Rear Suspension arms

[shanco73]

Van failed its mot on a few minor things to be expecte for a van that lived in scotland on the coast cant think of a worse combination for anything made from steel !!!

Worst thing was rear suspension arms corroded unde the rear springs. So i started stripping her down this afternoon and found that infact the mot man was quite correct they are fairly well corroded,

Here is a picture. or 2





Right you can see what i mean !!

I am going to try and repair these tomorrow i am going to cut out the weak metal where it is thin and mig weld in a plate, then i will weld on the repair patch from brickwerks. I have heard people say that you are not supposed to weld cast items, what are your opinions or perhaps you know the facts !! i dont im gonna have a go anyway. Thanks for looking any thought most welcome.. Cheers Steve.

[T-3PO]

I had a failure on one of these arms this year, a hole about the size of a 5p but on the front facing side. Mr MOT said it could be welded but the cost would outway the price of replacement, you can't palte them so you would then have to make a fill in peice the exact size of the hole but with the metal being so thick it's hard to get the weld to penetrate deep enough to be strong enough so you would then have to start mucking about with a sleeve over the hole and completely around the arm but they have to be manufactured to such an exact degree and standard only a real headcase would do it!!

As for yours ... well after all that I'm not sure to be honest!? If you plated it then put the repair plate over the top who's going to see it to fail it ??? (but I never said that ) But really you need to think about the safety aspect of it I guess, how much stress is that on that part of the arm and would you feel safe enough?

[toomanytoys]

Rear arms are not cast... they are heavy pressings welded together... Bricky wouldnt sell the repair plates if it wasnt possible....
The bearing housing is cast though...

[shanco73]

Thanks for the comments and advice,

T-3PO like you say i plan to make a repair patch to match the hole, i have done this on minis in the past, i think my mig will go high enough to get good penetration, as for the saferty aspect its gonna be a whole lot stronger than it is now and we have used this van for the past year, these arms have not corroded to this level in the past couple of months.

I just hope the other side is no worse .....

Did you manage to find some new/second hand spares ? i have seen a couple of second hand ones in a simmilar state to mine for 75 quid each, would still probably need the repair patch from brickwerks!!!

Too many toys, Thanks for the snippet about them being pressed and welded together this was just the kind of thing i was hoping for, as the weld should ber stronger than the rest of the arm i am pretty sure i will be able to carry out a strong and safe repair to these items, more pictures to follow.

Thanks guys.

[jdreamer]

There's a lot if this about! Just about to start mine - similar state to the above pics. Good luck with yours.

How much do ya think VW want for the original pattern so we can get a big press & go into manufacture ourselves? Reckon there's some money to be made here......

[toomanytoys]

There's a lot if this about! Just about to start mine - similar state to the above pics. Good luck with yours.

How much do ya think VW want for the original pattern so we can get a big press & go into manufacture ourselves? Reckon there's some money to be made here......

You reckon??? when the arms were available from VW, IIRC they were £400 each.....

A german supplier will be offering some cast steel ones shortly (mainly aimed at the Syncros with better clearance for bigger tyres etc) at approx 700 euro (could be for a pair)

Prob could get a run made like originals... prob have to get 500 made to get sensible pricing... anyone got a spare 50 grand spare...

[jdreamer]

...
A german supplier will be offering some cast steel ones shortly (mainly aimed at the Syncros with better clearance for bigger tyres etc) at approx 700 euro (could be for a pair)

Prob could get a run made like originals... prob have to get 500 made to get sensible pricing... anyone got a spare 50 grand spare...

50k? Let me see what i've got here........err, no.

Interesting to see how the cast ones work out, but at some point it'll be the only option I guess.

[toomanytoys]

Still plenty of god used ones out there... ask some of the breakers on here... CJ, billy789 (or whatever number he is) etc etc....

when the cast ones come up... there will be some good ones off a few syncro's...