Bloody trunnion arm bushings...

["Michael Liu" <mliu@domain.elided>]

Hello all,

As you can see from my subject line, I'm fairly frustrated at this point.
I'm trying to remove the bushings off a trunnion arm from a '90 Alfa Spider.
The trunnion arm is also referred to as the reaction triangle and mounts
between the chassis and the differential. The bushings that are giving me
trouble are the ones at the chassis-mount positions. They are pressed into
(what appears to be) cast iron housings and then pressed on to the arm
spindles.

Of course, there is a special Alfa tool for removing these little buggers. I
haven't seen the tool and it's not detailed in my factory service manual,
but I know it exists (sorry, I don't have the tool number). It must be
designed to engage the notches in the bushing sleeves (two notches on the
inner sleeve to press it off the trunnion arm spindle; two notches on the
outer sleeve to press it out of the housing). Does anyone in the SF Bay Area
have access to this tool? If so, I'd love to borrow/rent it. The sleeves are
in very tight (assisted by a little rust) and so far, I have been
unsuccessful at coming up with an improvisation. I'd hate to have to resort
to cutting the dang bushings out as that will be a nightmare: the rubber is
very hard, the sleeves are quite thick, and working inside the small housing
will prove difficult, I'm sure.

Thanks in advance for any assistance,

Michael Liu
San Francisco, CA
'90 Alfa Spider Veloce
'69 FIAT 124 Spider

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