Re: Idler arm rebuild

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

Simon, I could be all wet, but I think the brass bushings have to be reamed to
the correct size, and that is why your arm is tightening up.  IIRC that are
slightly undersize as supplied.
Tony

----- Original Message -----
From: Simon Body
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2002 6:06 AM
To: alfa-digest@domain.elided
Subject: Idler arm rebuild

Greetings

As part of the front end bushings replacement project on my 91 Spider, I
took off the idler arm. This was prompted by a clunk from the idler arm at
extreme left rotation of the steering wheel.

Interestingly, both the upper and lower bushings and the castor arm bushing
at the upper arm were shot. Anyway, back to the problem.

I bought an idler arm bushing repair kit from IAP, disassembled the idler
arm, popped out the old plastic/metal bushings and put in the new brass
bushings. I did not use the new spindle in the kit as the old one looked OK
and it requires grinding off the old weld on the idler arm and rewelding
the new one. Then I tried to reassemble the idler. It went in OK but got
progressively much tighter with insertion. Tried the BMFH for a few taps
but it was obvious that things were not well, so disassembled the whole
thing again. Now I've got the whole thing sitting on the bench in pieces.

Questions:
1. Is the IAP kit from Vema Ricambi a dud?
2. Should I have used the spindle from the kit?
3. Anyone with prior experience of other kits, especially with plastic
bushings?

Many thanks.
Simon Body
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