[x-bird]

the design of the steering setup on the smaller single a-arm karts doesn't leave much room at all for the tie rods to clear the frame, I used to bend mine along with the steering arm on the spindles on a daily basis. I would only beef up or gusset the critical areas and keep it light. the rod ends you show would be fine, but once the tie rod is larger in diameter than what's on there now, it will most likely hit the frame. best bang for the buck would be to put in a spiderbox rack which includes the tie rods and ball joints and make better spindles. cut off the crushed-tube roll cage bolt together junk, weld it solid with a couple cross tube supports and beef up the rear shock mounts on the frame and swingarm. Those two latter areas are the most prone to tube cracking. for heims i always go with midwest control products, US made and decent quality, pricing and excellent customer support. if this is going to stay as a yard/field kart, the tie rod ends with the rack will be fine. I messed with the pitman arm setup countless times and could never get anything satisfactory out of it.