3200 Rear Upper wishbone bushes. Replacement options?

[Fat Arnie]

I have a slight knocking from the rear of my car, on/off throttle which I have traced to the wishbone top bush where it bolts to the hub carrier. For avoidance of doubt, the bush in question is circled in red in the drawing below.

I have a bout 1mm of fore/aft play.

Does anyone replace these without replacing the entire wishbone?



Also, does anyone have a picture of the disassembled part? Maybe I can engineer a solution if there is no off the shelf fix.

 

[AerosGS]

Fore and aft play? Are you sure you haven't lost a shim? Otherwise bushes should be replaceable (were on other cars I've owned) -don't forget to replace them all as when one goes it puts more wear on the other end of the 'bone. (At least that how I understand them -YMMV)

Cheers

 

[Fat Arnie]

Fore and aft play?

Yes, the top of the upright (part #1) moves in reaction to drive and braking.

I put the car on a ramp, ran it in 2nd gear at idle and gently dabbed the brake. A big clunk accompanies by the movement described.

 

[conaero]

I think Emblem reburbish the wishbones, speak to Myles.

 

[AerosGS]

Have you lost a shim? Are the shim/mounting bolts tight?

Cheers

 

[davy83]

Have not had a stuffed upper wishbone yet but i know the front and rear lower ball joints require the whole wishbone to be replaced and its not cheap. I was unable to find any one who could replace just the ball joint. The upper ball joint at the front is a small unit and is not too difficult. The upper rear you are talking about looks like the lower arm and the ball joint is integral. I think one of the problems with replacing them is that the suspension arms are cast aluminium and so don't take too much messing around. The complete replacement arms come with the suspension bushes and bolts and all that, not sure if that justifies the £400 or so it costs.

 

[Rex B]

Arnie

The drawing you have shown is of a 4200 coupe not a 3200. The 3200 has a different arrangement and there is a link, rear stabiliser bar part no 193729 £18.55ea which I think could be the part you need. Sorry can't copy diagram but have a look on the eurospares site.

Rex B
Manual 3200

 

[conaero]

Here you go, think that upper stabiliser bar mounts to the roll bar and not the upper wishbone.

Item 14 and I am pretty sure it has the same setup as the 4200.

 

[Rex B]

I have had a quick look underneath and agreethe link Rod connects to Roll Bar and much smaller. It looks like it could all be part of the upper wishbone would have to take aprt to be sure.

Rex B
Manual 3200

 

[Fat Arnie]

Guys, I have seen the 3200 diagram above. My car is nothing like that - the drawing where it shows the lower wishbone must wrong.

My car is identical to the 4200 drawing.

I looked at the ARB drop links, but these rattle on uneven surfaces when they fail, not on the take up of drive.

Its definitely the outer joint on the top wishbone, but I have one last check to perform....

Apparently the thread where the rod (#5 in the top 4200 diagram) that screws into the wishbone works loose and this can be the cause of play.

Roll on Saturday and I'll find out.

 

[abyss]

The drop link looks like a standard Alfa parts to me.

 

[Fat Arnie]

The drop link is a standard part on many cars, if the thread on each end is 8mm. I have the same part on my Elise and Volvo if that demonstrates the versatility. One word of warning would be to stay away from pattern parts originating from the far east, as these tend not to last to long. Usual Chinese quality issues.

 

[conaero]

The drop link is a standard part on many cars, if the thread on each end is 8mm. I have the same part on my Elise and Volvo if that demonstrates the versatility. One word of warning would be to stay away from pattern parts originating from the far east, as these tend not to last to long. Usual Chinese quality issues.

Birth make Alfa aftermarket wishbones and droplinks and they are regarded better than the OEM ones. They also come pre greased with the OEM ones did not.

Check them out here:

http://www.shop4parts.co.uk/?name=store&op=Details&ProdID=753&sku=2484

From memory its a 13 or 15mm head on the bolt, pretty sure it 13mm.

 

[Fat Arnie]

13mm AF is generally M8 thread.

 

[conaero]

I have the old ones in the garage if you want one, just pm me your address and ill post it to you.

 

[v8chimp]

Birth make Alfa aftermarket wishbones and droplinks and they are regarded better than the OEM ones. They also come pre greased with the OEM ones did not.

Check them out here:

http://www.shop4parts.co.uk/?name=store&op=Details&ProdID=753&sku=2484

From memory its a 13 or 15mm head on the bolt, pretty sure it 13mm.

The standard Alfa ones are made by TRW and fit the 156/GT/147 generation cars (if these are the same ones), they are expensive from Alfa (£35 each) but cost £12.50 each plus postage at mister-auto.co.uk. Personally I had heard that Birth/Firstline e.t.c weren't as strong as the TRW's.

Also some people in Alfa land are trying Meyle which come with a 4 year warranty from expresscarparts.co.uk and cost similar money to the above.

http://www.meyle.com/EN/Spare-parts/Search.html

 

[conaero]

The standard Alfa ones are made by TRW and fit the 156/GT/147 generation cars (if these are the same ones), they are expensive from Alfa (£35 each) but cost £12.50 each plus postage at mister-auto.co.uk. Personally I had heard that Birth/Firstline e.t.c weren't as strong as the TRW's.

Also some people in Alfa land are trying Meyle which come with a 4 year warranty from expresscarparts.co.uk and cost similar money to the above.

http://www.meyle.com/EN/Spare-parts/Search.html

Thanks for that, I need to do the lowers on the GT so I'll check these out.