Torque Arm has a crack in it
10-26-2008, 04:53 PM
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Torque Arm has a crack in it Just getting ready to replace the front section of my UMI torque arm to put one w/ a driveshaft loop on and realized my current one had a crack in it at the weld, what would cause this to happen?
10-28-2008, 08:11 PM
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vibrations will cause welds to break. they may warranty it but i bet they will say it is from driving conditions. i would just have it rewelded instead of bothering with all the shipping and hassle.
10-29-2008, 08:00 AM
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ok i love umi stuff(well and my sponsor stuff) but i always wondered about how that peice was welded. like spohn and bmr bend theres with a solid piece. is UMI weaker then the other two names?
10-29-2008, 08:39 AM
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Welds on thin tube are always trouble, at
best you can get to near-virgin metallurgy
but it takes a lot of care and usually you
have a less fatigue-resistant zone about
the weld.
If it was my piece I'd just pull it, redo the
original weld, grind it flush and put a small
plate over it with tack welds that don't run
across, but longitudinally so they spread
load and don't provide another place to
cross-crack. Top and sides.
But anyone who's looked at my K-member
home-repair probably wouldn't take my advice
without a confirming opinion.
best you can get to near-virgin metallurgy
but it takes a lot of care and usually you
have a less fatigue-resistant zone about
the weld.
If it was my piece I'd just pull it, redo the
original weld, grind it flush and put a small
plate over it with tack welds that don't run
across, but longitudinally so they spread
load and don't provide another place to
cross-crack. Top and sides.
But anyone who's looked at my K-member
home-repair probably wouldn't take my advice
without a confirming opinion.
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10-29-2008, 09:59 AM
#8
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I have that exact same mount and was going to switch it over the winter. I have a friend of the family that is a good welder and have access to a pipe bender so I was just going to make new front to back subframe connectors and then make a solid chromemoly bar that goes from one subframe connector tube to the other with bolted tabs to make it to be able to be taken off. I was going to make a bend in the same spot as the umi mount for exhaust clearance also. As long as I can get what is in my head onto the car I'll be in good shape.
My Umi torque arm mount has mashed the brackets that it mount to about half way to the body from where they started out, so i'm not wanting to bend the floor up any on a hard launch. Its a good design for the usual street car but where my car is going I think my design will work a lot better.
My Umi torque arm mount has mashed the brackets that it mount to about half way to the body from where they started out, so i'm not wanting to bend the floor up any on a hard launch. Its a good design for the usual street car but where my car is going I think my design will work a lot better.
10-29-2008, 10:29 AM
#9
This is the first mount we ever had crack... the other one we had the user hit a raised man hole in a construction zone at a decent speed. Other than that we never had any trouble and I don't see it being a concern with anyone else... we ship approximately 40 of these out every month with no other failures. I am not sure why this one cracked... there could be a few variables that caused it.
Glad you had another mount to replace it with, that worked out well.
Glad you had another mount to replace it with, that worked out well.
10-29-2008, 11:22 AM
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Mine hasn't had a problem at all. On my setup its actually the opposite and like I said the torque arm actually bent the stock mounting sheetmetal which is good for weight transfer but I think attaching the subframe to the torque arm will be a good thing, but I doubt the average guy wants to weld it up.
10-29-2008, 02:19 PM
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I already have diamond subframe connectors wedged between the torque arm mount and the stock mounting point, but it still bent the stock mounting sheetmetal. I think on a hard launch everything twists in that spot since it is just attached by 4 small metric bolts 2 on each side where as a single bar from side to side will more evenly disperse the load across the body to the subframe connectors. One nice thing is I'll be able to use my old umi mount as a pattern to bend and weld tabs for my mounting point on my round tube. While also using the same two tab metal and bushing setup that came on the umi piece. Once I get it fabbed up I'll make a post about it.
10-29-2008, 06:56 PM
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I have SFC's so its not from the body twist. As far as I know I have never hit anything, it will bottom out on the bottom of our lift every once and a while, but it just scrapes and im going like 1 mph. Maybe that cause it who knows. I have another one on now, we will see if it happens again.
