Alfetta Castor Bushings - Update (Long)

[TJCallahan@domain.elided]

We last saw our intrepid new owner (of a '77 Alfetta GT) up to his elbows in 
grease and dirt, making up new expletives so that the young children wouldn't 
understand (or so he imagined) and wondering to the AD how to actually get 
the castor arm *out* so as to be able to change the rear portion of each 
bushing, too.

Friendly, experienced, and helpful Digesti offered their suggestions that 
removing the shock and the upper suspension arm was almost certainly 
required, and really not that difficult. Let's watch now as our hero 
assimilates this new found knowledge and applies to the situation ...

Hey, the shock practically falls out, that part was pretty easy. While I'm 
here, I think I'll click the Koni's up a notch or two as they appear to be of 
original vintage and the car exhibits some rather disturbing "wag" during 
turns. That's done. Next comes supporting the lower arm (where's the floor 
jack?), a piece of cake, and then removing the upper ball joint from the 
steering knuckle. Oooo, that was easy, this may work out well after all!

The last part is the upper arm to body bolt ... There's the very prominent 
nut, but where's the bolt head hiding? Oh, there it is, through this very 
small hole that can only be reached by Rubberman. You've got to be kidding 
me, way the heck down in there? How?!?!?!

Fifteen combinations of sockets and extensions later I've found the correct 
combination and got it started coming out. Be careful now, don't pull it all 
the way out, just through the front body bushing and the arm bushing, leave 
it in the rear body bushing so that there's no struggle during installation 
... oh oh. You are, as the young children would say, Bantha Poodoo now!

Two evenings of frustration later -- trying to line up the bolt and hole with 
one hand and hold a flashlight with the other and looking through that tiny 
little hole between body plates while standing on toes (mine, the car is on 
jack stands) while not dropping the wrench or bolt -- the upper arm is back 
in. Almost.

There's this annoyingly long castor arm pressing the suspension arm aft too 
much. Why would this happen? I carefully marked the location of the 
adjustment piece and put it back in the exact position once the bushings were 
in. Saaaay, these Super Pro bushings are thicker and less pliable than the 
OEM bushings, I wonder if that has something to do with the position the 
adjustment piece should be in?

Out comes the upper arm a second time, readjust the castor arm length (sure 
am glad I tightened those nuts down so well the first time), reinstall the 
arm (I'm getting good by now) and put the thing back together.

All right, the one side is finished, now for the second side -- which 
presented only a *minor* challenge as it is possible to teach an old dog a 
new trick (don't drop that there!!!). The SPICA stuff and air filter housing 
were fun to reach around, but the rest of the swap was uneventful. I even 
remembered which socket/extension combo to use! Adjust the shock, adjust the 
shock! Hey, are you listening? Adjust this side's shock, too!

Observations --

*The castor bushings are easy to change, as long as you take the upper arms 
and shocks out first.

*Most of the parts are very easily accessible.

*Every vehicle has a "first part" that locates and orients the remainder of 
the car during the assembly process.

*In the Alfetta's case, that first part is the upper-arm-to-body bolt and the 
remainder of the car was assembled around it!

Many thanks to the Digesti that offered helpful suggestions on this change, 
the book wasn't quite correct and it was pretty cold (32F in Seattle, hey, 
that's cold here!) on the cement floor. I'm glad that's over for now.

Tom
'77 Alfetta
'63 Spider
'71 P'up (firewood hauler)
'99 Volvo S-80
1 very understanding spouse
2.8 children (hey, I'm the 'merican dream!)
Seattle


g'nite

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End of alfa-digest V7 #1291
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