Look at this worn, egged, oversized Radius Rod hole

[damagd]

Not sure how this happened. None of my searches came up with a hole that big. Can I get away with welding a plate on only one side? What diameter is the hole supposed to be? How important is hole location?

[MarkWard]

Just went through this with an owners van. I have some copper plates with magnets. They came from Eastwood. I stuck it over the hole and mig welded the hole back up. I used a metal burr and grinding disk to reshape it. Came out nice. Pictures are on my phone. The thickness is specific to the replacement bushings.
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[randolph57]

I ave recently rebuilt both mounts on my westy which had suffered corrosion to the 3 plates that make up the mount oh passenger side and ovality to drivers side mount caused by the sawing action of the radius rod due to acceleration/braking forces.

if you are adept at fabrication and welding the job is ok to do if you dont mind lying on you back but i found a air driven cut off tool and die grinder with rotary burr invaluable .
you will need some 3mm plate steel and i cut inner and outer plates away first to deal with the 'sandwich filler' first then made a larger plate for the outer layers-all spot welded to each other and then finally welded around edges on the rear plate to stop corrosion getting behind the new plate layers.
I had a new OEM Mount to study and get hole position from so i had a advantage compared to you.

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[randolph57]

on the drivers side you can see the ovality but instead of just welding /grinding back to a hole i did same repair as corrosion had got under the folded plates again.

[MarkWard]

Nice repairs. How many hours total? Looks like about 4 a side.
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[randolph57]

so 2 months later and no issues Tracking wheel alignment all good and seeing as i replaced all track rod ends and wishbone bushes with powerflex bushes it rides beautifully and no more squeaking

[randolph57]

[MarkWard]

The top of the original hole should get you close to the stock location. If you do go forward with cutting and welding in a new plate, you can make a template from a folder and mark the top of the hole. Then use your template to transfer the hole to your welded in repair.

I’m going to guess, you are replacing bushings and found this and aren’t really equipped for a welded repair? If not, probably best to put it back together and take it to a shop that can do this type of repair. Since it locates the front suspension, it needs to be a solid repair. No dribble welds.
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[dabaron]

i feel so lucky right now, the driver's side on mine was slightly oval shaped. i removed the radius rods first when doing my suspension overhaul just in case i needed to go get them welded back up.

rust never sleeps
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1991 Vanagon GL Camper
i had no idea i wanted to be a mechanic
"burnin oil and cookin coils" -- Destructo

BiWerks Design, LLC

[MarkWard]

[mellowslow]

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/body/body-an...-left.html
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'87 WBWE FAS Gen V

[damagd]

Thanks for that link mellow. Didn't know that was a possibility. But I figure that it's time to up my welding game and will spend the weekend practicing before attempting the repair. Thanks for the help guys!

[MarkWard]

The brickwerk panel might be overkill when you add shipping. A member above showed how to repair it with some scrap plate. I’d go that route.
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[Vanagon Nut]

[WillRB]

Tackling some oval radius rod holes. Passenger side worse than Driver side. Planning to weld in some metal. Had a question about how the Powerflex metal cup should sit for sizing my hole. Should it be fairly snug in there?

Thanks!

-Will