Then you're completely missing the point. He said he thought the rod ends were too small, so I asked about a 1/8 shock end, which would of course require a bigger rod. The 4-40 rod he used is going to add only a negligible amount of weight, and no stiffness. Flex a 20" piece of the CF tube he used and the same length of 4-40 threaded rod and you'll see why. It was obvious that he used the rod just to be able to thread the shock ends on and avoid bonding them. Pretty sure he said so in his post.