Rod Ends by Spec

A rod end - a heim joint, same part, two names - is never bought by vehicle. It is bought by spec, and the spec is four facts written in a fixed order: bore, thread, hand, and whether the thread is male or female, with body material and lining as the two decisions after that. This page pulls together 24 in-stock single rod ends from QA1, Allstar Performance, Aurora, TI22 Performance and FK Bearings, from $4.29 to $103.99: bores from 3/16 to 7/8 in plus one metric 10 mm end, left-hand and right-hand threads, male and female bodies, in steel, chromoly and aluminum, unlined and PTFE-lined. Every bore, thread and material quoted below comes from that product’s own listing. Every order over $200 ships free.

OUR ROD END PICKS

Product	Spec (from the product listing)	Price	Why it is here
Rod End LH 1/4 Male Steel	Standard Series: 1/4 in bore, 1/4-28 left-hand male thread, steel ball, steel body, Allstar Performance (per listing)	$4.29	The floor of this page, and a left-hand thread on purpose: the cheapest way to show the spec system - bore, thread, hand, gender - that every other pick below is also written in.
Rod End - 3/8in x 3/8in RH Chromoly - Male	PCM Series: 3/8 in bore, 3/8-24 right-hand male thread, steel ball, chromoly body, black oxide, QA1 (per listing)	$8.99	The chromoly step-up in the size half the paddock runs: same 3/8 bore as the steel ends around it, in QA1’s chromoly PCM line instead of its steel line.
Rod End - 3/8in x 3/8in RH Chromoly - Male	XM Series: 3/8 in bore, 3/8-24 right-hand male thread, PTFE lined, steel ball, chromoly body, QA1 (per listing)	$16.99	The lined twin of the pick above - identical bore, thread and hand, but the XM line adds the PTFE liner. Two listings, one decision: lined or unlined. That comparison is this category in miniature.
Male Rod End High Mis 3/8x7/16-20LH Teflon	HXAB-T Series: 3/8 in bore, 7/16-20 left-hand male thread, high misalignment, PTFE lined, steel ball, Aurora (per listing)	$83.99	The specialist pick: a high-misalignment end, built on the oversize-thread pattern - a 3/8 bore carried on a 7/16 shank - for the joint that runs out of angular travel with a standard ball.
Male Rod End Moly 3/4x3/4-16RH Teflon	AM Series: 3/4 in bore, 3/4-16 right-hand male thread, PTFE lined, steel ball, Aurora (per listing)	$103.99	The ceiling of this page’s ladder: Aurora’s moly, PTFE-lined 3/4 end - the big-bore, lined end of the range, priced against the $4.29 steel floor it shares a shelf with.

THE SPEC, IN ORDER

Bore is the hole through the ball - it is the bolt size the joint rides on, and it is the first number in every title here: 3/16 in at the small end (throttle and shifter linkage work), through the 3/8 and 1/2 in sizes most suspension and steering links are built around, to 3/4 and 7/8 in at the top. Thread is the second number, written as diameter and pitch - 3/8-24, 1/2-20, 5/8-18, 3/4-16 - and it has to match the tube, adapter or boss the end screws into; a 3/8 bore end is sold here on both a 3/8-24 thread and, in the high-misalignment pick above, a 7/16-20 thread, so bore alone never settles the order. Hand is left-hand (LH) or right-hand (RH): a right-hand thread tightens clockwise, a left-hand thread tightens counterclockwise, and the two do not interchange. Makers mark the hand in the part number itself - QA1’s right-hand PCM end is the PCMR6 and its left-hand line carries an L (PCML, XML) - so read the number, not just the title. Gender is male (a threaded stud sticking out of the body) or female (a threaded hole in the body): 19 of the 24 ends here are male and 5 are female, including one female end sold with a stud already fitted. Get all four right and the end fits; get any one wrong and it is a return. Questions before you order? Call 213-549-4279 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm PT) and we will read the listing with you.

WHY A LINK CARRIES ONE LEFT AND ONE RIGHT

Ten of the ends on this page are left-hand thread, and that is not a stocking accident. A suspension link, tie rod or trailing-arm adjuster is normally built with a right-hand end at one side and a left-hand end at the other: with the link installed, rotating the tube screws both ends in or both ends out together, so the link’s length - and the adjustment it controls - changes without unbolting either end. Order two right-hand ends for a link like that and the tube can never adjust in place. If you are replacing one end of an existing link, match the hand of the end you are removing, not the hand of the end at the other side.

STEEL, CHROMOLY, ALUMINUM - AND WHAT CARBON MEANS HERE

Nine of the 24 are unlined steel - the economy shelf: Allstar’s Standard Series, QA1’s steel line, Aurora’s CM/CW Economy series and FK’s Econo end, all with steel balls and zinc finishes as their listings state, all under $9. Five are unlined chromoly - QA1’s PCM line, Allstar’s Pro Series and TI22’s 4130 end - the step every maker here prices above its own steel line in the same size: the same 3/8 right-hand male end is $5.99 in QA1 steel and $8.99 in QA1 chromoly. Two are aluminum-bodied, both at the small sizes (a 3/16 TI22 end and a 5/16 QA1 AF Series female). And one honesty note the titles will not give you: QA1’s metric end here is titled a 2pc Carbon rod end, but its own spec line reads steel ball, steel body - in QA1’s naming, Carbon is the carbon steel of its 2-piece line, not carbon fiber, and the page calls it steel because the listing does.

LINED OR UNLINED

Nine of the 24 are PTFE-lined - Aurora titles the same lining Teflon, and both words on these listings name the PTFE bearing liner bonded inside the race. The liner is the bearing surface: it sits between ball and race, so a lined end runs on that low-friction surface instead of bare metal, and it is the version of each line sold for joints that cycle constantly - QA1 sells its 3/8 chromoly end unlined as the PCM and lined as the XM, and Allstar’s Pro line splits the same way. The other 15 ends are unlined steel-on-steel or steel-on-chromoly. What no listing on this page states is a load rating or a service life for either kind - see the honest note below before a number you found elsewhere decides your order.

WHEN THE BORE AND THE THREAD DO NOT MATCH

Three ends here deliberately break the bore-equals-thread pattern: a 1/2 in bore on a 5/8-18 thread (Allstar’s Pro and TI22’s 4130 both sell that exact pairing), and Aurora’s high-misalignment HXAB, a 3/8 bore on a 7/16-20 shank. The pattern exists because the two numbers answer to two different parts: the bore answers to your bolt, the thread answers to your tube or adapter, and neither has to equal the other. The high-misalignment version spends that bigger shank on angular travel - its listing states High Misalignment outright - for joints whose angle runs past what a standard ball allows. If your link was built with an oversize-thread end, a same-bore replacement on the standard thread will not screw in; match both numbers off the old end.

AN HONEST NOTE ON WHAT IS NOT ON THIS PAGE

The wider range linked below also carries 26 multi-packs - 10-packs of Allstar, TI22 and Aurora ends, including TI22 aluminum-ball sets of 10 whose titles never say they are sets (their own descriptions do: Set of 10). They are deliberately not on this page: every product here is priced and sold as one single end, so the ladder above compares like with like. The wider range also carries Ridetech’s two R-Joint listings - a different joint design, not a rod end - and they are not here either. Two limits apply to everything above. First, no listing here includes a jam nut: each product’s own What’s Included names the rod end alone, so the jam nut that locks your adjustment is a separate line item. Second, no listing here publishes a load rating, so this page prints none - if a rating decides your application, call us with the exact part number and we will check the maker’s data rather than guess. FK’s listing, finally, carries no spec line beyond its title and part number (CML6), so the FK end above is claimed only as what its title states: a 3/8 economy male end, left-hand thread.

QUESTIONS BUILDERS ASK US

Left-hand or right-hand - which do I need? Match the part you are replacing, and check the hand before you order: a left-hand thread tightens counterclockwise and will not start on a right-hand tube. If you are building a new adjustable link, the standard build is one of each - one RH end and one LH end - so the tube adjusts in place. The hand is in every title and part number here (QA1 puts an L in its left-hand numbers).

How do I measure the end I have? Two measurements: the bolt that passes through the ball gives you the bore, and the thread is measured by its outside diameter and its pitch - threads per inch on these inch ends, so a thread gauge or a known nut settles it (3/8-24 and 3/8-16 share a diameter and nothing else). Measure both: as the picks above show, the same 3/8 bore is sold on two different threads on this page alone.

PTFE-lined or plain - which lasts? The listings state the construction, not a lifespan, so this page will not promise one. The honest split is in how they run: a lined end’s ball rides on the PTFE liner; an unlined end runs steel on steel and is the cheaper, simpler part. Makers price the lined version of the same end above the unlined one - QA1’s lined 3/8 XM is $16.99 against its unlined PCM at $8.99.

Male or female - does it matter which I buy? It is decided by what the end screws into. A male end’s stud threads into a tube, adapter or boss; a female end’s body threads over a stud or a threaded shaft - the classic case being a shifter or throttle shaft, which is what the one studded female end here is built to bridge. Neither is stronger by rule; they are two halves of the same joint system.

Why is there no load rating on this page? Because none of these 24 listings publishes one, and a rating copied from a different end - or from the same end in a different size - is worse than none. Rod end ratings live in the maker’s own data for the exact part number; call us at 213-549-4279 with the end you are considering and we will check it before you order.

Shopping the wider range? Browse the full Rod Ends - Spherical collection, read our guides on the News & Builds blog, or see the page that came before this one: Clutch Kits by Application.

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