Re: Alfetta Rear Suspension Problem, Solved

[GLewis4457@xxxxxxx]

First I want to thank all of you who took the time to send me advice on the
stuckup rear suspension on my 79 Alfetta.  Yesterday I went back under and
found/solved the problem.  When I had a new pair of Boge shocks installed in
the rear of the Alfetta I took them to my (then) regular Alfa mechanic in
Houston.  He installed them and everything seemed to be fine.  When I went
under the car yesterday I found that the nut(s) on the top of the shock
piston, where it attached to the top of the shock tower, had backed off.  Wear
patterns indicate that the shock had been loose for some time (explains the
occassional "thunk" I had been hearing).  When I jacked the car up to do the
rear brakes the piston rod of the shock dropped below the shock tower and the
shock tipped sideways.  When I lowered the car the rod and shock wedged into a
nearby body cavity and kept the car from lowering fully.  The car body on the
drivers side rear was now suspended on the shock body.  I detached the lower
part of the shock and removed the shock completely.  Everything from the top
of the piston mounting was gone, bushings, nuts, washers, everything.  The
shock seemed to be in ok condition.  I called my buddy Ben Higgins in
Galveston and he, luckily, had a box of old shock parts and I could come down
and take my pick.  To make the rest of the story short I got the required
parts and reinstalled the shock properly, with lock nut.  Much better!  Now,
how did this come about.  I have to believe that the mechanic, considering the
difficulty of installing rear shocks on US Alfetta's, with the vertical fuel
tank that gets in the way, that he just did not put on the second locking nut
and eventually the single nut backed off and caused my problem.  If I were to
do this again I would look into making some access via the panel behind the
rear seat and/or temporarily removing the 4 bolts that hold in the fuel tank
and I might be able to tilt the tank rearward to allow improved access to the
top shock mounting hardware.

Thanks again to all who offered advice and encouragment and especially to Ben
who knows his Alfetta's!

Jerry in Houston

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End of alfa-digest V7 #398
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