Custom Steering Bars & Rod Ends

This turned into a massive ball ache due to the Volvo TRE's being unobtainium. I ended up using EMF Rod Ends and some custom bars made for me by Dan - thanks Dan!

For reference I used: RH thread small 3/4" Heims (3/4-16 thread) with 1.625 x 3/4“ Balls from EMF Rod Ends Just for my own reference the dims are:

• Thread Length - 2.5”
• Head Diameter - 2.250“
• Head Width - 1”
• Overall Length - 4.850“
• Total Weight - 1.5

Dan used 38mm EN24T for the bars, so more than up to the job. For comparison, Gwyn Lewis's excellent uprated bars for Defenders are only 30mm.

Here's a Volvo rod end next to the EMF one:

I got the tapered adapter machined up to accept an M12 fine bolt through the middle, plus a top-hat in the top. This is therefore all above the original Land Rover or Volvo spec for the steering parts, because next to brakes, steering is something I do not ever want to take chances with.

Here's a Land Rover steering bar (hollow) against Dan's solid bars:

Here's the bars installed - clearance is clearance!