was running a jegster tunnel mount tq arm but it wasnt adjustable. so due to the recent accident and haveing to replace my brand new custom ford 8.8 to a new ford 8.8 i decided to go crazy with adjustability. i made new axle brackets that have 5 holes for adjustment of the LCAs, 4 holes of adjustment for the panhard bar. and now im making the TQ arm that will use the original jegster tunnel mount but making a new arm to attach to the ford 8.8 tq arm bracket that i made up before.

heres the specs, the top and bottom horizontal plates are 5/16" steel, the vertical plates are 2x 3/16" steel. rod ends are moly teflon lined 3/4-16 rod ends. using 3/4" bolts from home depot for now... anyone know where i can get short like 3-4"long 3/4 DIA grade 8 bolts? Im running a 3/4-16 steel on car adjustable linkage adjuster on the bottom rod end so i can adjust pinion angle with the car on the ground. the TQ arm will be a SHORTY like maybe 25" long using 1.25"x.120" DOM tubing and welding on 3/4-16 threaded tube adapters.

im also making perimeter SFC with LCA reinforcement brackets that will attach to my inner thru floor SFC and 8pt roll bar. my other rear suspension mods are UMI double rod end panhard bar, UMI double rod end LCAs.

heres some pics of the tq arm mount that attaches to the custom tq arm bracket on my new ford 8.8

 

heres it with the rod ends.

 

Accidents suck

I really wanna follow this, this is something I've wanted to do for a while. An adjustable shorty-style torque arm, basically like the Jegster version. If you keep this updated, you will be my new best friend lol.

Kinda hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like you're using your MIG welder?

 

lol i will be updating this. i havent been able to work on the TQ arm yet, i just got the DOM tubing and threaded tube adapters in the other day.

I just finished making a new UMI LCA that i bent. i used 13" of the DOM tubing i just purchased and hacked off the UMI LCA tube adapters and TIG welded them on the new tubing.... look just like the UMI ones. now that i have the LCAs and new UMI panhard bar i can install the rear! waiting for a new rubber brake line and then after i install the rear i can finnally start fabbing up the TQ arm.

heres the new LCA

i should have more TQ arm stuff within the next couple of days. i still dnt know how im gona make the bent part of the tubing. i might just knotch the tube and not have a bend... but i dnt kno bc the jegster and Spohn and UMI/BMR ones all have a bend... why is this?

 

The bend would make it easier to get a good weld all around the tube, because you have less of a tight angle on the inside, other than that I can't really see a need for the bend?

 

makes sense to me... but its odd that ALL of the aftermarket TQ arms use this bend at the front. i dnt have a tubing bender nore can i get use of one so idk what to do. If i figure out wat i want to do i should be able to start fabrication on it this weekend

edit: also i only used the MIG welder on the parts i couldnt get with the TIG. so basically the inner parts of the tq arm mount that the welds look kinda shotty and u can see some spatter are with the MIG. the outside welds are all TIG.

 

your talking about the bend right at the front where it attaches to the crossmember pivot? You could always just converge both the tubes onto the bushing, it would be stronger that way, i suppose if you are using a rod end and tubing adapter it will be harder.

 

yes thats what im talking about. the bend at the trans crossmember side.

the thing with the jegster tq arm is that the tq arm doesnt have a bushing/rod end at the tip, its just the hollow tq arm tube. the tube slips over the tunnel mount "rod". basically its a poly bushing bolted to the tunnel brace, the bushing has a solid peice of metal tubing that slides into the tq arm (tip) and thats how its attaches. the TQ arm just slides back and forth on the solid tube thats mounted at the tunnel mount.

I will be building mine the same way... same size tubing. same thickness and it should just slide right on like the original jegster.
http://www.rickettsglennpa.com/jegst...Torque_Arm.jpg

for some reason the pics on third gen that i find of the sliding part that im talking about dont seem to work.

scroll down
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...26tbs%3Disch:1
right where the zerk fitting is.

 

It's probably just me, they seemed like pretty big beads for a TIG

And that's wierd, I had no idea the front mounting point on the Jegster was like that. I just assumed it was like Spohn's, with a shackle kinda thing

You might wanna call Spohn or BMR or someplace and ask why they put the bend in there... Because I really can't see any real reason for it, besides looking trick and leaving room for extra gusseting. So now I'm really curious why they ALL have it... I thought the Jegster was a straight tube til you pointed that out. Hmmm

 

yea the beads are alittle big, im making a LARGE weld puddle and then throwing in some 3/32" rod (pretty thick rod). id rather the mount be strong with deep welds vs pretty lol. i did the same on my roll bar and its solid!

yea the jegster slides on a tube... its a tight fit so dont think theres any play but the TQ arm has to change length as the suspension goes through it travel. hence why the stock TQ arm actually slides inside the tq arm bushing on the rear of the trans. supposidly its bad to have a fixed mouning point on the end of the tq arm... something about changing the instant center or something. but im confused by i think the spohn and UMI tunnel mount ones have a solid connection... or am i wrong?

 

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...nsmission.html

Look at the bottom picture, the Spohn design uses a shackle.

It's like what you see on leaf springs, to compensate for the changing length when it's extended or compressed.

 

so those small tabes(shackle) rotate with the TQarm and allow a difference in tq arm length as the suspension moves?

wat about the UMI tunnel mount ones etc.

 

they all have tha feature. The arm does more front to back a little and need to have the ability to do so or the suspension will bind

 

makes sense... seems like it would be a weak point, since their just two 3/16" plates that bolt it all together.

hmm i figured they all had to adjust but i wasnt sure how the Spohn/UMI ones did it. now i got it. im still going to keep the jegster style with a slip fit front section. i just finished the rear tonight, brakes are done, all new rubber lines and hard lines, i will try to put it in this weekend and get the tq arm started.

still dnt have na idea on what im going to do with the "bent part" of the tube.

 

I honestly can't see any real NEED for the bend in the tube, as long as you can get a good weld all the way around. Can't deny that it looks trick though lol Almost makes me think it's just an appearance thing, makes it look "beefier" and keeps the top and bottom tubes more parallel, just looks good. That's important when you're trying to sell something

I think you'd be okay without the bend

 

UPDATE!

mocked up the rear end, and started fabbing the tq arm.

top peice was easy, since its just a straight peice. i gave myself 1.125" or 1 1/8" distance from the edge of the tube to the zerk fitting/welded tab stop. jegster says to give yourself 3/4" distance i went alittle more bc this one is adjustable and it will allow alittle more adjustment. bottom tube has been cut and knotched for fittment. im not going with a bend and straigh cut it will be. I will weld it all the way around too.

all thats left is to weld the tubes to the threaded tube adapters, weld the tubes together, and then reinforce the TQ arm between the tubes and weld it all in. i figure with the 3/4-16 rod ends and linkage adjuster that i should have about 3/8-7/16" of adjustment in each direction with the rod ends. I mocked up the whole thing with each rod end in the middle of its thread so i have full adjustment in both directions.

i should have this thing done this week.

 

last pic

 

Just curious, where did you purchase the tubing and rod ends? What would you estimate the cost for the project to be?

 

polyperformance.com

wat kills you in the shipping.
11$ per threaded tube adapter (2)
15$ per rod end (2)
tubing 7.50$ft= only needed maybe 4ft but i got 6ft to be safe
10$ for the linkage adjuster

total cost 82$ for the tq arm.

cost me 17$ for 20ft of 2x 3/16" flat stock, only needed 18" of it, so i wont include that. id say you could make one for like 100$ if u dnt have to pay shipping on alot. i might have spent 40$ in shipping alone. the tubing/tube adapters cost me like 110$ and it was like 25-30$ for shipping. then i had to pay like 15$ shipping for the 10$ linkage adjuster...

source the tube from a place near u that u can pick up. the only places around me could get me the tubing but i had to buy 20-25ft of it and it would cost me 150-170$. i got the linkage adjuster from southwestspeed.com i think

 

also a couple of things i noticed was that the threaded tube adapters that i got from poly performance... the ones in the pics u see are a good bit longer than the UMI moly adapters. the UMI adapters are only threaded for maybe an inch of the inside... where as these adpaters from poly performance are threaded the ENTIRE way through and have like 2" of thread to grip. these adapters are however mild steel and not moly

 

finished the tq arm tonight. took about 4hrs to fully weld it and paint it.

heres the finished product. the arm is much shorter than the jegster and lighter as well (not including the mount on the rear that the rod ends are attached at).

i created a gusset at the front to reinforce the arm because from what ive heard the jegsters if enough power is there and enough grip that the tq arm bends at the joint (bend at the front of the tq arm). the large rear peice makes it complete, very rigid and reinforces the arm even more, this is 1"x2"x.120" rectangle tubing.

rod ends are welded on and it was all mocked up before welding the rod ends on to make sure it all lined up and fit properly.

the arm is a bunch lighter than the non adjustable jegster as well.

the first 2 pics are of the arm before i added the gusset and the tube adapters. 3rd pic is the completed fully welded tq arm.

 

more

 

last

 

Now powdercoat it

 

lol dnt have the money for a powdercoat. i gave it a coat of POR15. not even sure where to get it powdercoated lol.

i figure the arm is maybe 2-3" shorter than the original jegster arm. since i have to include the rod end and the linkage adjuster on the bottom. should work nicely, ill post some pics of it together and all bolted into place.

wat ya think? u gona try to make one now lol?

 

I want to for sure, my only real concern is if using a MIG would be okay, because MIG welds are more "brittle" than TIG welds. But if a MIG is good enough for a roll bar it should be okay for this right? I can MIG really well, but I've never tried a TIG before lol. It's just that all the aftermarket arms are TIG, so I wanna be sure that it would be okay.

I still think I'd rather have a shackle in front, I'm gonna have to look into the slip-fit too now. Never considered doing it that way before this.

And now I'm not sure what length I wanna make mine

A shorter arm will "hit" the tires harder, but a longer arm will apparently help the front end lift better?

 

im having a few issues tho... the arm is completed and i went to install it and all of a sudded the holes are off... im talking about the rod ends and where they bolt into the mount. i had the arm fully welded except the tube adapters and it fit up fine... i doubt the tube adapters caused the arm to shrink 1/8" to make my holes off.

also when i did get it bolted together off the car i can only adjust a few turns before it binds and get super hard to turn. how do the aftermarket arms allow 6dgrees of adjustment and not have the arm bind as it is lengthened and shortened?

from what ive seen in all the aftermarket arms mine is built the same and i wasnt thinking of this issue nore did it cross my mind. if one side is lengthened/shortened then essentially they would all bind do to the shorter/longer side wanting to change the shape of the other bar to compensate. being that the bars are straight adjusting the bottom one will cause a change in legth to the fixed upper bar.

primetime. mig welds are fine. the jegsters are mig welded, and so are most of the aftermarket suspension components. mig welds arent as pretty as TIG welds and saying something is tig welded means they get to charge more and its a selling point. as long as the mig welds are good beads and have good penetration there fine. i would have MIGd mine but my mig isnt as good as my tig. i dnt trust the mig over 1/8" steel and ive TIGd 5/16" fine.

 

meant to post that earlier but i couldnt at work for some reason.

now i might have corrected the adjusting problem. i had to elongate the bolt holes for the rod end and then let the bolts go where they wanted to go. after they found there spot i adjusted the adjuster and it worked. i marked where the bolt was and then i filled the elongated hole in with welds. i then grinded out the hole alittle so the bolt fit through. well see it it works when im able to buy a new rim for the rear.

is there something part of the design that im not seeing? that allows full range of the adjuster for max adjustability?

i'll have it installed tmrw and well see if it works ok. still cant get the rear at ride height bc the rear of the car lifts before it gets there.

 

When you try to adjust it, are you adjusting both the top and bottom?

I can see why it would bind if you only tried to lengthen the bottom for example, but if you lengthened the bottom and shortened the top it shouldn't be binding like that, at least I don't think.

You're sure that it's not just a tight thread fit?

 

no i was only adjusting the bottom. but it would quickly bind. i could only get like 2 full turns before it was to hard to do with a open ended stubby wrench. the top adjustment is just to adjust the overall length of the arm. i can change the tq arm length by like 3/8" in either direction lol woohoo!

the problem that im seeing is that by lengthening the bottom with the tq arm connected would mean that the tq arm is "on the car adjustable" just as all the aftermarket companies claim. having to remove the tq arm to adjust the top rod end negates the idea of the arm being "on the car adjustable".

I might have fixed it but im gona go outside and play with it for alittle and see if it works.

the threads i can turn the whole thing by hand when outa the car, when its on the car i can still adjust it by hand alittle altho its tough

 

i finnished it up tonite... my modifications i must have worked. still its a pain in the a$$ to install lol. takes me maybe 30-40min. but thats everything including the rear bracket.


the rear is not at ride height but its at the highest i can get it without lifting the rear of the car off the ground. i had pinion angle at the rear set at 0 degrees, i was able to adjust it to +4/+5 degrees and i also was able to get it to -1 degree without issues. the adjuster is kinda tough to turn but i assume thats from the pressure of the springs etc acting on the rear trying to flip the rear over.

i left it at +1 degree at the pinion on the rear. i figure when the rear compresses another 3" or so that it will bring it back to 0 ish. Then i can adjust it further.

the overall length of the tq arm is about the same as the jegster which is about 27-28". so i might have some problems hooking since im guestimating my engine puts out 460-480hp at the crank which is something like 380-400rwhp. last time i was at the strip with the jegster i couldnt get it to hook at all hence a 2.2-2.4 60' time.... but that could have been bc of the bald 225 street tires.

here are some install pics. no bolts are tightened down as of yet, i will be using blue loctite on the threads of the bolts as well.

 

some more

 

Please update this when you have a chance to actually drive and test it out, hopefully it works well for you

I don't think you can blame the torque arm on your 60' times, with my 3.42 "open" rear end and 215 tires I used to have on it (Stupid 7" rims V6's came with! Haha.), and 450+ horsepower, I got times like that too and no torque arm coulda fixed it lol

 

ok will do. should have it driving in a month or so.

difference is that i have a posi. still tho i have too much hp for the launch. only fix is more tire or more sticky tires. well see how it works this summer

 

Are you gonna put a dust boot where the grease fitting is? Or just leave it open like that?

 

well jegs sells it like how you see it. no dust boot. so i prob wont do it for now. but thats a good idea, and now im considering it. but since jegster designed it without a boot im sure its fine.

you gotta remember that the tq arm only pivots like a 1/4" or so through a complete suspension travel. so really not much is being pushed/pulled on it. at ride height it prob would barely move an 1/8" with normal driving.

i have my new rear rim coming, bought a new 315/35r17 tire and i finnally got my J&M strut mount back. put it all together and i just realized/noticed that the entire front pass wheel was turned like a 1/2 steering wheel turn to the right (driver wheel was straight) i thought that i got away with no front suspension damage but i was wrong. had to pick up a used spindal/Aarm and im switching that out till i get the rim on monday. ugh ... once i get the rim/tire mounted ill take it for a drive and let you know how the tq arm works.

 

so ive been driving the car for about a week now... tq arm works great! i get alot of traction even on street tires (315s)

i had no issues with setting pinon angle. i have it set at -2 degrees by how BMR tells u to do it on there site.

 

That's pretty cool that it's working good for you. I got a great deal on a used adjustable jegster, so I'm going to use that instead of making one, I guess I'm lazy

I'm liking the "slip-fit" design of the jegster more and more, it just can't bind and it's forgiving as far as installation goes. Can't wait to drive my car again

 

the jegster is a good piece, only thing i dnt like about it is that theres no support between the 2 bars... and it just has the connects to the rear mount. ive seen a couple pics of a couple of jegster tq arms bending right behind the front welded connection.

things like this happen, i know its not a jegster but its a UMI one

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/attach...torque-arm.jpg

heres another UMI one that broke off at the bushing mount like a stock style
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...orque-armb.jpg

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...rque-arm2b.jpg

i cant seem to find the jegster pics

 

That's crazy, the tube actually broke, not just the weld. Wow

I doubt I'll be hitting the suspension hard enough to do something like that though, the clutch will be slipping or I'll grenade the transmission first

 

Hello
I noticed that you are using UMI Performance pics as a example as why to install a support between the tubing. And these particular pics are from our very first model. That is why we offer the gusset further back to help support with the pressure going through the torque arm, and the other pic is because the torque arm was maxed out in the adjustments and due to the arm wanting to push forward it did right into the transmission. So you want to keep that in mind you need to make sure that you have enough room to allow that arm to slide in the mounting bushing. So I just wanted to clear that up so nothing gets thrown way out of portion.
Thanks
Brad

 

no problem, i have lots of UMI parts on my car, nice stuff. UMI... so would an "unsupported" tq arm be more likely to fail? like the adjustable jegster tq arm?
http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/55040097.jpg

 

Nice work.
Kory

 

thanks!

so far the tq arm is working great! my tires seem to hook much better than they did before on the street. its kinda hard to break the tires loose, 315s will do that tho lol... i have yet to beat on it (above 4500ish) and no power shifting. i plan on hitting the track for a base run compared to last yrs 13.5 at 113mph. hopefully these tires will help get my 60' down to 1.8-1.9 compared to the dismal 2.2-2.4s. im hoping for lowwww 12s/high 11s without destroying any lifters/cam but i might need drag radials to keep me from spinning on the 1-2shift and most of my 2nd gear at and around the 1000' mark.