Hey all. Tearing the kids buggy apart after the broken spindle. I went to a local ATV shop, bought some new spindles from one of their kid sized Racing ATV's, while there was looking at the quads noting design etc..

They use all Heim joints for thoer suspension!

Does anyone have thoughts on this for our buggies? my concern would be vibration could be high with that sort of set-up...

Heim joints are strong enough for high-stakes competition but long term maintenance and long life aren't a high priority in racing. There's no dust boot on a heim. They're very expensive--especially when you add in the cost of high-misalignment spacers usually needed to allow the ball to tilt enough to be used as a balljoint.

I don't have much to add about your vibration concern. I don't think one joint would feel better than another. Many tie rod ends (a common buggy "balljoint") have a thin plastic cup surrounding the ball and sometimes a spring underneath that. So maybe this might soften some impacts...?

lots of buggy builders use heim joints, i myself got about 20...I did use some bushings as well....The key factor is that the $8.00 heim joints arent gonna last, better plan on the $15-20 each for some good teflon impregnated ones.

I use Heim joints on all of my custom builds they do work great. I would agree with Bug on this and suggest that you do not get the cheapies they will not last.