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VW T3 Trailing arm repair

We recently had a van in for a service, usual thing, customer wanted loads of unimportant jobs doing but had neglected the important jobs.

Once the van was here it was decided we best check the van over and get a list of faults, one of which was the trailing arm spring perches had dropped off.

Anyway, we couldn’t let the customer out of the workshop with a van like this as any speed bump or pot hole could see a loud “twang” and the rear springs dancing around in the road!

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Here you see that the raised section has completely corroded away and was just rattling around inside the spring.
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Plucked out for you to see!
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Here you can see the other side is not much better, hanging on like a 6 year old child’s front tooth!
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The spring perch is only held on with a few spot welds, we just usually chisel them off, it doesn’t take much. As you can see in the middle there was a small corroded hole in the centre. Hole obviously welded up and ground flat.
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Then, we treated the area with a rust killing solution, etch primed, primed and then painted black.
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We also painted the underside of the trailing arm repair section, let it dry and then offered the repair up to the arm using some M6 set screws through the holes in the plate to get it in the correct position. After this we use a wire brush in the drill to remove the paint through the hole ready for welding.
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After welding the welds are again ground flat and the panel etch primed, primed and painted. Once dry we then underseal on top and then refit.