Laden Weight and tightening Suspension Bushings

[Nitrate]

1981. 2000. Is it really necessary to laden this model with 400 lbs. while the car is sitting in its normal position before tightening suspension bushings? I have a Fiat Service Letter issued 6/11/81 that give alignment specs. and specifically note that they refer to Unladen vehicles. Caster +31/2. Camber+1/2. Toe In+1/8". All other manuals I have seen specify Laden weight and the numbers are the same. Just wondering if the Suspension Tightening procedure for the 2000 model can be done Unladen just like the Alignment procedure. Never saw any other car that required Laden weight. RB

[bobplyler]

Alignment can be done laden or unladen, if you use the right specs. Torquing bushings unladen will reduce bushing life considerably.

[njoconnor]

Gathering the needed weight was, for me, the hardest part. I ended up using 40 # bags of softener salt. Jacked the car up, set jackstands under the rear axle and the front shock bottom mounts, and removed all four tires. Had access to all the bushing points, front and rear. Torqued 'em to spec, replaced the wheels, and set it down. About 2 hours total.

Figured I'd rather do some initial work to (hopefully) prevent having to replace all those bushings again.

Neil

[RRoller123]

I set the car up that same way, then placed a bunch of thick moving mats across the seats and started adding tools, clamps, etc. until I got to about 180 pounds. Is that 400 pound spec from the literature? Curious where that number came from? 400 pound sounds like too high a laden weight, unless the car is used normally with both a 200 pound driver and passenger? Jf you have a small bathroom or postal scale you can repetitively weigh and add things to get up to a reasonable number pretty quickly! I used over 50 bar clamps from my shop at a couple pounds apiece, plus toolboxes, spare wheel/tire, etc to get there. The heavy moving blankets will make sure that the upholstery doesn't get damaged.

[Nitrate]

1981. 2000. The manual calls for two passengers say 160 lbs and 120 lbs and 130 lbs of luggage. Total 410 lbs.
RB.

[RRoller123]

Ok, sounds high but I believe the manual. There was a discussion here a week or so back about this, and the question was raised as to whether it was better to laden the car as it is normally used versus these specs of driver/passenger plus luggage. The laden figure basically sets the bushings at their normal datum, but if the car is almost never driven with a passenger (my case) then it makes sense to use a lower figure. I guess a good analogy would be painting the waterline on a smaller boat. If the boat can hold 10 people and you paint the line with that in mind, but always go out alone it, then the waterline will be way out of the water.