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Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 17 Dec 2020, 20:52
by 10to4
My OS Rear trailing arm is corroded near the end of the outer wishbone. The garage has said it could be welded.

Given the cost of new replacements, has anyone gone down the removal, repair, refurbish route & can comment how feasible this is and whether it's cost effective?

I'm happy to remove and repair myself, although I can see it's potentially quite a big job.

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 17 Dec 2020, 21:40
by maxstu
Need photos to comment TBH. And a lot depends on whether you are going in to long term ownership? Getting the arms off is not an easy job. So perhaps repairs can be achieved in situ?
Mounting bolts are a pig to release in many cases. I cut through both sides on my camper using a cutting blade on an angle grinder. I lost grip of the grinder. It swung out of control and smashed out lower part of the rusted wheel arch!
On another camper a small penny size hole appeared about 75mm from N/S outer mounting point. I cleaned it up. Then bridge welded it in stages. Finally cleaned it up with a grinder and gave it a spray over. Never caused an issue with MOT.
Post some photos

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 17 Dec 2020, 21:43
by jrt
Well it’s a bit of a can of worms this old conundrum. Some will say scrap it as you will have rot inside you can’t see and it is an mot fail if the repair is visible. Others will say weld it. I had a hole in mine earlier this year and replaced it with a very good second hand one( i bought a pair)off here with new bushes fitted. The only welding I had done on mine was the top hat. This was mine, the only whole I originally saw was the little bit on the left. I rubbed it with a wire brush and it grew!
Image
David.

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 17 Dec 2020, 22:07
by maxstu
That's a good point JRT. l saw some rust bubbles. Attacking with a wire brush left a hole. They do indeed rust from inside out.

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 17 Dec 2020, 22:28
by jrt
On mine i was putting air in the tyre and just saw a blob on the arm so decided to pick it ... the rest is history.
David.

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 18 Dec 2020, 03:51
by 10to4
I'll sort out a photo later today. Hole is smaller than 5p and garage who will eventually be doing think welding is an option. The other side looks like it has been welded previously, possibly by the same garage.

Point about them rusting from the inside makes sense. The van may well be long term, but I don't know for certain at the moment, hence I'm looking for most cost effective solution to getting it MOT's and on the road. If it's long term then new units would make sense and become cost effective.

Good second hand units are also a consideration, but I'm not sure how easy these are to come by?

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 18 Dec 2020, 10:07
by TONYT25T25
One of mine had a weld on it when I bought the van about 2cm by 5cm, never been an MOT issue, it is visible, but I clean it up every year and give it another coat of paint. Probably better to put a large weld on it to ensure full coverage not just a patch, not sure what MOT would think of it, maybe worth enquiring first on rules regarding welding in this area.

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 18 Dec 2020, 15:45
by JeffRoo

Re: Rear Trailing Arm refurbishment

Posted: 20 Dec 2020, 21:27
by 10to4
Thanks for all the responses which I have found helpful.

I've now examined the arm carefully with a friend who is an experienced engineer. We think it looks repairable and the garage which will be doing the MOT has already indicated this would be acceptable (they have seen it).

We'll check the whole unit more thoroughly when we do the repair & can always move to replacement if necessary.