General Panda 100hp Rear Axle Woes

[TheGreenMachine]

Well the time had come where I thought it was time to clean up and repaint the rear axle/beam on my Panda 100hp. I was fairly sure that apart from being a bit scabby that the axle was fairly solid. The spring pans are pretty solid. I used wire cup brush on a grinder, which works exceptionally well, maybe a bit too well. The welds on the bottom of the V -shaped centre section where they join the outer radius arm sections vanished in an instant and on the passenger side a crack appeared all the way around and over the top of the outer arm

If you are checking your rear axle for rust I would suggest not to just look at the spring pan area but every weld, and check them with a good couple of whacks with a hammer!

Luckily I have managed to source a complete replacement rear axle from Spain which looks in absolutely fantastic condition.

 

[irc]

Lucky to catch it when you did. No sign of wheel out of line or tilted in?
Up until a couple of months ago I had never seen a Panda beam fail like that. Then the wife's Sporting started making a grating noise and... the drivers side rear wheel was grinding away the fuel filler pipe.
Although the wheel was totally upright when standing still or jacked up - it tilted when moving, especially when turning left.
Being a diesel (and with only 1/2 a tank of fuel) the damage wasn't huge - new pipe, new beam, all good.
If it had been a petrol Panda it would have trashed the evap canister too, and I think they are made out of unobtanium.
I've been checking complete rear beams much more closely since then, instead of just the spring pans, and I have found another with a hole in the radius arm section weld - that's booked in for a new beam next month.

 

[TheGreenMachine]

Lucky to catch it when you did. No sign of wheel out of line or tilted in?
Up until a couple of months ago I had never seen a Panda beam fail like that. Then the wife's Sporting started making a grating noise and... the drivers side rear wheel was grinding away the fuel filler pipe.
Although the wheel was totally upright when standing still or jacked up - it tilted when moving, especially when turning left.
Being a diesel (and with only 1/2 a tank of fuel) the damage wasn't huge - new pipe, new beam, all good.
If it had been a petrol Panda it would have trashed the evap canister too, and I think they are made out of unobtanium.
I've been checking complete rear beams much more closely since then, instead of just the spring pans, and I have found another with a hole in the radius arm section weld - that's booked in for a new beam next month.

The car has had too much negative camber since I’ve had it. It had been in an unrecorded accident before I’d bought it, new front suspension parts on the near side front, badly repaired front bumper and doors so I assumed the excessive negative camber in the rear was a bent stub axle or mounting flange on the axle, but it looks like it’s been cracked like that or for the last 3 and a half years and may have contributed to the excessive rust in that spot.
Now I know about it you just know it’ll completely fail before the new axle arrives. I have to use the Panda as I sold my second car (V8 Audi S4) a few weeks ago and I have no other transport to work

 

[porta]

In ‘my youth’ well, if I was still in the trade, I’d have thought nothing of making up a jig and getting those welding up. I’ve seen some great masters in my time that would have made them look new

 

[rmjbn1]

The car has had too much negative camber since I’ve had it. It had been I assumed the excessive negative camber in the rear was a bent stub axle or mounting flange on the axle, but it looks like it’s been cracked like that or for the last 3 and a half years and may have contributed to the excessive rust in that spot.

Interesting. My bog standard drum brake axle also had too much negative camber when we got the car in 2018.

It also had too much toe-in on one side.

So I assumed it was just badly made :/ Or had maybe been bent in use. So I've done my best to correct it with shims on the rear hub mounts.

Maybe time to drop the axle again and look carefully for cracks. Thanks for the pics @TheGreenMachine

 

[KungFooPanda]

 

[koalar]

View attachment 443991

Good spot @KungFooPanda

First time I have seen a new 100HP axle photo matches the description

The ABS sensor location is at the top

 

[KungFooPanda]

No worries mate. These only became available around a month ago. Unfortunately - no group buys so far. Made with thicker steel over the original axle...