Gear Rods

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

I fancy a new set of rods to prevent the ball joints popping off.

 

I had a nosey on eBay and found Miles' set and then came across a set from Constella.

 

I have heard Constella mentioned on here before and wondered what the differences in these two sets are?

 

Constella ones seem thicker with a 13mm body, but I wonder if that is strictly neccesary, or overkill and to make them sound more appealing.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

Stew at BakerBM does them as well but having never seen a set of the constella rods first hand I'd be guessing at any difference between the two although I suspect they'd be minimal & nothing other than being made from aluminium or steel & a 12 or 24 month warranty.

 

They aren't subjected to an excessive bending force so I can't see why thicker aluminium is a bonus over steel & the weight difference can't be much.

 

g

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Didn't realise BBM did them also

[dcc 855]

I have a set of Stu's and a set of Miles' on an old car. They are both (as far as can be seen) identical.

[happygoron 2]

Fitted a set from Miles a few years ago to mine. Service and product were faultless, though I doubt anything else would be said about Stu's either.

 

 

[harryskid 193]

I have a set of Miles on my rally car and their fine, no problems after doing quite a few events!

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

As much as a non biased view possible (I think)

Never seen Stu's but from the Pic's they are the same bar the ball joint supplier possibly, Constella one's are Alloy with a steel thread in the end to the ball joint and as we know steel and alloy interact with each other, the large dia is needed to stop them flexing compared with the steel rods, I know there early one's only had the external retaining clip so rattled allot but I think they use the same type as me know.

My longest rod is 10mm in dia and when you think the OE ones tapered down to around 6mm there's no load on them other than forward and back, mind the early alloy one's I did find a couple that bent and hence the change. Any larger than this and on 6 conversion's the rod starts getting a bit close to the exhaust or even if you go with a Q/S.

 

Pug1off do them as well, but again from the pics they look like threaded bar and I guess why they are so cheap

 

Thankfully the old Welsh GE stopped doing them, but again they where just threaded bar with heatshink over them

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

 

Thankfully the old Welsh GE stopped doing them, but again they where just threaded bar with heatshink over them

 

Ha yep!

 

Bought a set back in 2001, they were the only ones available.

Still going strong!!

Edited January 26, 2012 by Simes

[SurGie 54]

Iv seen other's make their own for about £25, i think they got the bits from Rally design.

 

Saying that though, i have a full set of Miles ones for my project

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

AB does them as well (or at least he used to); had a local chap machine them and do that electro-chemical 'painting' (is that right? Kind of blackens them?). Use them on my competition car and no issues so far

 

Like you say, there's a plethora of options... I can't see there being much in it to be honest, bar the thickness, the quality of the joints and the finish. Not sure I'd trust aluminium ones on a competition car, mind.... unless it was some fancy schmancy aircraft grade aluminium or something?!

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

I had some on a 306 that were threaded bar with a plastic sheath on.

 

All sorted now

 

Come to think of it I hope they aren't much thicker than OEM as my originals are very close.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

AB does them as well (or at least he used to);!

I think the ones through AB are probably those that Stew makes, he does quite a few of his products through AB afaik.

 

g

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

I think the ones through AB are probably those that Stew makes, he does quite a few of his products through AB afaik.

 

Mine were from a chap over Stratford way; I collected a batch for Andy, so don't think it was Stu, no. But that was a while back now.

[wicked 103 3 Cars]

I bought a complete cable shift system from a 206 GTi-180 lately for about 80 quid...

Maybe worth to consider...

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I supplied some 306 rods to AB, need to get the 205 ones in there next