Work continues: steering linkage, part 1

I finally started working on the steering linkage of the Alfa. The idea was to replace just a few things in the front end, and then decide whether I want to tackle the whole job or not. One side of me wants to do all the work, since I find working on cars to be fun - I like the challenge (both mental and physical,) trying to figure things out, and engrossing myself in a task so much that I end up losing track of time (or the real world, for that matter.) And with a bit of luck, you end up with a better working vehicle.

On the other hand, this is the front suspension of the car, which can be pretty complicated stuff. Taking it to a shop will ensure that the work will be done right, and fairly quickly (1-2 days max.) Just drop off the car, come back the next day, and everything is A-OK. There is a lot of benefit in this - just drive the car and have fun.

I am still undecided as to what I will do. But in the meanwhile, I figured replacing all the steering ball joints should be straightforward enough.

So, last Wednesday night I jacked up the front end of the car, placed it on stands (ratchet-type jack stands), and went to work. I had borrowed a gear puller from my friend TJ (the puller on the left,) and was able to pull three of the six ball joints required. This puller worked well, but it was a very tight fit for the inner tie rods (four of them). I spent two and a half hours trying to figure things out! At this pace, I would be done sometime around Xmas.

So, I stopped for the night (11:30pm) and decided to look for the puller on the right (called a "ball joint lifter" - not a puller.) A few folks in the Alfa Bulletin Boards (www.alfabb.com) have recommended this type, and a few stores had them online. But I wanted it now, so I ended up going to Napa Auto Parts, and wouldn't you know it, they had it in stock. It only cost $12 with tax, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, Saturday morning, I got under the car at about 9am or so. Within 30 minutes all three remaining ball joints had been pulled off. Wee! I must say, having the right tool for a job saves a lot of time and effort. I highly recommend obtaining this kind of lifter for this kind of job, as it made the whole ball joint pulling (lifting?) experience a very simple one.

So, finally, the steering linkage was all out. I left the steering box and idler box in place, as I think servicing these are a bit beyond the immediate scope of things. I suspect the steering box could use a bit of maintenance, but for now, I'll just play with one thing at a time.

Before disassembling anything else, I measured the distance between ball joints, so that I can reset the length when I reassemble the whole thing. I'll have to align the car regardless, but hopefully the front alignment will be within a reasonable ballpark in the interim (what's a bit extra tire wear?)

The next problem was disconnecting the tie rods from the main rods themselves. At first I thought the locking nuts where part of the middle rods themselves. After much pounding at wrenches and the such, I realized the nuts and the rods were separate parts. Duh! They are locking nuts, after all. So I started pounding in different directions, and within 10 minutes, everything was disconnected.

The joints themselves were to be thrown out, but the middle rods themselves will be reused. They were all grimy with grease, undercoating, paint, and rust. So I figured I'd clean them up and paint them.

I started by cleaning the rods with brake cleaner and a stiff wire brush. After about 1o minutes of scraping away, the things were fairly clean. Brake cleaner is nasty stuff, but it does clean everything in sight. I then sanded the rods with medium grit sandpaper, and re-sprayed with even more brake cleaner.

Afterwards, I rinsed everything with hand clener (Fast Orange) and plenty of water.

The results are shown on this picture. One of the rods was pretty much striped down to bare metal. The other two were down to the original paint (?) with some spots of bare metal. All signs of grease and undercoating was gone, as well as most of the rust.



I then painted the rods with a few light coats of Rust-Oleum Semi Gloss paint. The things look pretty nice now - not bad for the first time I've ever spray painted anything in my life. The whole paint work (prep, and painting itself) took about 45 minutes.

I would have done a few things differently:
a) I would have used a finer grit sandpaper, as the finished surface looks a bit rough, and not shiny smooth.
b) I would have used a full-gloss paint. I am realizing I want the suspension to be glossy and shiny.

Before re-installing all this back onto the car, I want to replace the lock nuts used to lock the rods and the ball joint links together. I abused the crap out of them when I was removing them earlier, so I figured it would be better to replace them. The lock nuts are sized 14mm x 1.50 thread pitch (for those keeping score at home,) but I need both right-handed and left-handed thread nuts. I did find the RH type at the hardware store down the street, but they did not stock the LH kind. I will be looking for the LH nuts during the week.

Once I find them, then I can re-install the tie rods to the main rods, then install stuff back onto the car. Hopefully the car will be back on its feet next weekend. We'll see how that goes.