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Advice on welding please

Adrianlle

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Oct 4, 2020
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great_britain
Has a set of oem shocks fitted all round today with new drop links and arb bushes. Rides and corners v differently now! HOWEVER my local mechanic found some v nasty rot at another rear mount underneath. See photo below. The chassis bracket in question has rusted right through and cannot support the Arm and needs replacement. Before I start looking for a welder can anyone help me identify whether I can get an off the shelf replacement piece to be welded on or will I have to have one fabricated? Also what is the arm that connects to it called as that will need replacing too ?
So much for a one careful owner /full Toyota history truck that I’ve only had a few months.! Rest of underside looks in reasonable nick but Previous owner must have known about this as the bolt and nut is missing ! Help please.
 

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I call it an axle turret and a good welder will fabricate and repair it better than original even if you could find new ones to weld on though i don't think you can .
 
Thanks for this. I will go in search of a good welder then in my bit of Somerset. Does the axle have to be dropped or can it be done in situ? Am I right in thinking that the arm that connects to it is a TraIling Arm?
 
That's the upper control arm mount. It's there to stop rotation of the axle. Unfortunately very common to see terminal rust here. All depends on access and if there is a ramp available etc. It's not a difficult thing to fabricate but getting in there to weld it can be a pain. Not easy looking at that picture, but I'd suggest getting a new control arm too. It looks pretty thin
 
Thanks. Will report back once I’ve had this seen to. Wondering also whether a slight skittishness in the rear ride might be attributable to this and the other Control arms ? Do folk replace them with oem are there good aftermarket ones out there?
 
If the rear axle isn't sitting square "skittish" is a good way to describe how the truck will feel at high speed . And yeah axle turret was wrong but i glanced at the pic thought "typical" then got distracted .
 
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Never seen or heard of an aftermarket one. Usually get them from a breaker. Or if you've access to a machine shop, just make them up. If you're going to have it fixed, the fabricator could easily reinforce the tie bar with some split tube or something. No need to go nuts, but the last thing you want is to have to go back under to fix it again.
 
As Chris has already said its access that’s the issue, fabricating a new bracket is easy enough so providing there’s enough room to get in and cut off the old one then clean up before welding on the replacement it’s a straightforward repair.
If your own mechanic can’t recommend anyone it might be worth asking a 4x4 specialist, they may well be able to recommend someone if they don’t take on this type of work themselves
Good luck!
 
Just make sure you buy the upper one though, eh. I might have used them myself in the past. Don't recall anything bad.
 
As ever thanks for all the help. Wandered over to a nearby welding specialist recommended by some land rover enthusiasts. Seemed v au fait with cruiser rot issues and put it on a ramp and gave it good poke around with screwdriver and hammer. Pronounced pretty good but as well as the useless mount, 2 other control arm mounts looked suspect. They felt they might be able to fabricare and weld the useless mount in situ but that a proper job would be to drop the axle , fabricate new brackets and deal with all the suspect mounts and anything else down there. They reckon 2 days work to be on the safe side. £40 p hr Bit more than I was bargaining for but the sensible thing to do as the rest underneath in good nick. So will proceed in a few weeks time. Will replace both upper arms while I am about it.Will look at site above as Roughtrax want c.£90 each. for a genuine arm. On the penny/pound principle, would it also be sensible to replace the bushes on the lower arms while it’s all apart down there? And the Panhard rod bushes? If so where do folk recommend for good value bushes? Is a press needed to fit them? Learning a lot in a short time here! Thanks
 
Also meant to ask if upper trailing arms same for coil and air sprung 120s? Roughtrax site suggests that is so and bracket on arm for height sensor is just ignored when fitted to coil sprung 120 ? Is that right? I ask coz some listings for control arms say only for air sprung suspension.
 
Sounds like you’ve found someone to take it on who knows what they’re doing! As for the bushes I sold my 120 with 100k on it and the bushes were all original and had plenty of life left in them (although it hadn’t done any serious off-roading)
If the bushes in the lower arms and panhard rod are ok I’d be tempted to leave as is and spend on some anti corrosion treatment, especially as you reckon the rest of the underside is still ok. As anyone on here will tell you it’s far better to catch it early, its far easier and the less time you have to spend under there the better!!
 
Well getting the old bushes out is bit of a trial frankly. You're supposed to press them out ha ha ha ha. Nah, just cut them out don't mess around. That's if they need replacing of course as Geoff said. Thing is they will have been working a bit harder due to the busted one. Swapping the bushes is really a separate task here. It's not really any easier doing it at this stage or in a few weeks time. Two bolts, knock, bang and the arm is off. Dropping the axle if you have all the right gear and knowledge is pretty simple. Doing it on your own on the drive - not so much. So it's good you've found these guys really.
 
Adrianlle where abouts are you in this county of Somerset iam in Shepton Mallet and might be able to help you for some things with your truck
 
SteveJB, Thats v kind of you. I’m just down the road in Wells. What Id really appreciate is if you could travel a short distance in the truck and I in yours to satisfy myself that the rear suspension is as compliant as I think it should be. Could you oblige?
 
Just sharing my woes on this because I'm generally more advanced than most in 120 rot! And destroying bushes, snapping control arms, etc.

Those mounts onto the round cross member were the first thing to rot on mine. I fabbed new mounts and welded them on. I think one rotted the year before the other. I definitely didn't take the axle off to do it, I was laying on my back on a a scrap of carpet on grass. Ham fisted approach here : More rust - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

I think maybe a year later the bracket holding the panhard rod to the axle snapped off. You feel that much more than the top control arms becoming detached!

And then the spring mounts started to go on the axle, and on the chassis.
And then the axle turrets were getting holey.

So rather than keep patching the axle case I got a new one from Milners for about £500, and had it fitted. Which was suprisingly quick. I think 3-4 hours labour.

And then the nice hefty brackets I welded to the round cross member ripped off the cross member. Not my welding, surprisingly. But the cross member itself. Local fabrication place made me a new cross member.

Went through the MOT last week and only failed on a hole in the exhaust!

I drive on axle twisting off road in lots of mud and water every day.

If you're going to keep the truck for a few years and the axle is starting to rot, and it's coming off anyway, I would at least consider a new casing. Although having just looked they're £100+ more than when I got mine about 18 months ago. I would ask your welder to have a good look at the mounts where the coil springs sit on the chassis, because they are much, much easier to do with the axle off. You can buy the mounts from Toyota for about £80 a side.
 
That’s all v helpful though the problem is where to stop once you start down this road! I will have some other welders have a look at it just to make some comparisons but my inclination is to go over and have a good look with the welders once the axle is dropped so that we can take a view on whatever else looks suspect, such as the spring mounts etc. Having only had old Mercs as a hobby in the past , the quality of Mr Toyo’s steel comes as a bit of a surprise !
 
Thing is it will fix stronger than it ever was and with some rust prevention the repair will last twice as long as the original did .
 
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