How to fix my split trailing arm...or should I replace?

[Tx Firefighter]

It's not rigging them together. They were welded from the factory. Bridges and skyscrapers are welded. Pipelines and submarines are welded. There is nothing sketchy about a good weld.

Clamp the two halves together tightly, check it for straightness and have your neighbor do his thing. What possible justification is there for buying a new arm in this case ?

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

It's not rigging them together. They were welded from the factory. Bridges and skyscrapers are welded. Pipelines and submarines are welded. There is nothing sketchy about a good weld.

Clamp the two halves together tightly, check it for straightness and have your neighbor do his thing. What possible justification is there for buying a new arm in this case ?

If I were on a budget I would definitely do what TxFirefighter says. Welded together that thing will be stronger than it ever was. Aligning it shouldn't be too difficult.

[mcampbell]

Just welded a set this week. They were not split apart though. Tried to buy the ECE plates and he said with new arms out there the demand dropped off and they do not sell them anymore. I put the straps on a set for the blazer years ago and the entire assembly felt much stronger and better than stock.
A weld shop years ago was making me a plate to change the pinion angle on a lowered 85 suburban. The dude was an old 67-72 expert and said if i hadn't had trouble with cheap factory riveted trailing arms then I was still in the group that will have trouble some day. Sure enough when I pulled the Blazer arms and pounded on them to remove rust between the plates more rust came out than metal remained.
Your neighbor can clamp them together and with his experience tell you if they are straight. If straight then weld them up and buy some 2" wide and 3" wide strap same thickness as the arms to put a layer on the top and bottom. Done on a budget and as strong as about anything out there.
I would suggest you call ECE and buy another bushing set. It was under $20 and money well spent.

[Willy Prost]

Weld 'em. When your look like this, then replace them.

[JHarman69c10]

How the hell do you get the damn things apart. We picked up a nice pair of original with just surface rust. Want to Sandblast and powder coat them but the SOB's are fused together with oxidation.

[ryans69chevy]

Grind the pop rivets, punch them out and pry them apart. You could spray some lubrication between the two pieces and let it sit for awhile if they won't come apart. They might be rusted together...

[mike16]

replace it with a new set and run a bead of weld like is shown.