re: Alfa Spider shimmy

[Dana Loomis <dloomis@domain.elided>]

George Schweickle, responding to a post from Gregory Youngblood, described
his method for changing the conical "trunnion" bushing on the 105's rear
axle this way: "I put the car on jackstands, support the axle on separate
jackstands, then disconnect everything and wrestle it sideways. Having done
this, the rubber bushings that fit on either side of the T-bar hole can be
renewed or replaced with polyurethane bushings.  Components to disconnect
are: bottom rear sway bar links, driveshaft at the rear U-Joint, upper
shock absorber connections, the axle limit straps, and the front
attachments for the trailing arms. "

George is an old hand and has probably done this more times then he cares
to remember, but I use a slightly different approach, which might be
easier.  I support the car body (only) on jack stands, then disconnect the
lower shock mountings, the bottom swaybar links and the rear end of the
trailing arms.  To disconnect the trailing arms, I put a jack under the
rear of the trailing arm, remove the long bolt through the axle (which also
connects the swaybar), and use the jack to slowly lower the trailing arm as
far as it will go, while relieving compression on the spring.  I don't
touch the driveshaft or the front trailing arm connections.  Having done
all this, the rear axle should be hanging in the limit straps.  After
removing the big nut that secures the t-bar to the differential case, the
entire can be shoved sideways so that the pin slides out of the hole in the
t-bar.   The rest is just as George described it.  YMMV, but this works for
me.  FWIW, I've also done the job with the trailing arms still connected to
the axle, but it's much harder that way. 

Dana Loomis
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