Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Just wondering if anyone has had this problem. I have broken 2 SW torque arm mounts. The large bracket that bolts to your 12 bolt. The first one I caught before anything happened. The second one broke last night and took the trans with it when the rear end rolled up. Anyone had this happen to them? any suggestions on what went wrong?

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Ricky, i am not sure when you got yours but the ones they are building now are Heavy duty compared to the earlier ones they built. I cracked one of the earlier ones several years ago but i have not heard of this since they changed to the heavier ones!

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

we have broken 3 in the past 3 years. The last one was at the Dutch this past fall after only 16 runs (car is 305 stick camaro). We have always been treated very well by S&W when we call after we have had problems, but that was the 3rd strike.
We how have a PeteZ (Z torque arm) setup (ATE) that we will be testing as soon as our engine is done.
Rich Aman 1631 G/S

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

I've been 9.70's and 1.31 60' on a Burkhart chassis torque arm with a stick, he makes a very nice piece. As to why yours broke hard to say ,but the bolts on the bracket to the rearend housing seem to want to back out alot I'm constantly checking mine and have broke one like you because of it. That may have not been your problem ,but its very common on these cars. Hope that helps.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...pictureid=2043

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...pictureid=2044

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...pictureid=2045

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...pictureid=2048

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...pictureid=2047

Ricky:
I thought I was the only one! The torque arm mount was in the roller when I bought it. It looked a little light but I didn't know a thing about these cars and assumed the builder did. My nice new MW driveshaft was MIA along with other bits and pieces. Hopefully the mount I built will sty in one piece.
Cam
Cam

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

I would have to say that the one pictured here that broke must be one of the older ones. Reason I say that is because I just bought one over the winter and the bracket on the rear looks to be alot heavier meterial than that one. I will say the one you made if that is it on the bottom is a nice looking piece.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Might look good but if the bolt threads aren't long enough to engage the nylon in the nylock nuts then your gonna be scattering stuff all over the track. Another 1/4 inch on those bolts is probably worth the investment.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Good eye, Bill!
This is just a mock up, check out he pinion nut. There is still 4 feet of snow in my yard. I'm not going anywhere soon.
Cam

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Just went out and took another look at mine and I would say yes yours looks the same as the one I just bought a couple of month ago so your probably ok.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Wow, I didn't notice your location.. not just BC but NORTHERN BC... I'll bet you aren't going anywhere soon... maybe August....!!!! :eek:

BTW, I envy you, what a friggin' GORGEOUS area.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...pictureid=2065



Bill:
It is a great place to live. We do have our challanges, like the cougar that tried to get our dog in December. Made a bit of a mess of him but he looks pretty good now. I'm sure lots of folks had a tough winter this year. It never warmed up from October to the beginning of April so every snow flake that fell is still here.
We are trying to make the Mission points race at the end of May which is about 500 miles south. I think we will still be able to make a snow man by then. Hopefully a small one. LOL
Global warming? I don't care who you are , thats funny.
Cam

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

WOW.....What exactly is sticking out of your dogs wounds? I'm glad he is OK...did you shoot the Cougar or trap him somehow? My good friends dog was attacked by a black bear and as a result had to be euthanized. That was here in Northwestern NJ....I am damn glad we don't have Cougars or that much snow to deal with.....

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Sorry about your dog, no one likes that but I was just eating my lunch and wanted to check out this thread.. I guess it wasn't a good idea

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Rich:
Those are just drain tubes. The cat had him in his mouth and left him with a couple dozen puncture wounds.
There was another attack a couple days before this one with another dog in the area. The owner tried to rescue her dog but without a shotgun. She was very fortunate to get away with some stiches. This particular cat came down with a severe case of lead poisioning. Very pretty in the wild not so nice up close and personal.

Keith:
I appologize for messing with your lunch. I was a bit shocked at first myself but I guess it's worn off a bit now. The picture have been removed.
Cam

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Have you thought of using a bolt long enough so just the shoulder of it is engaged thru the end link and bracket and using a double nut system to lock it
. those nylocks are ok but...,
another choice is the factory GM lock nuts, they have a flat end and the other side is crimped triangulated, like on the factory suspensions, you still can get them new. just two choices for you in terms of hardware. chris

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Cam,
Brackets look nice.
Mike Taylor3601

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

We're sorry for the problems some of you have had with our torque arm bracket. As Woodro said we have redesigned the bracket in several key areas to attempt to strengthen it and as always we will stand behind any of our components and replace them in the event of a failure due to design or material defect. Woodro, Ken Faulk and the Hidalgo's have been a valuable resource to S&W in the areas of design & testing and I'd like to thank them all here publicly.
As someone said, the best bracket in the world will have problems if checking the mounting hardware is not included in the routine maintenance. Some of the aftermarket housings use threaded bosses and two bolts rather than the long through bolt used by the factory. We have found that these aftermarket housings are particularly susceptible to the hardware loosening over time.
Scott Weney wants to hear from anyone who experiences a problem with any of our parts and he can be reached toll free at 1-800-523-3353 ext 111

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

Don is absolutely correct. After many launches, the bolts on the torque arm will eventually get loose. This is where the problem starts. Once a bolt backs completely out, it will be easy for another to do so as well. Once this happens, it will result in twisting the bracket. I recommend loctite for the bolts and torquing them periodically. Even with loctite, it is still possible for the bolts to back out. So, torquing them frequently is the only way to prevent this. Also, in the past we used the factory torque arms, the bolts still back out of these too.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

we have a S&W for sale and it is nothing like the one you broke. Ours was bought new less than 2 years ago. The new ones look almost like the one you built.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

It snowed in Houston back in December. It only left 2" on the ground. I still have pic's on my phone,haha.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

My Firebird had a KTRE rear housing. It had a torque arm made by the original owner of the car or the chassis builder. It did attach to the differential using 4 bolts. I found those bolts loose on at least one occasion and one hole in the rear was stripped from loose fasteners. I heli-coil repaired it. The traction bar setup under there also cracked one of the brackets. These cars leave very hard and definately need everything checked under there often.....

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

It is my understanding that the Moser housing is the one that has the 4 bolt setup. Two that moumt from the top and two that mount from the bottom. The Strange housings use the two bolt-bolt through factory setup. During my resaerch for an F-Body housing I've talked to many racers who use the Moser housings and have expereinced bolts backing out even when using loctite. This is something that you have to keep an eye on and make it part of your routine maintaince. I have never heard of bolts backing out of housings that use the two bolt factory setup. It seems to me that this is a housing design flaw and not a Torque-Arm design flaw. I would say that close to 95% of the racecars that I've looked under use the S&W torque-arm so that's the one that I went with. I just don't like the round tube front crossmember and mounting point because I seen some of the round tube flex upward under load. I redesigned mine to use 2x2 square tubing and a custom front mount to accept the square tubing along with some additional ajustability.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

I don't recall the man's name but KTRE was the company logo and he offered stronger replacement 12 bolt housings before most of the others out there today. I recall reading that someone took over his product line but don't recall who that was. Thru bolts would have definately been better. I had a stock but modified torque arm with a custom built round crossmember and adjustable stop arangement. Seemd to work well...Hook was almost always good. That car has 60'ed as quick as 1.32 at B/SA weight last month.

Re: Torque Arm on F-body cars
 

The 'KT' stood for Kenny Thomas I believe. Mark Williams is selling those housings now, if I'm not mistaken.