I am curious as to what the real difference is between Ball joints and Heim joint ends on the arms of the LT kits. Which ones are better or the pros and cons of both. I am looking into purchasing a LT kit and have noticed some companies are now offering Heim Joint kits just trying to expand my knowledge so i can make an informed purchase. Also any suggestions of kits that you have used and really liked or not so much would be welcome. Thanks fellas

Heim joints are known to be a little weaker,but with the correct offset spacers, they can reach much farther angles than a balljoint...I don't see this being an issue with a rzr long travel....If they are designed correctly,there should be no problem making a balljoint work....
They may be referring to having heims where the a-arms connect to the frame instead of replacing the balljoint...This allows camber/caster adjustments in the arms....The only downfall to this being, if you are not very familiar with suspension geometry and how it's supposed to be set up,you can have your front end behaving horribly with just a couple too many or not enough turns......
Hoodlum

__________________
3 1989 Honda pilots
1985 350 odyssey
2008 Polaris rzr

Pros & cons as I understand it:
I think they're all compromises. Heim joints have good rotational movement and good angular movement if you use high-misalignment washers. But heims aren't really intended to take most of their load on the Z-axis (perpendicular to the shaft). Also heims are rarely installed with boots so grit gets into them and wears them out quickly. Their greatest advantage is adjustability. The picture below shows a suspension with heim bj's and tie rod ends but bushed A-arm pivots. This is from eBay seller "charlesbigford".

Real balljoints are strong up & down but have limited angular movement. Increasing the angular movement weakens the joint to pull-out force because the cup doesn't enclose much of the top of the ball. They are not adjustable.

You often see tie rod ends used as bj's. They're handy since they just thread on (easy to change and adjust) and they're usually well sealed but they don't have much strength to up & down (Z-axis) force either. The ball inside is almost always in a plastic cup & many even have a spring under the cup to take up wear. This makes them good for tie rod ends but poor for bj's.

Attached Images

ac85_3.JPG (76.4 KB, 21 views)

__________________
_______________________________

Now a 2-Rzr household.
Romeo, MI
http://tinyurl.com/8ltm8
______________________________

The specific LT kit i was looking at was actually looking to replace the factory ball joints with a Heim joint where it connected to the spindle not at the frame connection. That is why i was confused as to the reason for the heim joint at the connection point of the spindle. I was thinking that the heim joint maybe stronger than the ball joint but it seems from input on here that is incorrect and good to know. It does not seem like on a RZR LT kit you would need the full adjustability of the heim joint. It seems you would want the stronger vertically ball joint to keep it together longer but i suppose if your having problems breaking ball joints or heim joints your probably also going to have problems keeping the axles and cv's together as well

Thanks for the help guys. See i come from a backround in quad a-arms and typically have always used Ball Joints for both the spindles and the steering i.e. tie rod ends. I have never worked with the heim joints and figured it might be something worth expanding my knowledge in. This long travel kits are all so different it is hard to figure out which one is best or the most usefull. Thanks for the help