Hi,
New to this and just hoped for a bit of advice.
How much would you expect to pay to replace rear trailing arms if you were sourcing them yourself?
I have had years of being ripped off and although I have been quite happy with this garage the price has shocked me a bit as reading on here it seems the job isn't a massive one. I won't say the price but lets just say it equates to 10 hours labour and thats the minimum quote. I think I am being charged more because this isn't a job the mechanic does very often and it seems he's not looking forward to it.
Appreciate any comments
Replacing rear trailing arms
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Re: Replacing rear trailing arms
It's not a job for the faint hearted. A garage like Brickwerks who have done plenty can whip them of and back on in about 2 hours but as a first attempt and not knowing the black art it could take 2 or it could take 6. Remember you need new bolts (originals will probably be seized in the rubber bushes), washers, nuts and rubber bushes. The rubber bushes are an absolute bugger to remove without the proper vw tool.
2nd hand ones are flying up in price. Saw one on ebay for £100 now. Long gone are the days when I picked up a pair from ebay for £50
And THEN don't forget the price of blasting the 2nd hand one and painting so it lasts.
2nd hand ones are flying up in price. Saw one on ebay for £100 now. Long gone are the days when I picked up a pair from ebay for £50
And THEN don't forget the price of blasting the 2nd hand one and painting so it lasts.
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Re: Replacing rear trailing arms
Must admit Cruz, its that one area I've not been near other than dealing with any signs of surface rust. Mine look in good nick so I figure maintaining the structure is a good prequel to pulling them off and fitting new bushes. Seen others that looked a right state.
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Re: Replacing rear trailing arms
Hi
Had to replace both my trailing arms as they were holed quite badly and I expected them to fail the MOT they seem to hole just next to the inboard side of the bush, its worth a good inspection as both my arms looked good until you climbed under the van and had a good look. Do not even try to remove the bolt as it will be corroded solid inside the bush and you will waste many hours trying to drift it out without success, best way is to us an air reciprocating saw with a metal blade and cut through both sides of the bolt on the inner side this will allow the arm to be removed usually the inboard bolt can be removed OK as it has not been hit with 30 years worth of road spray. this can take about 2-3 hours depending on how good your saw is. To remove the old bush and fit new is easy, I replaced the bushes on the replacement arms as its not worth not doing it, all you need is a drill and drill through the rubber around the bush tube/bolt use a good sharp drill large enough to remove a good amount of rubber, when you have gone all the way round the centre tube it can be pushed out and the remaining rubber bush collapsed and removed. this took about 3/4 of an hour each bush. To fit the new bushes use a threaded piece of bar, a socket large enough to fit over the arm to allow the bush to be pulled into it when almost through, a large washer and a couple of bolts the most important thing is a good supply of washing up liquid. Thread the bar through the socket washer then nut pass it through the bush housing. on the other side pass the bar through the rubber bush you will see it will fit better one way than the other then fit the large washer and a nut. liberally apply washing up liquid to all surfaces and draw the rubber bush into the housing, to make it slightly easier put a jubliee clip over the shoulder like a piston ring compressor once inside the housing the bush will slowly slide into place, using this method it took me about 3/4 of an hour per bush total time 6 hours and that was at home on the drive. Hope this helps before I forget use the correct bolts to refit as the are high tensile bolts! don't forget there is quite a lot of work to remove the brake assembly bearing carrier etc so this can add quite a bit of time depending on how easy the bolts are to removed I needed quite a bit of heat to free the 4 bearing carrier bolts also the rear Castle Nut can be a B**** to remove! I had to split both my nuts! as they would not budge that took a bit of time also so 10 hours for the complete job is a rough ball park figure but it could take longer depending on the state of the fixings I replaced t he brake back plates also as my plates were almost gone remember I'm a drive way engineer not a professional car mechanic
Had to replace both my trailing arms as they were holed quite badly and I expected them to fail the MOT they seem to hole just next to the inboard side of the bush, its worth a good inspection as both my arms looked good until you climbed under the van and had a good look. Do not even try to remove the bolt as it will be corroded solid inside the bush and you will waste many hours trying to drift it out without success, best way is to us an air reciprocating saw with a metal blade and cut through both sides of the bolt on the inner side this will allow the arm to be removed usually the inboard bolt can be removed OK as it has not been hit with 30 years worth of road spray. this can take about 2-3 hours depending on how good your saw is. To remove the old bush and fit new is easy, I replaced the bushes on the replacement arms as its not worth not doing it, all you need is a drill and drill through the rubber around the bush tube/bolt use a good sharp drill large enough to remove a good amount of rubber, when you have gone all the way round the centre tube it can be pushed out and the remaining rubber bush collapsed and removed. this took about 3/4 of an hour each bush. To fit the new bushes use a threaded piece of bar, a socket large enough to fit over the arm to allow the bush to be pulled into it when almost through, a large washer and a couple of bolts the most important thing is a good supply of washing up liquid. Thread the bar through the socket washer then nut pass it through the bush housing. on the other side pass the bar through the rubber bush you will see it will fit better one way than the other then fit the large washer and a nut. liberally apply washing up liquid to all surfaces and draw the rubber bush into the housing, to make it slightly easier put a jubliee clip over the shoulder like a piston ring compressor once inside the housing the bush will slowly slide into place, using this method it took me about 3/4 of an hour per bush total time 6 hours and that was at home on the drive. Hope this helps before I forget use the correct bolts to refit as the are high tensile bolts! don't forget there is quite a lot of work to remove the brake assembly bearing carrier etc so this can add quite a bit of time depending on how easy the bolts are to removed I needed quite a bit of heat to free the 4 bearing carrier bolts also the rear Castle Nut can be a B**** to remove! I had to split both my nuts! as they would not budge that took a bit of time also so 10 hours for the complete job is a rough ball park figure but it could take longer depending on the state of the fixings I replaced t he brake back plates also as my plates were almost gone remember I'm a drive way engineer not a professional car mechanic