Rusting trailing arm
 

I discovered a serious slit/hole at the bottom of my rear left trailing arm. I have attached some pictures to get anyone and everyone's opinion on what my options are. I already looked up the price of a new one and it's $1785. Any help would be appreciated. Each pic is about 46KB and the limit is 63, so I think this one pic says it all.

which car? ,,, I've sold used trailing arms,,, W126

used should be fine,

Why not cut out the rust and weld a piece of steel over the hole?

good used ones can be bought for from 75 to 200ea.

the patch idea is good in theory but that arm is a sealed unit. for it to rust out like that means there must be a hole somewhere else you cannot see, imho. the metal is surprisingly thin too, so a weld would be tricky to do.

otoh if the arm is not sagging it may be fine for a good while. but i think i would find a good used arm and have it on hand for when it is needed. i have paid about 200 labor, i thin,k to get them done at my indie.

good luck

tom w

Sorry, it's my 83 300td I am talking about. The "slit" is followwing the curve of the rear spring, which naturally is putting pressure on it. I suppose what didn't help was I recntly made 3 different trips to Home Depot, loading up with about 650 lbs of retaining wall block. Now that I have seen this rust problem, that will be the last time I do that Fortunately we have another TD to do any heavy hualing. Is replacing this something one can do in driveway/garage? I wold have to get with my indie and see if they would install a used part like this.