malibu@hound.UUCP (K.KRUSINSK) (12/19/85)
I've got some sort of problem with the front suspension on my '78 Spider that recently turned scary. The car seems to enjoy consuming it's own A-arm bushings and ball joints. Here's the background: The front suspension on a Spider consists of a conventional coil spring/shock, dual- A-arm arrangement, with the weight of the car acting on the lower arm. The lower arm pivots on a spindle mounted on a front suspension crossmember that also supports the engine. The bushings on the spindle/A-arm junction were fairly shredded when I bought the car. I let this problem exist for a few months since there was about a billion other problems with the car. In April '85, I replaced both lower arm assemblies, which included bushings and ball-joints. Within two weeks, the new bushings were once again shredded, appearing identical to the former state of the old bushings. Several weeks ago, something much worse happened. The left lower ball joint tore itself out of its assembly while I was moving down Route 35 (The metal casing of the upper half of the ball self-destructed.) This ball joint was only about 7 months old, had been thoroughly lubricated, and was properly installed. My question is: what the hell is going on? The only possible answer I have concerns the wheels on the car. The wheels I purchased with the car are "mag" wheels which have the effect of positioning the tire approximately 1" - 2" further away from the hub and the rest of the suspension as opposed to the stock steel wheels for the car. After I installed the new A-arms and had the car aligned, it stayed aligned; tires are great, so there's no problem there. Can the different wheels (same SIZE as stock) change the suspension+steering geometries enough to cause my problems? I think the ball-joint was defective, but there must have been some undue stress on it. If anybody out there has had similar problems (Fiats or otherwise) I'd appreciate some kind of response. I bought another car (not a Fiat) in order to make the Spider a project car, so my life is not in immediate danger. Thanks for the help. Kurt Krusinski (BTL-Holmdel) 949-4429