Semi-catastrophic rear axle / shock failure

[hebdenwill]

I set off on Saturday, hearing a bit of light tapping under the car, thinking it was maybe a bush wearing out or something. Accompanied by vibration over bumps and a very bad vibration at exactly 62mph, I knew something was up, thinking maybe wheels off balance? Nearing my destination of Hertford, I went over a speed bump at normal slow speed, and heard a horrible banging grinding sound. When I stopped, the sight below is what I saw - the shock mount had come clean off taking with it a chunk of the spring cup. the car passed an MOT with no advisories just last week...

 

I'm weighing up whether or not to splash out the money on a new axle, or plump for a used one for about half the price (but I don't want to end up with another rusted, worn out one) but whichever way I go I'm expecting a hefty bill, I guess I'll need new shocks and maybe springs and maybe brake plates as well as the axle, plus labour etc etc.

 

has this happened to anyone else?? It seems a pretty bad failure for a 2009 car (it's a 1.9 estate)

 

I drive it carefully and don't slam into bumps, of course it suffers the usual amount of bad potholes as any car does on British roads....

[Murdockman]

Wow not seen this before really looks like a metal fail, anyway a used axle is fine just check or replace main bushes before fitting, and check brake lines etc watch out for damaging the ABS sensrs you will have to replace them if not careful, perhaps have a closer look at the parts that have failed on yours, changing the beam is a bit of a pain but if the car is good it's worth the struggle, have had to change beams on some cars due to stub axle damage from worn bearings so this seems worth the effot

[J.R.]

I would make a complaint to Vosa, its a long progressing crack(s) witnessed by the fractured edges being rusted and should have been visible to the tester, also if you enlarge (if you have eyes like mine) the image of the detached shock absorber you can see that the U bracket for the lower securing bolt is so corroded that it has lost most of the metal around the fixing, you should not be able to see the rubber bush from that angle.

[J.R.]

Another vehicle with rubber band tyres.

[Breezy_Pete]

Screw it back on with some self-tappers, make sure they're not stainless so they rust and blend in to be invisible before next MOT.

HTH. 😁

[hebdenwill]

3 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Another vehicle with rubber band tyres.

I know 🙄 thanks to the previous owner. i've never had enough brass together at once to get a full set of smaller wheels and thus fatter tyres. I assume they won't have helped the amount of shock being transferred onto the suspension

[KeithCheetham]

Given the amount of work involved in sourcing a good replacement and stripping what is there already to swap out, with the chance of finding fasteners that will not undo or shear, brake line removal with chance of shearing, I would be doing a thorough inspection of the current beam and, subject to condition, would be either welding back/bracing myself or finding someone competent to carry out the repair and doing a thorough de-rust, treatment (personally use Vactan as a rust converter/primer) and painting. That damper and spring could also do with a rust treatment but at least the damper must be good - shot dampers have no resistance so would not put a large shear force on that bracket.

[fabia88]

Judging by the corrosion around the spring cup and the stub axle mounting, is it possible that the area in general I specified is structurally compromised? maybe a more experienced member could comment as to whether that could be the case. My concern would be that the corrosion is what weakened the area, which caused it to crack and inevitably fail, in which case who knows what could go next.

[sepulchrave]

10 hours ago, fabia88 said:

Judging by the corrosion around the spring cup and the stub axle mounting, is it possible that the area in general I specified is structurally compromised? maybe a more experienced member could comment as to whether that could be the case. My concern would be that the corrosion is what weakened the area, which caused it to crack and inevitably fail, in which case who knows what could go next.

 

It is heavily corroded under there which is going to make it tricky to weld so there is an argument for simply swapping the entire beam axle for a better one off a scrap car, the beam itself is easy to remove and refit.

[hebdenwill]

I'm already looking into sourcing a replacement axle, I'm torn between a new one at £260 or a used one at £180, I'm very tight for cash at the moment so am leaning towards used, not sure if the car is worth a new one. Things like this always seem to happen at the wrong time 😕 

[Breezy_Pete]

REAR AXLE SKODA FABIA MK2 FL Typ 5J 2007 TO 2014 SE 12V 5DR HATCH AXLE ASSEMBLY | eBay ?

 

Would need to be sure it's a definite match, not sure 100% myself.

 

Edited 21 March, 2023 by Breezy_Pete

[fabia88]

If you want a new axle for a reasonable price, it may be worth checking these guys Skoda Fabia (6Y) 99-07 / (5J) 07-14 new rear axle complete with bushes (imaxle.co.uk)

[hebdenwill]

Yeah, that's a better price point, but I've seen some that do match and have pictures. And yes IMaxle aren't unreasonable at all, but I'm still weighing up what to do

[J.R.]

I would weld it because I am tight and my time has no value.

 

However the whole beam is very corroded and the eaten away lug is very concerning, at the very least that bracket will need refabrication, that and the necessary reinforcing gussets for the crack repairs make it uneconomical paying someone for a welded repair.

 

My big concern is that it is a torsion beam axle and as such will already be considerably weakened, welding will create additional stresses, the next crack which has probably already started will end up being a catastrophic failure.

 

For that reason alone I would definitely not weld it were the car to be involved in a fatal accident caused by failure of the beam then my actions would be seen as criminal negligence.

 

I bet if it was shotblasted and dye penetrant crack tested you would get a real shock.

[sepulchrave]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

...I would definitely not weld it were the car to be involved in a fatal accident caused by failure of the beam then my actions would be seen as criminal negligence.

 

I bet if it was shotblasted and dye penetrant crack tested you would get a real shock.

 

Alright, calm down, if you were going to do anything stupid with potential legal consequences you probably shouldn't say so in a public forum!

 

Given that you'd have to remove the axle for welding and fab on a bench you might as well just replace the whole thing.

[J.R.]

I'm perfectly calm thanks, you have quoted only part of my post, I started by saying that I would weld it but.....................

 

and I also agreed it would be uneconomical to repair.

[sepulchrave]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

I'm perfectly calm thanks, you have quoted only part of my post, I started by saying that I would weld it but.....................

 

and I also agreed it would be uneconomical to repair.

 

Relax, I'm just pokin' ya...

[J.R.]

Dammit it worked!

[DieselMonte]

Mk4 golfs which use a similar beam are starting to suffer from the beams snapping now too.

As these cars are getting older it makes sense the same issues will be cropping up on these.

Fwiw you could definitely find a complete beam cheaper off someone breaking one privately. Use the money saved to put new bushes in it and give it some Rust treatment and paint.

I wouldn't bother welding that and just replace.

 

You should be able to use one from upto a 2014 fabia and any of the sister cars. 

[UrbanPanzer]

On 20/03/2023 at 10:35, J.R. said:

I would make a complaint to Vosa, its a long progressing crack(s) witnessed by the fractured edges being rusted and should have been visible to the tester, also if you enlarge (if you have eyes like mine) the image of the detached shock absorber you can see that the U bracket for the lower securing bolt is so corroded that it has lost most of the metal around the fixing, you should not be able to see the rubber bush from that angle.

 

Don't know what a complaint will actually achieve for the OP, but I would maybe suggest a different MOT garage in future.

 

but I do agree it really should not have passed the MOT looking at the lower shock mount............makes you wonder if anyone even looked underneath.

 

It also highlights the issue of actually assessing corrosion on an MOT, very subjective and down to the individual at the time (if he actually looks). The tester never knows the structural stress a component is under, therefore cannot be fully confident either way on how affected the componentt may be by corrosion thats visibile unless it's actually holed / cracked.

[J.R.]

I agree but those cracks were long established (fractured edges rusted) & the tongue of metal was probably bent outwards at the time of the test.

 

Even if the metal was still in place & the cracks less visible he could not have failed to notice the missing material around the bolt lug, that alone should have been a failure and you would naturally scrutinise the area around it very carefully.

 

It should have failed and been marked as dangerous, do not drive to cover his backside & the customer advised they could drive it home if they wanted but slowly and to be very carefull.

[Jocko]

I would go back to the garage that did the MOT and ask if they could do anything to help me out saying I didn't want to contact VOSA if I didn't have to.

[Crasher]

That is actually tantamount to blackmail, they didn’t cause the failure so what you are saying is “fix it for free or I will shop you”, they missed it so should be reported anyway as it is unforgivable but not blackmailed.

[Crasher]

@FREEDOM I have never seen that, nasty

Edited 26 March, 2023 by Crasher

[sepulchrave]

Wow, this thread has gotten pretty dark pretty quick, the breakage is nobodies fault, just chuck another axle beam on it and carry on, old cars rust, it happens.