I keep breaking Spohn junk.
11-02-2010, 05:18 PM
#1
I keep breaking Spohn junk. Today I had a whining noise coming from the back of the car. I hoped it wasn't the brand new 12bolt. When I jacked it up I found this.
I pulled the whole TA out and found out that two bolt holes are cracked on the bottom. This great, I used loctite and made sure these bolts were in and now after a year this happens.
I would say this was the only bad experience with their stuff but I also got my k-member and a-arms from them. I had all of my ball joints top and bottom lock up. I know that I greased them and I had it aligned before it ever reached the road so, I don't know what the deal was. When I called them on it all they said was would you like to buy our Spohn ball joints to replace the Spohn ones that went out. Um let me think about that, hell no. The alignment shop said they were some of the worst looking ball joints they have seen and that they wouldn't give me two cents for them, and after going out in around 6 months I can't argue.
The angle on the upper ball joints makes them cut into the rubber boot, like this.
Here is their in house brand, good thing they put their name on them.
Here is how the lowers looked. The stock ones after 15 years looked better.
I pulled the whole TA out and found out that two bolt holes are cracked on the bottom. This great, I used loctite and made sure these bolts were in and now after a year this happens.
I would say this was the only bad experience with their stuff but I also got my k-member and a-arms from them. I had all of my ball joints top and bottom lock up. I know that I greased them and I had it aligned before it ever reached the road so, I don't know what the deal was. When I called them on it all they said was would you like to buy our Spohn ball joints to replace the Spohn ones that went out. Um let me think about that, hell no. The alignment shop said they were some of the worst looking ball joints they have seen and that they wouldn't give me two cents for them, and after going out in around 6 months I can't argue.
The angle on the upper ball joints makes them cut into the rubber boot, like this.
Here is their in house brand, good thing they put their name on them.
Here is how the lowers looked. The stock ones after 15 years looked better.
11-02-2010, 05:31 PM
#3
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I would say the torque arm broke because of loose bolts. You don't just rip steel plate like that without a reason. The ball joint ****, well they look like that's their under engineering.
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11-02-2010, 06:10 PM
#9
The top bolts didn't spin when I tried to get them out using an eraser, I'm not going to try an easy out till I drop the whole thing. I'm probably going to drop the whole 12bolt and have a bracket made and welded to the top and I'm going to weld the bolts to the bracket to keep this from ever happening again.
11-02-2010, 07:08 PM
#10
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it looks more like install / moser engineering fault . i have ran spohn stuff on all of my cars f-bodys g-bodys and so on with aftrmkt rears and so on . as long as it was installed right and using the RIGHT trq procedures and amount i NEVER had a problem
11-02-2010, 09:10 PM
#11
Fex77K -
All I can say is: "I feel your pain".
Car problems suk and aftermarket part failures suk even more.
You might want to try UMI, if Spohn won't give you any assistance.
All I can say is: "I feel your pain".
Car problems suk and aftermarket part failures suk even more.
You might want to try UMI, if Spohn won't give you any assistance.
11-02-2010, 09:54 PM
#13
Yea well I did the same thing. The bolts on the top just sheared off, there isn't any damage to the threads in the 12 bolt. I don't believe that the 12 bolt came with those four bolts and even then they are grade 8 so that shouldn't have happened.
11-03-2010, 01:42 AM
#15
My buddies car did the same thing and Id say that moser came up with the dumbest idea ever. As for the ball joints, I hear ya! My brand new uppers ball joints tore the boot in less than 50 miles. ****** bullshit 
But my bmrs were perfect! I only went to the spohn cuz they were chromoly
But my bmrs were perfect! I only went to the spohn cuz they were chromoly
11-03-2010, 08:45 AM
#17
The factory rear end uses M14 bolts (.551) and the bolt measures around 7 inches long. The bolts Moser supplies with their rear ends are 1/2" x 1" long. They use (4) short bolts and install them from the top and bottom, they always tend to come loose and the bottoms even fall out at times. This problem with their rear end and bolts has been around for years, many people have gone through this and a lot of suspension products have been broke. The issue is the rear end and not the torque arm.
Hope that helps,
Ryan
Hope that helps,
Ryan
11-03-2010, 12:49 PM
#18
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This without a doubt isnt a torque arm failure. Its def a result of the bolts becoming loose. The bottoms most likely backed out and the tops were left holding all the load and sheard as a result. Ive seen it exactly the same on several cars - including mine. None of which were sphon T/A's. Not going to mention manufactures because its irrelevant really. You have to check the bolts regularly on a 12 bolt, even with loctite they will not hold. Frankly im surprized the bolts in question lasted as long as they did without checking them. I back mine up on ramps and check them before every trip to the drag strip after suffering the same failure. Cheap insurance cuz when they fail under load and the rear end spools up it can tear some stuff up pretty bad. Even taco'd my drive shaft. I almost always can get a 1/4 turn on them and i check them regularly. Moser design flaw - only way to insure it wont happen is by putting a big A wrench on them and do it often.