I was wondering has anyone ever broken one of the UMI nonadjustable Torque Arms? I recently installed one with less than 60 miles on the new suspension and it has broken at welds where it mounts at transmission bushing. The tongue broke and remains in the mount. I"m going to contact UMI to see if this has been an issue with the non adjustable units

I'm surprised to see it break there, have you heard from UMI yet?

Welders working on crack.This is typical on shops putting out cheap pricing and hiring cheap labor.I won a good lawsuit settlement many years ago against a company called Chisholm for an a-arm that broke on the welds and damn near killed me.Spohn TIGs his stuff, I have "heard" UMI just does wirefeed MIG- This is rumor, so I can not confirm this info so if anyone else can then please assist in correcting me. Too mony times guys MIG welding will be too concerned with appearance beads rather than good penetration of the welds. They do not run the welds hot enough.

UMI tigs everything. Im really surprised to see this, i know things break, but not in that short ammount of time. Ryan is a good stand up guy im sure he will make good in this.
-Phil

It doesn't matter if it was TIG'ed or MIG'ed at that point. There is no support there to handle the stress on that part of the torque arm.

Torque armb.jpg

torque arm2b.jpg

Check out the pic's
UMI said that it is a uncommon thing and would send out a replacement

I would think that there is not enough support there in any sort of weld..

nice tech input, your an idiot.hey defend him, buy his part and kill yourself when he tells you Sh*T happens, sometimes things break, oh well......as you or a loved one is dead.

Come on Dean. We all know stuff breaks. Breaking at a weld, is not a good thing, but most of us playing this game long enough have had stuff break. I had a Spohn LCA break on me, I even know why it broke, I tried to communicate that to them, and they honestly didn't care. This is part of the problem with powdercoated suspension parts, you can't inpect the weld, and you can't inspect the materials. For stuff like this, I would really like to get uncoated stuff. ESPECIALY if it is Chromemoly. For critical peices that get hammered on, inspecting them is pretty important. Obviosly if a weld broke, there was an issue with the welding on that part. There were likely several break-downs in the process, as the welder should have caught it, the QA people should have caught it. and if we could buy the parts uncoated, then the purchaser might have been able to catch it. (and honestly IMHO it isn't a good design like that either....)

But, you have to be really joking, if you can say that you haven't had a single aftermarket part break on you. You and I both know that breakage is part of the game. None of us are happy when it happens, but we all know there is a chance of it happening. You don't want to risk breaking stuff, don't modify it.

You guys aren't getting it.Yes stuff breaks sometimes through R & D. BUT, when it does, the manufaturer should act responsibly and send out notifications to all purchases of that run for customer safety.In essence, just like the DTS does with airlines when a problem arrises and they mandate a fleetwide inspection for crack inspection, etc. These manufacturers SHOULD go proactice and notify their customers to inspect parts for safety when THEY KNOWINGLY here about a breakage problem.They just try and hide the problems and hope things go away. I had a problem like this- TURNED OUT I WAS NOT THE FIRST_ AND IT DAMN NEAR KILLED YEAR YEARS BACK.

One part breaking out of 2000 units sold does not a recall/notification make.

As you have never dealt with Ryan or purchased ANY of his product you simply don't know anything...

Actually, he knows quite a bit and his assessment of you was pretty accurate.

Hmm just from looking at it I can tell that's a poor design, I would be asking for my money back and forget the replacement.

I think its a bit early to throw out the bad design parade. 2 failures out of who knows how many arms doesnt sound like a design or build issue but just a natural failure rate of custom built stuff to me. I personally know of more Spohn arms that broke than that so I guess nobody makes a safe torque arm then.

Might be more Spohn units out there though and I remember Kat saying something on NE about them having corrected a design flaw.

Hello Everyone,

I appreciate the kind words from most of you... as for Vetruck I would appreciate it if you would stay out of any thread associated with UMI or any of our products, you have no first hand experience with our product or us.. your opinion is your own and we don't need to hear it..

As for the break, the weld did not break.. but the item broke at the weld.. most likely a stress area from heat or a flaw in the material.. (2) breaks out of 2000 units with the first break being the users fault does not sound bad to me. We have vehicles running single digits on this item and I have no concerns with this item.

And on a side note every manufacture has had a item break... I have seen Spohn, BMR and Edelbrock arms all broken in (2) pieces.. a simple search on Ls1tech will be all the proof you would need. It happens to all of us and no company can claim they have never had a failure.. GM, Ford, Dodge ect all do recalls on vehicles every year due to failures and flaws... it is going to happen no matter what precautions you take.

We are sending out Mark a replacement at no charge and a free t-shirt for the hassle.

Thanks for understanding,
Ryan

I love how many lawyers and engineers we have on here.

If I needed it and had the money, I would have no problem buying anything from UMI.

Vetruck, you've made your opinion clear. Time to grow up and shut up.

Tony, so glad that you can tell a poor design by looking at it. Companies could save thousands over programs like ANSYS by just hiring people like you.

UMI, I think you done exactly as should have been done.

Good lord people, things happen, and suing is definately not the answer.

I concur.

I'm sorry, but I have serious issues with that statement.

Anybody with knowledge of the welding process knows that welding takes something out of the material welded, and therefore usually requires sliptubing or gusseting in the area around the weld.
Stress should never be applied close to or nearby a welded part without some sort of support. (bracing or gusset)

If that statement offends you I am sorry.

I hate to say it but I concur.

IMHO that part of the torque arm needs to be redesigned.

Maybe you should follow your own advice No need to freek out, hell I even own few UMI pieces but that's one I would be worried about.

UMI does offer a crossmember or "Tunnel" mounted arm option. Which, IMO, is the proper way to do it compared to mounting the arm to the tailhousing of the transmission.

Ryan and others please take this as constructive criticism.

constructive criticism is one thing, but name calling is uncalled for, you guys are not in middle school anymore, time to grow up. I have alot of UMI parts on my car and i feel that they are all very well made pieces.

With this said, I am not a professional fabricator, welder, or suspension designer, though i am not a fan of how the end of this particular arm is made, though im not sure of a way to change it and still utilize the factory mounting style.

Its time for this thread to die

I'll sum this up to say, WOW, that sucks to see the piece broke and your driveshaft had a good time raping the tranny tunnel.

Ouch, sucks for the MFG to see a piece they designed,mfg'd, sold fail.

Did you get that nice piece of "disclaimer" paper staing ZERO liability?

Possible design flaw, engineering revision needed...maybe.

Lastly, thanks for identifying your issue / experience as we (all who have read this) will take into consideration in our own way the next time we look at a UMI product.....or EdelB, or Hooker, or BBK, Jegs, BMR, DIY, Hotchkis, Spohn.....get the point?

After all things mentioned I know parts do break and it is part of modifing with performance aftermarket products. UMI have a good product
and a top notch customer service. I'm please with there actions and look forward to putting the replacement to the test.

WOW, so much drama for one thread.....

....just what we need...another expert

Well put.

People.....it's a car....things break for a VARIETY of reasons. Glad you notified UMI and got the part replaced It would be a different story if they said too bad and did nothing.....

Funny Edelcrock is mentioned. I happen to have a pending lawsuit against them and have been able to prove m case enough to the C.A.R.B that they are begining a case file to have Edelbrock investigated for tampered product sales not unerlined in the EO guidelines.Yes, folks, I may be the guy bringing down Edelbrock. I have my reasons, believe me, they left me high and dry hanging in the breeze.You take my money? You damn well better make sure my life is safe and the product works like you market it.

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....And you bring what credentials to this discussion?
DO you know my field of specialty? Here's a little hint, I'm the guy in the picture with the headset and the pyro. I happen to be a licenced NASCAR crewcheif..... So I ask again, what in gods earth do you bring to this conversation other than keeping your ignorate unedcucated mouth shut on a subject you know less about than I did when I was 5.