Good evening,

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of removing the drivers side control arm. Access is easy to the ball joint and rear bush, but the front bush has part of the chassis covering underneath the bush, therefore not allowing direct access to undo and release it. Does this part of the chassis need to be removed as well or is there another way?

Thanks in advance for any help.

This is how Fiat say it should be done.

I wonder how many franchised dealers jack the suspension up to precisely 187.485mm before tightening the bolts?

Preloading the suspension makes sense, but to an accuracy of 1 micron?

Thank you jrkitching. Where do you find all this info? I've been trawling the Internet for ages! We're planning on doing it Friday, I'll post back to let you know how it went.

Happybubbas said:

Where do you find all this info?

Click to expand...

It's right here on this forum, in the downloads section .

Ha ha typical, right under my nose!

One last question, is it right the front bumper will need to be removed. It's a 2012 0.9 Twinair.

Thanks

Happybubbas said:

One last question, is it right the front bumper will need to be removed. It's a 2012 0.9 Twinair.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Fiat's recommended procedure calls for bumper removal and this is the safest way of doing the job. I've not replaced one personally, but it might be possible to remove some bolts and move things out of the way instead. However, that's exactly how cars get damaged when garages take shortcuts and I'd strongly recommend you phone a friend, get some help to take off the bumper and place it safely out of harm's way.

The instructions I posted are from the 1.2, but I've no reason to suppose the TA to be different in this regard.

Hi,

Just an update on the removal of the control arm. We took the bumper off, but we're then still none the wiser as to how to get to the front bush bolt to release it as it's enclosed by the subframe. It's a 2012 Twinair and apparently these and multi jets aren't the same as other 500's when it comes to accessing the control arm bolts for the front bush! The subframe has to be lowered, are there any diagrams or knowledgable people who would know what bolts to undo? It's the drivers side.

Thank you so much

Happybubbas said:

Just an update on the removal of the control arm. We took the bumper off, but we're then still none the wiser as to how to get to the front bush bolt to release it as it's enclosed by the subframe. It's a 2012 Twinair and apparently these and multi jets aren't the same as other 500's when it comes to accessing the control arm bolts for the front bush! The subframe has to be lowered, are there any diagrams or knowledgable people who would know what bolts to undo? It's the drivers side.

Click to expand...

The forum's eLearn doesn't cover the TA, but it does cover the mJet, and the procedure for that is the same as the 1.2

On the .pdf I put up earlier, there's a procedure called "R.R. Third Load Line", which basically means removing the crossmember that's in the way.

Here is a more detailed explanation, showing the bolts which you need to remove, and also the tightening torque settings for when you put them back.

It's more work than you might imagine to change a front wishbone, which I suppose goes some way to explaining why francised dealers charge the prices they do.

Hope this helps.