shape the more you remove them. 

The best combination of this is the ball cups with a small hole in the top for a hex driver, as you see on most top end off road race cars these days. 

[Rvl 2]

 

The open faced reinforced rod ends(54869)are designed to work with hardened pillow balls(op.969). They allow us to quickly add a spacer to adjust camber or adjust upper arm angles or steering angles.