The weather was great today, so decided to replace the rear springs, shockers and rear drums, I have had the parts sitting there waiting to be fitted.
While everything was off I gave the axel spring pans a buff with the grinder wire wheel attached, painted with rust paint and then sprayed underguard to help cushion the bottom of the springs, while waiting for paint to dry, I buffed all the bolts on the bench grinder, the wheelbolts needed a good clean and some spray paint too.
It's nice to see shiny new bits on the car, although I can't bring myself to throw out the old parts as they are still useable, one of the springs is a bit rusty but still worth keeping as a spare, or if someone else local needs them.

It’s a great feeling when you get jobs like that done.

Rust treated my rear suspension too, probably not as well as yours though! Past few days I've done a wheels-off, arch liner out wash, gearbox oil, repainted the rear wheels, cleaned up the rusty rear suspension and applied some Dynax UB to it, which should hopefully make it last a bit longer!

Aye, it's certainly more inviting to get stuck in than working in the wind and rain.

I'd been nursing a slipping clutch for longer than I'd care to admit, but didn't have a valid excuse to put it off any longer this week

Although I did spend two sunny days mostly under my car thinking of places I'd rather be

We did have one day of rain in the middle of the job, so I brought the gearbox inside to work on it in the spare room.

It's where the other half keeps her posh frocks. Now she's suggesting they all smell strongly after I was working in there Essence of gear oil and brake cleaner, maybe?

Sure is just changed the rear shock on the Tipo due to one leaking

As yesterday went quite well, I decided I would change the front struts, springs and top mounts, but it didn't go as planned, all the bolts and nuts were so badly corroded that I had to hammer some old AF and whitworth sockets on to be able to loosen them, it was a long winded task but I managed to remove the bolts, clean the threads with the bench grinder and grease up and put it back together, putting all the new parts on will have to wait until, I buy all new bolts, when I can get to Fiat.
I thought I would look on ECP but they don't do them and shop4parts have but the price is crazy £3.99 per bolt and £7.44 per nut +tax =£54.86 but free delivery...yippee
I will try the main dealer, how bad can they be?

Jockcl500 said:

As yesterday went quite well, I decided I would change the front struts, springs and top mounts, but it didn't go as planned, all the bolts and nuts were so badly corroded that I had to hammer some old AF and whitworth sockets on to be able to loosen them, it was a long winded task but I managed to remove the bolts, clean the threads with the bench grinder and grease up and put it back together, putting all the new parts on will have to wait until, I buy all new bolts, when I can get to Fiat.
I thought I would look on ECP but they don't do them and shop4parts have but the price is crazy £3.99 per bolt and £7.44 per nut +tax =£54.86 but free delivery...yippee
I will try the main dealer, how bad can they be?

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Shop 4 parts is probably going to be cheeper then the main dealer especially if you can only but them in packs of 10 is other large quantities

chris3234 said:

Shop 4 parts is probably going to be cheeper then the main dealer especially if you can only but them in packs of 10 is other large quantities

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Not sure what you mean, as far as I know shop4parts are quoting per nut £8.93 including vat
am I missing something?

Jockcl500 said:

Not sure what you mean, as far as I know shop4parts are quoting per nut £8.93 including vat
am I missing something?

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I mean thi has like.buys and bolts are often only available in packs of like ,5-10 from the main dealer but that does sound oddly expensive for shop 4 parts

chris3234 said:

I mean thi has like.buys and bolts are often only available in packs of like ,5-10 from the main dealer but that does sound oddly expensive for shop 4 parts

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I have bought parts and bolts for decades from Main dealers and they sell per bolt and per nut that's how it has always been, and shop4parts appear to be the same but 4 bolts and 4 nuts for £54.86 I have looked again and that's what they are quoting, no mention of how many or a packet.

Jockcl500 said:

I have bought parts and bolts for decades from Main dealers and they sell per bolt and per nut that's how it has always been, and shop4parts appear to be the same but 4 bolts and 4 nuts for £54.86 I have looked again and that's what they are quoting, no mention of how many or a packet.

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Odd last time I asked for a bolt from a main dealer they should they only supplied them.in packs of 5

Pinch bolts & nuts do seem to be strangely expensive. Especially as they are rarely good enough to re-use.
If you Google the part numbers (7676614 and 7676615, I think they are the same as the Panda...) they seem to be cheaper from Alfa suppliers, which is wierd.
I did find them suspiciously cheap at eurocarcare.net (£0.95 and £2.95) but no idea whether they are a good supplier or not. Or their shipping rates.

I bought 10-packs of each from an Alfa place last time I needed to re-stock, but I do change quite a few so usually keep some available.

irc said:

Pinch bolts & nuts do seem to be strangely expensive. Especially as they are rarely good enough to re-use.
If you Google the part numbers (7676614 and 7676615, I think they are the same as the Panda...) they seem to be cheaper from Alfa suppliers, which is wierd.
I did find them suspiciously cheap at eurocarcare.net (£0.95 and £2.95) but no idea whether they are a good supplier or not. Or their shipping rates.

I bought 10-packs of each from an Alfa place last time I needed to re-stock, but I do change quite a few so usually keep some available.

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Those prices look about right to me, I was expecting £1 per nut and £4-5 per bolt , looks like eurocare are having delivery problems as the are outside the UK, I will have a look on ebay to see if anything comes up, not sure if Fiat are open as it's a bank holiday weekend.

Hi Jockcl. I'm going to be doing this rear axle refurb as soon as I can stir myself out of my present lethargy. I'd been wondering about how best to address the abrasion between spring and pan - which will remove paint and allow rusting to recommence - and I'd decided some Waxoyl slaistered around it would probably work. I'm encouraged to see you going in much the same direction with yours.

I broke 2 of the strut clamp bolts and the other 2 were quite "rough" looking so I decided to replace them. The main dealer price was pretty steep and he wanted me to take a whole box (of 10 I think) so I bought from S4p in the end. I can't actually remember what I paid as I bought struts, springs, top mounts etc all at the same time. I don't know if you've ever rung them? they are very helpful people and won't mind you ringing at all. I only suggest this as I've occasionally found they "miss list" stuff on their site. I also had a lot of trouble getting the nuts off the damper rods but, luckily have an air gun which worked just fine.

So nice to have some warm weather again, I've been knocking the garden into shape for the last 2 days and loving every minute of it!

chris3234 said:

Odd last time I asked for a bolt from a main dealer they should they only supplied them.in packs of 5

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Strange,
the only thing I have bought as a set from a main dealer, were head bolts and you would want a set of them rather than singles.

As a couple of people on here - Jockcl & Rayovac - have talked about refurbishing their rear axles (I'm guessing, without actually removing the axle completely from the vehicle?) I would be interested to know if you, or anyone else who might like to contribute, slackened the two big pivot bolts before swinging the axle down? (to protect the bushes from twisting).

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

As a couple of people on here - Jockcl & Rayovac - have talked about refurbishing their rear axles (I'm guessing, without actually removing the axle completely from the vehicle?) I would be interested to know if you, or anyone else who might like to contribute, slackened the two big pivot bolts before swinging the axle down? (to protect the bushes from twisting).

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I have tried to refurb the rear axel, but just by jacking the rear of the car up very high, removing the shocker bolts and letting it swing down, I don't see any adverse effect to the bushes, as the axel is designed to move.
I have mixed results and the axel was showing signs of rust again, last time I did rust treatment with Bayer Aquasteel it was not the best weather conditions for use, as I think it would perform best in warm conditions, I will probably do it again in the summer.
Having just replaced the springs and shocks I cleaned the spring pans and painted with direct to rust paint and when dry, I went over it with underguard spray.

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

As a couple of people on here - Jockcl & Rayovac - have talked about refurbishing their rear axles (I'm guessing, without actually removing the axle completely from the vehicle?) I would be interested to know if you, or anyone else who might like to contribute, slackened the two big pivot bolts before swinging the axle down? (to protect the bushes from twisting).

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I must confess, I didn't even consider it. I followed varesecrazy's guide and I don't think he mentioned loosening the pivot bolts.

Personally I'm not too concerned, it doesn't swing down all that far. And with the wheels removed the beam isn't very heavy. Although I suppose how far down it does swing is limited only by the bushes being twisted...

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Jockcl & Rayovac - have talked about refurbishing their rear axles

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Only thing I did was jack it up and took the rear wheels off. Gave the axle a thorough clean with a selection of big brushes, dish soap and a pressure washer. The Dynax UB I used can be applied direct to rust, but it does work better on clean surfaces, so not the best way to do it, but better than nothing at all. Not a refurb, more of a "i put this on you pls don't rust any more". Quite expensive at £20 a can, but it's easy to apply, just try not to get it on your hands!

Thanks for all that folks. I'm a bit concerned about the rust around my spring pans also the springs themselves are really crusty with rust so I'm a little worried they may be more liable to break.

My plan is to chip away the really crusty rust and wash down with my air/water gun. When dry I'm then going to attack the rust some more before applying the Fertan: https://www.fertan.co.uk/?product=fertan-rust-converter and finishing off with an undercoat and chassis black top coat. I'm almost certainly going to fit new springs and I'll apply a generous coating of waxoyl to the "cup" of the spring pans to try to slow down any corrosion which results from the springs "working" against the pans.

Then when it's all reassembled, I've got the brakes to do. Cylinders and pipes, probably shoes and drums too. I'm really quite looking forward to getting this done as it'll be the last thing to strike off on the list of "things to do" I made when I made the list after buying her - was that 3 years ago?

So thanks for your input. I think I might try slackening the bolts more to just see if they will slacken and rotate which would prove to me they're not seized inside the bushes. If they are very tight I'll just leave them alone though! If they slacken I might try working some light oil along them to make possible later removal easier.