Rusted Front Leaf Spring Hangers

[electric_nan]

My transit motorhome has been in the garage getting its underbody sealed and asked the mechanic while he's underneath to check the general condition of thing (just bought it and it's 30 years old). He says its in very good condition apart from the front leaf spring hangers, they're pretty rusty and need replacing. He's pointed me towards these https://www.centralpanels.co.uk/product ... h-rh-352u/ as the genuine ford ones are quite a bit more, but he's quoting near a grand for installing them. Sounds like a lot but what do I know...Does that sound like a fair price or should I order the parts and try somewhere else?

Thanks

[vanfox]

From past experience it sounds like he don't want your camper blocking his workspace and stopping him doing quick fix smaller jobs so he's quoting a grand to cover the lost work. That's the difference between mechanics who can weld and proper bodyshops.
Get the bits from Central panels and get a decent welder/bodyshop to do the job.
Local Oik looked at my van and quoted me £600 to fit new steps, inner and outer wing etc, when he'd done one side demanded another £600 to do the other, "The van is blocking my workspace etc" I said, "Just put it back together, I'll do the rest myself, ha!"

[jamie182]

i have installed front hangers, the problem comes when the box section under the hanger is rotten. then the front cross member where the hanger and the box section is spot welded onto is also rotten and has to be rebuilt and being a structural component needs to be in the correct place it can't be " about right!"
when i take welding jobs on, i always give a estimate. Never a definite price cause you really never know how much is rotten until you get into it.

[electric_nan]

I picked up the van yesterday and he’s sealed up to the hangers where they have clearly rotten through. He said it’ll about £340 each side plus vat, depending on the condition of underneath, and will finish off the waxoyl as well. Maybe not so bad after all.

I’ve asked around some welders/body specialists anyway, though he is a vintage car restoration mechanic it wouldn’t hurt trying to find someone more local (over an hour away).

Shame. He said otherwise it’s in great condition for its age and can tell the previous owners have invested a lot of money into it - new springs, exhaust, suspension. Spending majority of its life in Italy has definitely helped with the rust.

[electric_nan]

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[jamie182]

They don't look to bad at all.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=196004&c=1
That's my mk4 looks much much worse!

[electric_nan]

They don't look to bad at all.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=196004&c=1
That's my mk4 looks much much worse!

Would rather nip it in the bud while work is being done in the area though!

[twin wheel camper]

They don't look to bad at all.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=196004&c=1
That's my mk4 looks much much worse!

They most definitely need sorted or they’ll rip clean out if they hit a pot hole or similar, I wouldn’t be driving that until it’s fixed.
That’s dangerous in my opinion

[Chug]

Yeah if you nip it in the bud now it should be only the hangers you need, leave it too long and you'll need an expensive rebuild like Jamie's.

[Morst]

Sigh... Welcome to the club of Transit MK3 motorhomes with rotten front leaf spring hangers... I feel ya, mate! My right hand side hanger (passenger side here in sweden) looked just about as rotten as yours and is soon going to be replaced. It's actually already been butchered away and for the moment I'm welding up the front crossmember and the framrail where the old hanger used to sit. Yep, got some rust here too!

I'm doing all the work by myself simply because I can't afford to have a shop to do the metalwork and hanger replacement for me. I got the hangers from central panels (actually bought two of them, just i case my motorhome lives long enough to need replacement of the hanger on the left side as well) and so far it seems like they are going to fit. I had a whole lot of other welding and work that needed to be done on my old girl too which would have been WAY out of my economical possibilities.

[MinorMatt]

That doesn't look bad at all tbh.

Its the sort of thing im looking to do in my new workshop when its up and running...

[gotgcoalman]

I've had worse and welded my way to another year of motoring

[jamie182]

They don't look to bad at all.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=196004&c=1
That's my mk4 looks much much worse!

They most definitely need sorted or they’ll rip clean out if they hit a pot hole or similar, I wouldn’t be driving that until it’s fixed.
That’s dangerous in my opinion

Yeh completely agree. it's not as bad on a IFS transit cause the majority of the force is spread into the sub frame. (Still not ideal) But when that mount has a leaf spring bolted to it takes massive loads.