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

ken · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:35 pm

That aint right! :shock:

Inc · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:37 pm

sprsonic wrote:

Inc wrote:

sprsonic wrote:

i recieved the new 4.5 arms today and they look to be a better design, the more i think, i could have been going faster than 40 mph and could have had my family in the jeep the madder i get. and i'm going to check these newer control arms alot more now, seriously guys this jeep has never been offroad, two years of street driving only and drive over a dip in the road not even a thump of a pothole or ridge in the road and it gave out. i have to get my bumper painted now too. this is the first time this thing will get new paint, was also kinda dissapointed that marlin had'nt asked if everything was ok after i told him that the contol arm broke while driving. if my wife would have been driving this definately would have been a different story. i really hope this does'nt happen to anyone else.

So in the end you did or didn't have to pay for a replacement?

i paid

Sorry to hear that.

Rudy · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:53 pm

sprsonic wrote:

was also kinda dissapointed that marlin had'nt asked if everything was ok after i told him that the contol arm broke while driving.

That's not cool. Maybe call the BBB?

icarl · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:32 pm

sprsonic wrote:

i recieved the new 4.5 arms today and they look to be a better design, the more i think, i could have been going faster than 40 mph and could have had my family in the jeep the madder i get. and i'm going to check these newer control arms alot more now, seriously guys this jeep has never been offroad, two years of street driving only and drive over a dip in the road not even a thump of a pothole or ridge in the road and it gave out. i have to get my bumper painted now too. this is the first time this thing will get new paint, was also kinda dissapointed that marlin had'nt asked if everything was ok after i told him that the contol arm broke while driving. if my wife would have been driving this definately would have been a different story. i really hope this does'nt happen to anyone else.

Thanks for being the official Guinea pig. Now, that you got your new A-arms, why don't you drive over that same bump in the road and see what happens now? That way we can compare the two results. :lol:

Boiler · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:11 am

If I was to specify the weld for that joint, I'd call for a 16th gap for a root opening, chamfer half of the material away on the end of the tube, and basically end up with full fusion between the tube and the knuckle. THEN i'd have specified a fillet cap with throat equal to the thickness of the tube.

That would basically be a double thick weld that allowed stress to transition around the corner better, as well as provide some safety factor to account for weld variations.

Just butting the tube up against the knuckle and putting a fillet on creates too much of a stress riser as the stress transition has to turn, go through the weld, and then turn again into the knuckle.

Penetration is not defined in the way most people are using it here, or even in that welding forum. What you really want is FUSION, and a joint with proper weld design.

L.O. · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:34 am

I hope JBA has a hell of a products liability insurance policy....someone dies or gets badly hurt from a failing UCA the company made and he will need every penny.

durangotang · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:45 am

They are an LLC... I think that's their insurance

Rudy · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:25 am

Boiler wrote:

If I was to specify the weld for that joint, I'd call for a 16th gap for a root opening, chamfer half of the material away on the end of the tube, and basically end up with full fusion between the tube and the knuckle. THEN i'd have specified a fillet cap with throat equal to the thickness of the tube.

That would basically be a double thick weld that allowed stress to transition around the corner better, as well as provide some safety factor to account for weld variations.

Just butting the tube up against the knuckle and putting a fillet on creates too much of a stress riser as the stress transition has to turn, go through the weld, and then turn again into the knuckle.

Penetration is not defined in the way most people are using it here, or even in that welding forum. What you really want is FUSION, and a joint with proper weld design.

Hey...that's what I was going to say. :roll:

Inc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:32 am

So the new design looks like they cut into the arms, made slots for the part holding the joint and welded all those seams. So now instead of the 2 pieces just being butt welded, the metal goes into the round arm and makes for a strnger connection. Is that what everyone else sees?

Boiler · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:29 am

Yep. I guess it is stupid to argue what should have been done in early versions...

Instead it should all be about upgrading and replacement.

jamangus · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:05 am

Inc wrote:

So the new design looks like they cut into the arms, made slots for the part holding the joint and welded all those seams. So now instead of the 2 pieces just being butt welded, the metal goes into the round arm and makes for a strnger connection. Is that what everyone else sees?

yeah, but did they learn how to weld?

Sport · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:10 am

JBA should be discounting more on his "upgrade program", the 100 dollar discount brings it to the same price as RRO. I would think half off and a free replacement to those who's arms have failed...

sprsonic · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:06 am

i spoke with marlon this morning and told him that this was turning into a big stink and stated that he should probably get on and ease everyones mind about these arms, he said he would try and get on soon. in the end if your arms have'nt failed you should probably upgrade soon. he says he will stand behind the new design because they are his own, the old black style were al's origionally. we can wait for him to chime in and hopefully answer any and all questions, please don't bash him if and when he does log on. he's a decent person to speak with on the phone.

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:02 pm

the factory a-arms are crap. i replaced a worn out drivers side UBJ/arm with 70k on it, 2 weeks ago.

few days after that, i replaced my passenger side CV joint, and noticed the 1year old mopar OEM upper arm balljoint was 10x more sloppy and worn than the 70k mile old arm one was. so in total i have been through 3 factory arms before i upgraded to AL's 4.5 arms last week.

i DO feel safer using AL's new 4.5 arms compared to the factory arms, being that i went through 3 OEM arms, especially the condition of a 1year old 10k mile arm, and how sloppy and worn that balljoint was, i could move the balljoint at least 3/16" in any direction

none of the factory arms have failed on me, but they do get sloppy real quick, and in my experience, it doesnt matter how old or how many miles you have on the oem arms. they WILL get sloppy with a lifted KJ at the angle they are at

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:42 pm

I should not even post on this but .......................it always seems that if one thing happens we have a ton of "experts" telling what they would do differently etc.
I trust Marlins design and arms completely. I look at mine all the time same as I would with the stock ones which have failed at I bet the same rate or more than his have. I had 3 stock ones that failed on the guy I got my ARB bumper from and that was in less than 30,000 miles.
The used Gen 2 or 3 that I had were replaced by Marlin no questions asked, noticed it before I installed them and let him know. To me he is a stand up business man and will do anything he can to make things right. Way better than RRO ever will I am sure.
Am I scared, no way on the ones I have.
As far as only driving on the street, does people not realize than even just driving down the road puts stress on every suspension part, going over bumps, ruts, over curbs etc. Just driving down the road puts almost the same amount of abuse on arms as does off roading.
If I had my choice between Marlins arms and stock / RRO's then Marlin comes out on top everytime!

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:55 pm

I was trying to stay out of this also, but I thing the time has come.... Just as mudd said, Marlin is one heck of a business man and will bend over backwards to make things right if he made it. Being the test monkey for the 4 inch lift, I can tell you first hand that he has been a joy to work with. So far the KK has had two or three revisions to the UCA's and two different track bars. as we speak, he is working on some customs rear springs for me since my KK is a porker :lol:

If you ask me that is some kick butt customer service.

Now if you really want to talk about quality control, just drop jeepinjarhead a pm and ask about the part he recently got from RRO :roll:

lets just say I would buy something from rusty's before RRO.. and they are on the same level

1996xj · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:32 pm

Well, I bought a set of Moog factory arm's 4 or 5 month's ago and the driver's side balljoint is aready loose !!!!!!!, Man I don't know, has anyone seen or heard of problem's with al's new arm/design ???????

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:34 pm

1996xj wrote:

Well, I bought a set of Moog factory arm's 4 or 5 month's ago and the driver's side balljoint is aready loose !!!!!!!, Man I don't know, has anyone seen or heard of problem's with al's new arm/design ???????

Mines been on for over 25,000/maybe 28,000 miles and not one problem, tight and no breakage/cracks etc of any kind

1996xj · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:47 pm

Tom, what gen arm's do you have ? and what would you recomend ? :roll:

It wouldn't bother me so much but the KJ is the wife's and her daily driver she always has my boy with her as well !!!!

03CDKJ · **Posted:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:57 pm

1996xj wrote:

Tom, what gen arm's do you have ? and what would you recomend ? :roll:

It wouldn't bother me so much but the KJ is the wife's and her daily driver she always has my boy with her as well !!!!

Since you are not going over 3.5" of lift Go with the 4.5's....
I've had no problems with mine... :wink:

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

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