has anyone ever seen an upper control arm break at the welds

Sport · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:32 am

Sprsonic, do you know what generation your arms are? is the top of the ball joint spot welded to the arm? Mine are, wondering if yours were the same.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:02 am

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

The fact that JBA is not covering this sort of breakage with a free exchange has ThunderbirdJunkie questioning the purchase of a pair, and instead going the route of RRO's arms.

Not joking, and hate to say it.

I agree 100%.

As you said the stock arms give a warning and usually do not fail just driving down the road. The ones Ive read about fail while turning at low speeds in parking lots.

Glad Ive stuck with the stock arms for now.

Ohh, and Nascar welds their arms the same way as the ones that are failing. Not sure if they have better quality control over the welds, better tubing or what?? I noticed that walking through the pits one time and it caught my attention.

sprsonic · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:14 am

Sport wrote:

Sprsonic, do you know what generation your arms are? is the top of the ball joint spot welded to the arm? Mine are, wondering if yours were the same.

i do not know, i dont want this to turn into a bash jba thread. parts are'nt made to last forever, but i do see some of you guys point, i would have been a little more mad if my wife and kids had been in the jeep with me

greatoppressor · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:34 am

sprsonic wrote:

sorry the pics are shotty

Looks like a good bit of smearing on the rusty part of the fracture surface (or maybe it's just blurry

), so that sucker was moving back and forth a good bit before it finally let go (not surprising). I know how to read metal fractures (due to my job), but I'm not an expert on what that weld should look like. Still, it seems to me that the weld had poor penetration for that joint. I would expect to see at least some heat-affected zone into the thickness of the bar a bit where the welding would have penetrated some. Perhaps that's the difference between this joint and the ones made by the NASCAR folks: weld penetration.

I like the weld joints of the new JBA and RRO arms much better.

-SR-

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:18 am

Jeepjeepster wrote:

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

The fact that JBA is not covering this sort of breakage with a free exchange has ThunderbirdJunkie questioning the purchase of a pair, and instead going the route of RRO's arms.

Not joking, and hate to say it.

I agree 100%.

As you said the stock arms give a warning and usually do not fail just driving down the road. The ones Ive read about fail while turning at low speeds in parking lots.

Glad Ive stuck with the stock arms for now.

Ohh, and Nascar welds their arms the same way as the ones that are failing. Not sure if they have better quality control over the welds, better tubing or what?? I noticed that walking through the pits one time and it caught my attention.

RRO copied the better JBA's design and good luck getting any type of warranty from RRO if there arms fail,they will just laugh at you and gladly take your money for another set at full price.

Also you have got to remember that adding aftermarket parts does not guarantee nothing,maybe JBA should have a "Off Road Use Only" type of warning like 99% of all other offroad companies.

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:00 pm

Of course you are going to support Jeepin by Al...
According to the Jeepin by Al's website
Reason #3 of why you should believe the claims
Is because they are approved by Rock Lizard.... which you work for...

Obviously those first and second generations are not holding up... And should be recalled...

I'm not saying that the newer generations are bad, but are they welded by the same person....etc....

Further down on the page, on the Jeepin by Als site, it says: "you will never need to replace your upper A arms for the life of your KJ..."

This is not a pissing match....
I have ordered hundreds of dollars worth of products from Jeepin by Al...
and will continue to do so... I will also order hundreds of dollars worth of products from Rocklizard in the near future... coughcoughkomodocough..

I don't want you to hate me troy... :lol:

I love you man..

You are my KJ brother!!!!! :wink:

This is about Saftey... and if more than 3 sets of arms fail at the same place "the welds" Something is not right....

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:46 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

RRO copied the better JBA's design and good luck getting any type of warranty from RRO if there arms fail,they will just laugh at you and gladly take your money for another set at full price.

Also you have got to remember that adding aftermarket parts does not guarantee nothing,maybe JBA should have a "Off Road Use Only" type of warning like 99% of all other offroad companies.

Who cares if the design is copied, that is completely irrelevant. I can only hope RRO improved the quality when they copied it because JBA ones are breaking on people left and right. Why anyone would be such a fanboy of a product that has failed on people as many times as these have is beyond me. They are plain, flat out dangerous. And because RRO customer' service sucks, people should be grateful that JBA isn't charging them full price on a replacement set? JBA is lucky no one has been seriously hurt or died from a failure yet, so he should be replacing all of them for free because the product is not safe for use, which has been proven many times. If JBA is going to tout, "long lasting off road durability", and "you will never need to replace your upper A-arms for the life of your KJ" he should stand by that. His customer service is pretty amazing but when a product of that you are selling is failing left and right and could cause harm or death to your customers, you need to replace all the problem products without question.

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:57 pm

The pictures of the break had me a bit concerned, as I think I can see the end cut of the tube for about 2/3 of the diameter. Since they have a fillet weld on them, you wouldn't see fusion down there, depending on the root opening, but if the weld is big enough and free from flaws, I wouldn't think it would break there. My guess is that the throat of the weld is smaller than the tube wall thickness AND there are probably some flaws in the welding.

The "for offroad use only" by some companies is something we need to be paying attention to. This breaking on the trail would typically be less life threatening. For those of us using things like this on our daily drivers, we get many more cycles of loads, and have to be concerned more about fatigue than strictly off road used jeeps.

jamangus · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:54 pm

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

ken · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:20 pm

I agree that a full recall should be done and free replacement of any defective parts past/present would show his customer loyalty for gods sakes. Regardless of cost to JBA. He must have some type of insurance policy in force to do business. Yes? I'm sure that replacement would be cheaper than serious lawsuits, right? I don't know. That's just my opinion. I hope my recently installed gen. 4.5's dont become an issue. I would hate to morn the serious injury/ death of my daughters or wife.

icarl · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 6:36 pm

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 6:47 pm

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

Yes, but the OP contacted JBA and they are going to charge him last we heard and when these products fail, someone's life may be at risk. These arms aren't a kid's toy or something so to say failures are to be expected is kind of wrong. Types of products like these should not be tested on the public.

icarl · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 6:55 pm

Inc wrote:

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

Yes, but the OP contacted JBA and they are going to charge him last we heard and when these products fail, someone's life may be at risk. These arms aren't a kid's toy or something so to say failures are to be expected is kind of wrong. Types of products like these should not be tested on the public.

What he said was he never made a big deal of it. Perhaps he never even told him it broke. I'm sure they would send a replacement since they say on the website that they are guaranteed for life.

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 6:59 pm

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

A few cases EVERY year....

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... arms+broke

icarl · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:02 pm

Inc wrote:

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

These arms aren't a kid's toy or something so to say failures are to be expected is kind of wrong.

Failures of any product do happen. Even 747 jumbo airlines crash out of the sky because of product failures. It's not good that it happens but it does happen. Just like I'm sure there have been failures of the stock a-arms that we have not heard about but there is no recall. It might not be ideal but it is real. JBA is just a small company and I doubt he could afford to do a mass recall. Most a-arms are still out there and still working and they can upgrade for less money then it would cost to buy new with the upgrade program if they are concerned.

icarl · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:09 pm

03CDKJ wrote:

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

A few cases EVERY year....

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... arms+broke

Since were on this point has anyone seen the new Gen 4.5 a-arms fail. I haven't yet. Those are the one's that those other guys copied.

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:19 pm

icarl wrote:

Inc wrote:

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

These arms aren't a kid's toy or something so to say failures are to be expected is kind of wrong.

Failures of any product do happen. Even 747 jumbo airlines crash out of the sky because of product failures. It's not good that it happens but it does happen. Just like I'm sure there have been failures of the stock a-arms that we have not heard about but there is no recall. It might not be ideal but it is real. JBA is just a small company and I doubt he could afford to do a mass recall. Most a-arms are still out there and still working and they can upgrade for less money then it would cost to buy new with the upgrade program if they are concerned.

Yes, but Boeing doesn't test their planes on the passengers.

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:23 pm

icarl wrote:

03CDKJ wrote:

icarl wrote:

jamangus wrote:

Outrageous. There is no excuse for these welds breaking. Not recalling a known defective control arm is unethical in every way. And on top of it…he is charging an upgrade fee?!

Before you get your panties in a not consider that there haven't been as many failures as it seems. A few failures of any product is to be expected. Secondly JBA replaced and upgrade my a-arms for free when I had issues with mine. So it is likely the OP could get a free replacement as well.

A few cases EVERY year....

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... arms+broke

Since were on this point has anyone seen the new Gen 4.5 a-arms fail. I haven't yet. Those are the one's that those other guys copied.

Generation 4 Failure.... Again at the welds.... I'm not sure about the 4.5's or the 5's...

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/vie ... &start=100

1996xj · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:38 pm

Has anyone bought or head how RRO arm's are holding up ???

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:44 pm

1996xj wrote:

Has anyone bought or head how RRO arm's are holding up ???

I'm not sure anyone has them yet, plus they are pretty new so they should for a while even if they are made just like JBA.

has anyone ever seen an upper control arm break at the welds

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