Torque Arm Help

**BlackBeast T/A** · 12-15-2010, 01:27 PM

Looking to slowly upgrade my suspension and was wondering about torque arms. Can someone explain what the difference is between adjustable and non-adjustable. the difference betwen transmission mounted and tunnel brace mounted.

I have a '01 trans am, M6, 3pt SFC, front and rear umi sway bars, pro 5.0.
I plan on LTs and ORY in the near future.

Thanks

**35th-ANV-SS** · 12-15-2010, 02:36 PM

Torque arm will dictate your pinion angle. Pinion angle simply refers to the angle of the differential's pinion in relation to the driveshaft. For most set-ups, it is set to -2 degrees. Your car in stock form is set to -2 degrees.

If your car is not lowered, a non-adjustable TA will give you the same pinion angle as stock. When you lower the car, it changes the suspensions geometry, which throws off the pinion angle. This is where you need an adjustable TA to be able to set your pinion angle back to where it needs to be.

The goal is to create a straight line from the back of the crankshaft through the transmission, driveshaft, and the pinion of the differential under load. Due to the tendency of the pinion to rise under load, some angle must be present at rest.

TA's come in different forms. If it is mounted to your transmission (tailshaft), under load and with enough power, it can cause damage and actually break the tailshaft of the transmission. Therefore a lot of us go with the cross-member mount for the front of the TA. This is a separate bracket which is mounted to the underbody and the front of the TA mounts to it instead of the tailshaft. This removes the stress from the tailshaft.

I hope that helps.

**pajeff02** · 12-15-2010, 03:12 PM

To add to this -- you need to decide what you are looking for in your car. For the strip, a tunnel mount setup is the way to go. The drawback is that you may experience increased cabin noise and under extreme braking there can be rear wheel hop. I have the UMI adjustable tunnel mount (pictured below) installed in our car and wanted it primarily for the track. Our car sees way more street time than 1/4 mile time, but I was looking for bite off the line. A full length T/A will have better street manners -- getting the front mount off the transmission is really what you want to accomplish. How you do it is up to you.

**BlackBeast T/A** · 12-15-2010, 03:33 PM

Thanks this does help. Another thing, I see there are choices with the type of exhaust you have. Is this something to be done after I complete the exhaust? Or will a torque arm with the LTs set up work with stock exhaust for the time being.

**35th-ANV-SS** · 12-15-2010, 05:17 PM

There are different torque arm set-ups for different exhaust set-ups. You want to make sure that the cross-member mounting bracket will offer clearance for your LT/exhaust set-up. It will usually specify this in the information about the torque arm. I believe UMI does this.

**pajeff02** · 12-15-2010, 05:21 PM

I think UMI's website lets you know which ones fit with specific exhaust setups: UMI Performance

**67CamaroRSSS** · 12-15-2010, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

To add to this -- you need to decide what you are looking for in your car. For the strip, a tunnel mount setup is the way to go. The drawback is that you may experience increased cabin noise and under extreme braking there can be rear wheel hop. I have the UMI adjustable tunnel mount (pictured below) installed in our car and wanted it primarily for the track. Our car sees way more street time than 1/4 mile time, but I was looking for bite off the line. A full length T/A will have better street manners -- getting the front mount off the transmission is really what you want to accomplish. How you do it is up to you.

To the OP: I have a similar adjustable TA but from a different manufacturer (see sig). I also have true duals dumped at the axle.

To Jeff: I quoted you because of the picture.

I went with a body mount adjustable TA as I wanted the TA off of the tranny and I was having massive wheel hop at launch. I suppose MT ET Street DR's didn't help much with the wheel hop.

End result is a consistent mid 1.7x 60'. It will go faster...

**pajeff02** · 12-15-2010, 05:54 PM

Upgraded trans and some stall is next on the list for me. I really need to get my 60' times down.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 12-15-2010, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

Upgraded trans and some stall is next on the list for me. I really need to get my 60' times down.

While it wasn't strictly necessary to upgrade my trans when I did the TC (car had only 42,xxx miles on it), upon inspection of the tranny I elected to upgrade the sun shell (Beast Stainless Steel vs the aluminum stocker which was showing wear from repeated launches at the strip), clutch packs (6 vs 5, Raybestos racing vs stock) and valve body (shift kit with mods) along with deleting Torque Management and a largish cooler.

I did all this as I intend to further modify the engine and drivetrain as time and $$$ will allow. Call it an investment in the future.

All this resulted in a reduction in 60' time from 1.98 down to 1.73 (best) and a 1/4 mile ET from 13.09 down to 12.559 (best).

MPH has remained the same at 108/109 avg.

**pajeff02** · 12-15-2010, 06:49 PM

Our car went from an essentially stock 13.395 at 106 mph to a 12.885 at 107.93 mph. Really looking forward to seeing what a 3,200 stall will do.

**INMY01TA** · 12-28-2010, 06:55 PM

Full legnth here. Hated the noise from my old tunnel mount. Tried the relocation crossmember, hated that too. Cut a best of 1.65 with the full legnth unit. Whichever you get, get the longer bolts to go with it.

**homickb** · 01-10-2011, 08:04 AM

Sorry but I'm new to all this
How exactly do you relocate the torque arm? I know you have to buy a new torque arm, but will that just mount to an existing part of the car?

**35th-ANV-SS** · 01-10-2011, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by homickb

Sorry but I'm new to all this
How exactly do you relocate the torque arm? I know you have to buy a new torque arm, but will that just mount to an existing part of the car?

If you buy a TA that is specific to getting the front mount off the tailshaft off the tranny it will come with a separate front mounting bracket.

**homickb** · 01-10-2011, 11:21 AM

I've been looking at the bmr torque arm pn ta001h and I don't see anything about relocating it, however it comes with extra hardware. Does this mean that it will or won't relocate the bracket?

**INMY01TA** · 01-10-2011, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by homickb

Sorry but I'm new to all this
How exactly do you relocate the torque arm? I know you have to buy a new torque arm, but will that just mount to an existing part of the car?

You can buy a tunnel mounted torque arm which is a shorter arm and attatches to a cross brace that it comes with, or buy any full legnth torque arm and a torque arm relocation tranny crossmember (like I pictured above) and then your ta will attatch to the tranny crossmember.

**homickb** · 01-10-2011, 07:19 PM

Is the relocated full length torque arm better than the short one?

**Duffster** · 01-10-2011, 08:54 PM

No. The shorter the torque arm, the more torque it takes...

**INMY01TA** · 01-10-2011, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by homickb

Is the relocated full length torque arm better than the short one?

Depends on what you want. Before you ask, use the search button.

**homickb** · 01-10-2011, 09:47 PM

Well I've looked around on here a little bit before I commented on this one. I'm just putting it in my dd after I lower it and I want it to see what other people thought after they did it themselves

**Duffster** · 01-10-2011, 11:41 PM

Running a UMI body mount identical to PAJeff02's, but red...Yes it's loud inside, but then again, the TDs I was running before that were also loud. Response is good when adjusted to appropriate angles and looks good too!