Rose joints

[Tony Press]

You are right of course about  the availability of replacement parts  but the original question was-

"Working on the Draglink and find the tube badly worn. Are there Rose joint alternatives available or is it a case of making a new tube"

He asked  as well-

'Also a friend wants a Ruby chassis'

[Stuart Giles]

Regarding the original question, I don't know of any Rose Joint (rod ends if we're being pedantic) "off the peg" alternatives. Wouldn't be a feat of engineering to produce a drag link with threaded bushes to accept rod ends. it would be necessary to drill out the taper bores in the steering arm and Pitman arm and then to press in a steel "top hat" bush to take a 3/8" rod end. You can just see this on the track rod on my special.



Regarding longevity (or otherwise) I fitted this track rod over 30 years ago, The radius arm ball joint at the chassis end was replaced with a 1/2" rod end at the same time. They had both developed a bit of play and needed changing out about 5 years ago. Their replacements are still going strong. My special isn't a daily driver but it does do a far bit of road mileage. Rod end quality, longevity (and prices) vary hugely, The ones I use have a Kevlar based interliner and a stainless ball.

[Andy Bennett]

That's an impressive fly collection

[Colin Reed]

HI,
AS Stuart  Has Said use a rod end with s/s Ball and a lining  this eliminates metal to metal contact you can also get rubber boots to fit over which keeps out dirt.
Colin
NZ

[spannerman]

Rose joints were used in the early 40s in German planes so are a period fitting? With rubber boots don't look out of place.

[Colin Wilks]

Deutschland rüber alles?

[Howard Wright]