My 1979 New Yorker’s leaf spring mount bracket broke off the frame as I was driving. I was at a red light and as I began moving I hear a snap and the rear wheel sinks. I found the bracket on the street broken off from the frame and had it towed to a near by parking lot. How much do you think it would cost to get it welded on to the frame? I don’t know that much about cars so excuse any mistakes I made.
It depends on why it broke off.
If it broke off because of rust, and requires new metal to replace the rust, it’ll cost more.
If it broke because the factory weld failed, (seen it) then just clean up the surfaces and weld the bracket back on.
Tester
It broke off because of rust. What price range do you think it would cost with the average mechanic?
The front mount for the leaf spring is bolted to the unibody structure, the rear of the leaf spring is connected to a shackle type bracket. The cause of leaf spring detachment is usually rust damage to the unibody.
For the leaf spring bracket to become detached from both the body and leaf spring at the same time seems odd, if you could post pictures of the damage and bracket would be helpful.
Without seeing how much rust?
It’s anybody’s guess.
Tester
Right now I don’t have access to the car as it broke down half an hour away from my home and I forgot to take a photo. I would describe the level of rust as a lot. I live in Michigan so you can imagine it’s very rusty.
Very rusty cars are dangerous to drive because the rust leads to structural failure. I would get a rise to where it is to get personal effects and call a junkyard to come get it.
The car itself does not appear to be rusty. It was rust proofed in 1983 and later in 1998 and the body is rust free. I am not sure how much of the frame has been rusted or if it’s just the parts where the rust proofing was not applied.
Rustproofing is where some kind coating was applied to body interior cavities like quarter panels, doors, rocker panels, etc…
This is what Ziebart and Rust Jones services did.
But it’s very hard to rustproof a frame.
Tester
Oh, okay. No wonder the body is in great condition. I really appreciate you guys helping me with this as I have very limited knowledge in cars.
This car doesn’t have a frame except for a subframe up front. It is unibody construction.
In the post prior to mine, you described the cae as “very rusty”. Thence my comment.
40 year old Michigan car. I am going to guess the cost to repair it is about $10,000 - the price of a newer car.
Rust “proofed” or not, if this car isn’t completely overcome with rust underneath, I would truly be amazed.
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