Help! suspension snapped!

[Fiatchris]

Hi all, quite a large bang last night as I pulled away from an island, followed by a bit of a wobble and bit of metallic noise, limped the last mile home and just had a look in daylight... drivers side transverse arm has snapped! Ouch. Wheres the best place to get one, and is it a feasible diy job? Or is it a get part and then take to garage. I guess bushes are my concern.

Oh well, train tomorrow!

Cheers

Chris

[vecchioalfa]

Sorry to hear about this, do you mean the main lower suspension arm? stick a picture up so we can see, one of us will have one at hand for sure, I have probably got one although it would probably need rebushing

[Fiatchris]

Not pretty!!!

[alfachris]

O feck

[Kegsti66]

Wow Chris, you managed to drive it home!!
Good luck with the fix.

[vecchioalfa]

woops
I don't have any of those arms at hand at the moment, got some but there buried somewhere, I thought you meant the other arm going to the shocker strut, can anyone else help out?

[KevJTD]

that's a real weak spot on the front suspension, i've seen many that are badly corroded there, ones just waiting to snap like that.

as far as i can see from the ones i've taken off they are not sided so that's one good thing, i will most likely have a useable spare in the shed if you need one.
going to the pint & pizza meet thursday evening? i could have a look and bring one along...


as a bit of a heads up to all sud/sprint/33 owners it's probably a good idea to check yours over over the winter

[Fiatchris]

Hi Kev, yes I am, that would be great, life saver! let me know how much you want for it and I will sort you out on Thursday, Is it a DIY job or wil it be a garage bush/ press job?

Thanks for your help

Chris

[KevJTD]

Hi Kev, yes I am, that would be great, life saver! let me know how much you want for it and I will sort you out on Thursday, Is it a DIY job or wil it be a garage bush/ press job?

Thanks for your help

Chris

the ones i have (should have) will be 2nd hand ones so will have a useable bush in them.
will have a look tomorrow night.

john (justsuds john) did have some refurbed galvanised ones a while back if you wanted to get as near to new as possible
these arms haven't been available to buy new anywhere for some time...

i'll see what i've got and let you know

[Fiatchris]

Thanks mate. (going to annoy everyone at work tomorrow by taking up 3 car parking spaces with the camper van!)

Chris

[alfasuddriver]

I'm fairly sure that Alfa issued a recall on these suspension arms in the 80's for precisely this reason...unfortunately for us with our old Suds they aren't under warranty any more...

[vecchioalfa]

I'm fairly sure that Alfa issued a recall on these suspension arms in the 80's for precisely this reason...unfortunately for us with our old Suds they aren't under warranty any more...

A mate back in the day had his snap and he crashed as he was doing about 70mph through some bends with me an another sud close behind , his car ended up through a hedge and rolled a few times, he was ok luckily but his car was completely slaughtered As Kev says best to check these arms (and the others) regularly for corrosion or cracking

[Kegsti66]

I appreciate you need to fix the old girl, but if one has gone could be worth checking the other side.
I beef'd mine up with plug and seam welded plate.
Good luck.

[Gary Orchard]

It was not the front arms that the recall was for - it was the arm going back to the bulkhead.

I have dug out the old bulletin - 01/08/1985 it was launched

According to the copy of the Customer letter attached it was for any Alfasud Saloon or Sprint model registered from 1973 to the end of 1980.

The check was to see "if the arm was the currect spec. i.e. it had the plastic plugs on the horizontal surfaces"

If not they were changed under warranty

I can remember when the first batch of new arms arrived they came in 2 big reg metal crates with Alfa Romeo on the crate

When the recall was over we still had a few arms left - Alfa never wanted the arms or the crates back and at one time we were taking the rubber bush out of the new arms - then fitting it to the front of the arm that went forward to the crossmember and throwing the rear arm with no bush away !! The bush was the same so you could rebush all the front suspension by fitting complete new rear arms + the front arm with new bush - cheap way to sharpen up your Suds handling at the time but does seem a bit mad now !

I guess other dealers were the same and this is why you do see these arms for sale but never the front ones

[Fiatchris]

Hi guys, cracking upgrade and great story! I have checked the other one, it is in good condition and seems to have extra strengthening strakes along it? An upgrade perhaps, will have a really close look when I change the other one.

Chris

[KevJTD]

forgot to look for an arm while down the shed this evening....so just went for a look

first one i came across is in great condition, forked part is in great shape with no real corrosion at all, sounds perfect when tapped not dull like when corrosion has got between the layers.
needs a good scrub and paint as can be seen but is very solid, one of the best used ones i've seen for a while in fact.

even the bush looks in great shape!

yours for £10 if you want it, can bring it thursday evening no problem.

[Fiatchris]

Yes please!! Thanks Kev, see you Thursday!

Chris

[KevJTD]

Yes please!! Thanks Kev, see you Thursday!

Chris

no probs

[AlfaCorseChris]

Ouch !!!

Now thats something I never expected to see

It's a good thing Kev came to the rescue then

[Fiatchris]

Hi all, bit of a fiddle but all fixed, thanks Kev!

Cheers

Chris

[Kegsti66]

Top man

[vecchioalfa]

Good man

[KevJTD]

well done mate, glad to be of service

[robvega]

Well, mine's not as bad as Chris's disaster but while working on the front suspension I noticed the swelling on the offside transverse arm.
So whipped it off and after a bit of work with the angle grinder I've got a hole!
It's off at a mates now for welding.
Should be up and running again next week!
Rob

[Fiatchris]

Well spotted mate! It went with quite a bang!!

Chris

[Kegsti66]

Well spotted, a stitch in time, as they say.
Scary to think what could have happened. I trust you checked the other side.

[PETROLHEAD]

If folk are finding that these arms are now becoming a certain age to start becoming a problem, maybe its time for a bit pf preventative refurbishment?

I've already sorted a set of my own, by shotblasting, welding up, and then powder coating, and i'm confident they'll last another 30 years at least!


Nice to know that there is a strong set of arms under me, i certainly wouldn't want a failure mid corner!

[AlfaCorseChris]

I need to take my rust free arms out of my metal scrap bin me thinks.... you never know if anyone might need a good set.

[Johnboy]

Yes soggy you should . Mean Chris

[AlfaCorseChris]

Thing is, we never consider some parts valuable, coz they never break, snap, rust or whatever. So we just throw them away if we have another set stocked away somewhere.

Apparently, in UK these parts rust A LOT !