My ladder bars have urethane rod ends. They're on a prostreet car and now have 6k miles on them. I've dropped the ladder bars down twice to inspect and lubricate the rod ends. They look fine, but should these be replaced as maintenance? They were purchased from Art Morrison in 2012. I'm concerned that if I replace them, even with name brand parts, they will be some Chinese junk. I'm not hard on the car, I've probably only done a dozen or so hard accelerations from a stop. I would like to replace the rod ends with Johnny joints, but that will require making new brackets on the crossmember and I'm not really sure if it's worth the upgrade or not. What are your thoughts?
Were it my car, I would simply keep an eye on the urethane bushings. Keep them lubed and tight, replace the bushings when the joint develops front to rear play. In general, urethane rod ends are not subjected to the stresses that break the 5/8 or 1/2 inch threaded portions, which is what happens in solid/heim joint rod end failures. Of course, you could change them just for piece of mind. JW
I'm gonna have self lubricating bronze bushings turned or Delrin to replace the urethane in my Ladder bars
