Quote: ...One of my favorites is mopar's 11/16 tie rods. A 9/16 rod end is capable sustaining 5g tensile and compressive loading, but a lot of guys insist on using 11/16 units.
Well, Mopar did decide that they wanted the bigger tie-rods- for the big cars anyway. Not being an engineer from 45+ years ago I'd guess that the bigger joints were for a longer service life. Richard Ehrenberg pushed the upgrade as an easy way to reduce flexing in the steering in the Green Brick. IIRC, most of the flex was due to the slit adjuster sleeves, not the rod ends themselves. DC-MP recommends welding the slits in the Chassis Book "Rally Preparation" chapter. I opted to stick with the 9/16" in my A body, but with solid adjusters by Mancini. If I had a heavy B/E car that I was going to put a lot of miles on, do some canyon burning and/or still take to the track on occasion, I'd lean toward the bigger tie rods myself. Race cars =/= street cars
