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Chumpaumpalumpa

Proven Member
1,554
303
Jun 16, 2014
La Habra, California
Hi everyone. I want to use this rod end bearing as the end of my shifter cables (cabin side of firewall), however the hole is 6mm and it needs to be 8mm. Any ideas on how to disassemble and drill or any other ideas in general?
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While you could possibly super glue the ball inside of the housing, drill at higher speed, and dissolve the glue afterwards why not get a new larger end and avoid the trouble?
The problem is the shaft is usually the size of the hole unless it's some specialty something. These are hard to find in metric as it is.
That ball will harder than a 14yrold at the playboy mansion. Your best bet is to find one that will fit on your pins, and mod the softer threaded end. Or put 6mm pins in the shifter.
That's what I was thinking of doing to the threaded end. Never taken that much off of a thread on the male side though, how is it done? Also, how would I replace the pins on the shifter? Weld new ones on?
 
Can always try a small pair of vise scripts to hold the center with just enough room to add 2mm to the diameter
, only problem is will you damage the bearing?

Or a lot of time with a tiny round file
 
I bought 8mm rod ends and they measure 7.96mm and the shift pin things they go on are 8.04mm. Bastard was right, the ball is harder than nipples at absolute zero. Was going to try and grind it with a dremel tomorrow.
 
I have been wanting to do this for a while but ran in the same problem obviously. I came to the conclusion that the best way would be to use a 6mm rod end (can't remember if the thread needs to be left handed or right handed) and completely remove the pin on the shifter, flatten both surfaces of the shifter arm and drill and tap it for a 6mm bolt (or smaller if you decide to use a shoulder screw like you probably should), on assembly secure the bolt on the side opposite the joint with an additional nut.

or this... http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/building-a-heim-joint-shifter.262525/

The reason behind it is to remove that residual notchiness (is that even a word?) introduced by the shifter cables anchor points moving on a plane not perfectly aligned with the cables (make that two), which I believe is what destroys the plastic stock bushings in the long term. There's a technical article in here somewhere that describes this but done with standard threaded end rod. My plan was actually to install a similar bushing on the transmission end of the cables as well in place of the solid brass or aluminum bushings that are commonly used instead for the same reason. I've been struggling with the retaining method in that case, I am afraid that pressing the bushing in the eyelet of the end cable may brake it.

Or the short version of the same explanation...because the wheel is boring as it is and too much time in your hands (not really though...).
 
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Any particular reason you are reinventing the wheel?
The ends on there now are sloppy and plastic and I figure these will last for a long long time and I don't have to worry about them getting sloppy again. Also, it's a little bit of a challenge and that is interesting to me. What would you suggest I do besides my current plan?
 
I have been wanting to do this for a while but ran in the same problem obviously. I came to the conclusion that the best way would be to use a 6mm rod end (can't remember if the thread needs to be left handed or right handed) and completely remove the pin on the shifter, flatten both surfaces of the shifter arm and drill and tap it for a 6mm bolt (or smaller if you decide to use a shoulder screw like you probably should), on assembly secure the bolt on the side opposite the joint with an additional nut.

or this... http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/building-a-heim-joint-shifter.262525/

The reason behind it is to remove that residual notchiness (is that even a word?) introduced by the shifter cables anchor points moving on a plane not perfectly aligned with the cables (make that two), which I believe is what destroys the plastic stock bushings in the long term. There's a technical article in here somewhere that describes this but done with standard threaded end rod. My plan was actually to install a similar bushing on the transmission end of the cables as well in place of the solid brass or aluminum bushings that are commonly used instead for the same reason. I've been struggling with the retaining method in that case, I am afraid that pressing the bushing in the eyelet of the end cable may brake it.

Or the short version of the same explanation...because the wheel is boring as it is and too much time in your hands (not really though...).
I didn't even see the heim joint type until I got home and started modifying. Oh well. I'll post any results if I can get any today. I only need to shave off .1mm so we'll see how that goes.
 
The ends on there now are sloppy and plastic and I figure these will last for a long long time and I don't have to worry about them getting sloppy again. Also, it's a little bit of a challenge and that is interesting to me. What would you suggest I do besides my current plan?
Fair enough. I think I would scrap that rod end though in favor of that heim joint idea. I never really paid much attention to shifters. Ive kept fresh trannies in the car. A much more expensive solution but it isnt notchy. ;)
 
I've had the idea of replace those plastic bushings with ceramic ball bearings for a long time. Maybe that's something that you can look into. Look up Acer racing they primarily sell R/C ball bearings but they also make awesome stuff including titanium parts for porsches. http://www.acerracing.com/
 
I'm doing the ones on the cabin side of the firewall at the shifter base but thank you anyways. I have those already actually too :p
I should have known, sorry about that I completely missed it skimming thru your first post.

Actually a good idea, never considered the cabin side of the cables. Glad I sub'd and sorry for the confusion.
 
Not a problems gofer and thank you. A Dremel Stylus at 10,000 RPM with a chainsaw sharpening attachment is what I used on the inside of the hole on the rod end. It worked well..... too well.... anyways I got it on and realized the dowel on the side to side arm is shorter. However, the rod end sat flush so I figured hey, lets drill a 1/8 hole and put a self tapping metal screw in there. The result was this:
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Great I'm done (which we all know is never the case)..... or so I thought. When I tightened it down, the screw snapped. That was irritating to say the least. So I pulled the shifter base out, drilled it out and tapped it, stuck a bolt in there and a nut on top and called it a day. This is the final product:
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Click to enlarge^

Now I just have to drill and tap the turnbuckle adjustment nuts to accept an M8x1.25 rod and I'll be done. I might have to trim the rod on the rod end but I'll post that up later today most likely.
 
Ta-Duh! No more slop! Only cost $14.32. And it's still adjustable just like factory. If I need new cables I don't need to modify them either. Turned out pretty good I think.
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Edit: I did have to cut about a 1/4 in off each rod end to get it to fit. I used a Dremel with a cutoff wheel.
 
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