Busted Trailing Arm

Suspension related stuff goes in here.
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launieg
Posts: 454
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:17 pm
Your car is a: 1981 spider 2000
Location: Duncan, BC, Canada

Busted Trailing Arm

Post by launieg »

Well, I knew it would happen someday. The trailing arm had been bent for three years, likely from jacking on it (not me).

But I did drive on it for three seasons. So it snapped while taking a corner hard. Had to nurse the spider home about 50 miles, on three arms. Lesson number one: not a jacking point, and lesson number two: change it immediately.

All is back in order now and of course it is nice to have equal length arms for the first time :D

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Launie
'81 Spider Rolling Restoration
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manoa matt
Posts: 3442
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:28 pm
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider 1800
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Re: Busted Trailing Arm

Post by manoa matt »

Looking at that area of rust on the edge of the pipe, indicates there was a crack there for some time. Scary that it broke while in a turn.
narfire
Posts: 3959
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:14 am
Your car is a: 1980 124 spider
Location: Naramata B.C.

Re: Busted Trailing Arm

Post by narfire »

Launie,you wild man :D That gives me a good reason to get my car up on a hoist to have a good look around. I've ordered a few parts so once they are here I'll be spending a day on the car.
Glad you have a spare. Janyce and I will be on the rock(Chemainus) Sept 3rd to the 11th or so. I would have brought one down but sounds like you're good to go.
Looking forward to catching up with you again.
Chris
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
2017 Golf R ( APR Stg. 1)
2018 F350 crew long box
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launieg
Posts: 454
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:17 pm
Your car is a: 1981 spider 2000
Location: Duncan, BC, Canada

Re: Busted Trailing Arm

Post by launieg »

Chris, it will be great to see you. I'll have to think about other parts I might need from you :lol: If you have a busted gearbox, I could use another one of those lower cups from the shifter, cause I took mine off a great box that I'd like to keep intact. Not an urgent need by any measure though.

By the way, the one that came off the parts car had the different (wide rubber) bushings. Puzzled me a bit about how to fit them into the slots, and then I greased the rubber a bit and used a shop jack to pop them into place. Took no time at all. Didn't even lift the spider off the ground!

Matt, yeah I was stupid to drive around with that bent rod. Now I feel I'd better do an overall safety check.
Launie
'81 Spider Rolling Restoration
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