Radius rod bushes

The front radius rod bushes are quite soft, and will wear eventually. Note that the bushes look a bit knackered even when new, because of the way they distort on fitting! Even so, it’s a relatively cheap and easy task to replace them – Alfa thoughtfully used a bolted rod on the 75, which makes the job a lot easier than on an Alfetta…

1. Slacken the wheel nuts, jack and support the car and remove the road wheel.
2. Looking under the bonnet, remove the air intake tube. This makes access to the radius rod end nuts much easier.
3. Remove the big end nut from the front of the radius rod. Take off the washer and outer bush.
4. Remove the split pin and nut where the radius rod attaches to the upper arm.
5. You can now lift the radius rod clear. Take off the inner bush and washer. Give the rod and washers a good clean up with a wire brush. Also remove any rust around the bush seats in the body.
6. Now refit the washers, bushes and radius rod. The “stepped” bush goes on the front. Make sure the step is correctly seated in the mounting hole. I’m not sure if the bushes are supposed to orientated in any special way – just make sure they’re the same on both sides of the car.
7. Refit the upper arm nut and radius rod end nut. Torque this nut correctly, so that the bushes aren’t damaged.
8. Replace the air intake tube.
9. Replace the roadwheel.
10. Lower the car, and torque the wheel nuts fully.
11. You may wish to check the caster angle, although changing the bushes shouldn’t have affected it much.

Track rod ends

The track rod ends seem to be fairly strong. You can check for wear by having an assistant wobble the steering while holding your hand around the track rod end and steering arm. Any wear will be fairly obvious.

1. Slacken the wheel nuts, jack and support the car and remove the road wheel.
2. Slacken the track rod locknut (no more than half a turn).
   On my car, one nut was siezed. You will need Stillsons, a very good fitting spanner and lots of patience. Eventually, it did free, but it was a bugger to shift. It may be a good idea to soak the nut in penetrating oil beforehand.
3. Remove the track rod end taper nut, and separate the track rod end from the steering arm with a joint splitter.
4. Mark the position of the track rod end, and unscrew it from the track rod.
5. Grease the track rod threads, and fit the new track rod end.
6. Tighten the track rod end nuts, and refit the road wheel.
7. Lower the car, tighten the wheel nuts. It is essential to check the front wheel alignment – the new track rod may not be exactly the same length as the old one.