Mk6-7 FWD rear spring hangers

[RayTrans]

Hi dieselhead123 thanks a million for you help & advice. I will send you an e-mail to get a cost for the parts & postage, cheers

[dieselhead123]

Best to call on 07754 806004 as I am out and about this week.

Thanks, TIM

[Jucifer]

So glad I found this thread have got a Mk6 SWB that needs a good bit of welding (think I've seen a sieve with less holes) and it's looking like some parts are gonna be best getting cut out and replaced

[Tosh52]

So glad I found this thread have got a Mk6 SWB that needs a good bit of welding (think I've seen a sieve with less holes) and it's looking like some parts are gonna be best getting cut out and replaced

Good luck I hope you’ve got a nice warm workshop to do it in! Mine failed it’s mot but I’m f####d if I’m going to lay under it on my drive in this weather “I’m a wimp”

But I have made up some repair sections to get on with when it’s warmer.

[James1997]

Has anyone got the contact details for the guy that makes the box sections for the transit? Have tried to call him but no luck was wondering if he had another number?

[dieselhead123]

So glad I found this thread have got a Mk6 SWB that needs a good bit of welding (think I've seen a sieve with less holes) and it's looking like some parts are gonna be best getting cut out and replaced

Please let us know when the time comes, happy to advise on what is needed to help save another van.

We are trying to take pictures of parts we fit in our own workshops so as to post up a series of fitting tips to help owners, so keep an eye on this thread.

TIM

[dieselhead123]

Has anyone got the contact details for the guy that makes the box sections for the transit? Have tried to call him but no luck was wondering if he had another number?

Sorry we missed you James, give us a call in the workshop tomorrow, 07754 806004 and we will do our best to assist you.

TIM

[aidank1981]

this thread is a lifesaver! keep up the great work!

[dieselhead123]

this thread is a lifesaver! keep up the great work!

And also a 'Van Saver' no doubt.

TIM

[Tepeksi]

A newbie here is wondering is there any way to get these parts send to Finland?

[dieselhead123]

A few customers who have recently visited our workshop have asked about the procedures we use when producing our repair panels. Since the methods we use apply to part production in general, we thought some of you might benefit from seeing how we achieve our results. These methods and processes can be used to produce repair panels for your own vehicle and equally apply to the manufacture of 'one offs' and small production runs.

Recently, we added a further part to our range of repair components, the forward outrigger at the front end of the rear spring, used when the van is fitted with a side loading door. The part is marked in YELLOW in this picture;


We were able to remove a part from a scrap van to use as a pattern;

We removed the outrigger together with some of the surrounding panelwork, but if the only 'pattern' you have is the corroded part on you van then either carefully remove the part to be coppied or take the necessary measurements from the part before removing it. This is possibly the most important stage as any dimensional inaccuracies will be 'mirrored' in your new part.

We would normally take the measurements from the part and transfer them to a CAD drawing, we then email our drawings to a local company who produce the parts for us in the desired thickness material. This does mean that we have a permanent record of the part and the ability to easily produce the part again in the future, but those of you repairing your own vans might prefer to transfer the part measurements directly to the repair material.
Either way, you should end up with something like this;


If you are producing a part that features a number of different folds, you might wish to cut the part in card or even a sheet of paper before producing the metal part. This way you can fold up the paper template and check it's fit on the vehicle and determine the order in which the folds need to be applied to the material. We often print out our CAD drawings, using them to check the paper pattern against the original, this often saves time cutting your repair panel only to find you have a wrong dimension in the mix.

Once you have a satisfactory pattern, you are ready to start the metal shaping processes.

The first thing to do with our panel is apply the short bead starting at one edge;

We used our powered bead roller to produce this shaping but if you do not have access to one of these then a similar result can be achieved with a blunt metalworking chisel. Place the work piece on a bit of softwood, and hammer the chisel into the part, supporting the rear of the part with the softwood. You may wish to practice this process on a small piece of scrap material so as to refine your method before working on the actual part.

Next we need to apply the folds, again, a 'dry run' with the card/paper 'pattern' is useful, as depending on the folding facilities available to you, it may be necessary to apply the folds in a given order.

Here we are using a box/pan folder on our part;


Provided you have access to a decent sized metal working vice, I would recommend that any DIYer purchase at the least a vice mounted metal folder, under £100 on ebay and an invaluable tool for any Transit owner. A few short lengths of angle iron are also useful and can be clamped in your vice to assist with folding repair parts.

Here we see the 'almost' completed part alongside the original pattern;


A bit more on this later.

TIM

[dieselhead123]

Another little part we have managed to copy, any of you know where it goes?



Here is how we made a replacement.

Ford were kind enough to put two holes in this part, both 16mm across. Ford likely used these holes for the locating pegs in their press tooling, we will be doing the same.

You will notice that the area around the hole is slightly lower than the area around the slot so we will have to account for this in our tooling.

Initially we produced two 10mm mild steel plate that matched the internal dimensions of the part, here you see one of the 10mm plates;


Here is a picture of the plate on top of one of the Ford part, it nearly sits inside the flanges;

If you had a 'one off' you needed to produce for your own project then in most cases the tooling could be made from plywood scraps if the 'pressing' part of the operation was not required.

The part to be produced will be clamped between the two halves of the tool and formed around the edge by hitting with a hammer, but first we need to modify the press tool to provide the step in the panel. To do this we added small pieces of 1.5mm mild steel the the inner surfaces of the tool, the 1.5mm step matches the original part. These additional 1.5mm parts were plunge welded to the tool halves;



The welds were simply cleaned off with a flap wheel. The surface, while having some marks was adequate for this task, although manufacturers would likely smooth and polish the faces of their press tooling to a far greater standard.

Next we need to round off the edge of the tool that the part will be shaped over. This is necessary to match the original but also because forming the part over a right angle edge might result in the part being 'cut' between the tool and the hammer. This picture shows the radius we applied to the edge of what we will call the 'top' tool;

Since there are no 'right' and 'left' hand of these parts we only need to radius the 'top' tool.

Now the tooling and our 'part' can be assembled ready for pressing. Initially we wondered if sufficient force could be applied with just the two 16mm h/t bolts to produce the desired result, otherwise the tooling would need to be used in our workshop press.


But it did work with just the clamping force of the bolts, here you see the part still in the tooling, the red line shows the shape of the part;


Removed from the tooling and compared to the Ford part you can clearly see the tooling has worked;


Having satisfied ourselves that the pressing part of the operation worked we re-assembled the part and the tooling and prepared to start hammer forming the part. You can see it is starting to take shape;

We clamped the assembly between the jaws of the vice to provide additional support for the tooling.

During the hammer forming process it was necessary to remove the assembly from the vice and re-clamp it using the heads of the bolts to provide better access to the flange area, this is when we were able to see why it was so difficult to form the corners of the part. The excess material at the corners of the part was causing this problem, we know now to reduce the material at the corners of our 'blank' but about 1.5mm for the next time;


We trimmed off the excess material in the corners with a flap wheel using the tool as a guide;

and then completed the hammer forming.

Once forming was complete we dismantled the tooling and removed the part, compared to the Ford item it looks just fine;



I do hope that the information we have included here will help others produce parts for their own projects, these processes can be applied to small and large parts alike.

Remember, it all starts with a flat piece of metal, the resulting shape is only limited by your imagination.

TIM

[lew280]

Hi Tim, thanks for taking the time to do that last post showing how you formed the part, i found it really interesting and helpful (sad i know)
I will be in touch at some point no doubt if your still making the parts as although my mk6 aint bad it is still a mk6

[dieselhead123]

Had a few recent contacts asking if these parts were still available, others are being developed.

ALL the parts you see in this thread are still available, most are held in stock and available for immediate dispatch.

If you don't see, or are unsure of, what you need, drop me a message, use the hyperlink in our signature below or call us direct on 07754806004.

You are welcome to make suggestions as to other parts you would like to see in our range.

TIM

[yakob]

Sorry to be a pain in the arse but could you tell me what thickness steel is used in this section? I'm just doing a temporary fix on mine for the MOT but I'll have two of these off you eventually