Ideas Needed, 85 Vanagon Rear Suspension

Hi, I'm usually over at the pinball group but I'm having a major issue with hubby's vanagon (he is gone on temp duty) and I am hoping someone here has a workable solution for our vanagon. The rear coil sping is good but the "nub" that the coil spring fits around and that keeps it aligned in the trailing arm has rusted/broken off.

The rest of the trailing arm, axle is all great without rust, just the one part is bad, on both sides. The one coil actually "jumped out" of the trailing arm which made a horrid, scary noise. I immediately stopped and had it towed which was good because no other damage was done. The other side, the nub is gone but the coil didn't try to escape.

Bad news is that the nub is part of the trailing arm, not a separate piece. Cheapest price I have found for a trailing arm is $735. each not including labor. I imagine if I were to replace both sides the labor will run over a thousand for taking off and reassembling the whole rear end of the van. My mechanic says he is willing to try to weld a piece of metal in there if I can come up with something that is the same diameter/size as the nub.

I have searched all day for a solution and am running out of ideas. Anyone have suggestions for what could be welded in there? Or what else would work?

Or if someone has an alternative for the rear suspension that would work. Could the bottom of the spring be welded or is there a way to keep the spring in place? Any ideas are very appreciated! Thanks, Laura

Reply to
Retropins
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I've created coil spring perches by welding a section of steel pipe in the center. I'd use anywhere between a 1 and 4 inch section of pipe that just cleared the inner diameter of the coil. This was typically performed on custom suspension systems only though.

Reply to
Madesio

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