1958 FIAT 500 idle adjustment

of wear, distorting or unevenness of the surfaces as this
part is very heavily pressed when the vehicle is negotia-
ting a corner. If the clearance to the idle pinions exceeds
.0059 inch the shaft must be renewed.
2 Inspect the ring gear and pinion seat, the side gears.and
the idle pinions for correct meshing. This will be shown
up by white marks on the sides of the gear teeth. Check
that none of the teeth are broken, chipped or exces-
sively worn and if any part is suspect then it must be
renewed not forgetting that the ring gear and pinion
come as a matched pair.
3 Inspect the condition of the ball and roller bearings, the
rollers and balls and working faces must not show signs
of pitting wear or cracking and if any part is suspect then
the race must be renewed.
4 Check that there is not any undue wear on the faces of
the thrust rings. Any slight indentations may be evened
out using a fine oil stone but if the damage is excessive
then new rings or oversize rings must befitted as neces-
sary. Thrust rings are supplied as service spares in the
following thicknesses.
Standard .0394 inch
Oversize .0512-.0591 inch
6:6 Reassembly—differential unit
To reassemble the differential case proceed as follows:
1 Press onto the differential half housing which carries
the ring gear one differential bearing inner race ensuring
that it is pushed fully home onto its seating. Install the
thrust ring and side gear (see FIG 6 : 7).
2 From t h e inside of the case insert the axle shaft com-
plete with pivot and runners that form the slip joint.
Also install the idle pinions and carrier shaft. Position
the ring gear onto the housing half and install the
differential pinion shaft retainer ring.
3 Press the other differential bearing inner race onto its
seating on the left differential housing half and replace
the left axle shaft complete with slip joint.
4 J o i n the t w o case halves together and tighten the
retaining screws and also the retaining screws of the
ring gear to a torque wrench setting of 23.1 Ib ft. Secure
all screws by bending up the lockplates.
5 Press t h e differential bearing outer races into their
seatings in the bearing housings and also f i t the o i l seals.
Also install the bearing housings over the driving shafts
together with the adjuster rings.
6 Install the differential unit assembly into the final drive
housing front half and bolt the rear
half onto it. Tighten
the six mounting nuts to a torque wrench setting of
27.5 Ib ft. Finally place the bearing housings in their
seats and tighten the mounting nuts to a torque wrench
setting of 13 lb ft.
It should be noted that after the gearbox has been over-
hauled the complete differential unit should only be in-
stalled after the drive pinion depth adjustments has been
carried out.
6 : 7 Final drive gear set adjustment
The installation and adjustment of the final drive gear
set requires special care otherwise the unit may have to be
dismantled again for further adjustment. So as to establish
the correct mesh of the t w o gears, their relative position is
accurately set during initial assembly at the factory.
F50071 Refer to FIG 6 :8 where it will be seen that t w o numbers
are stamped on the pinion shaft near to the threaded end,
the upper number is the matching number which should
also appear on the crownwheel. The lower number indi-
cates the positive or negative deviation from the theoretical
distance between the centre line of the ring gear and the
pinion face. It is this number which must be taken into
account when calculating the adjusting shim thickness
which has to be fitted between the rear roller bearing and
the fourth-speed gear on the layshaft.
The formula from which the adjusting shim thickness
can be calculated is as follows:
S=A—(B + C)
Where S=shim thickness.
A= distance between the front bearing inner
race and the centre line of the ring gear.
B = distance of the drive pinion face to the ring
gear centre line.
C = t h e total of the widths of the third-speed
gear bush, third- and fourth-speed hub,
fourth-speed gear bush and rear roller
bearing inner race fitted onto the mainshaft
It should be noted that 'A' is the total of half the diameter
of the differential bearing housing seat which is in actual
fact 41.00 mm, and the distance measured between the
front bearing inner race and the differential bearing housing
seat. The last
dimension will have a minimum manufactu-
ring limit of 150.54 mm. Any deviation from this value
must be determined and considered when determining
the total shim thickness 'S'.
A= 150.54 + 41.00 + a (deviation)
To determine deviation 'a' Fiat tool A.62036 should be
assembled to the gearbox casing as shown in FIG 6 : 9
and to take the reading proceed as follows:
1 Assemble the front ballbearing and its retainer into the
gearbox housing and tighten the retainer bolts.
2 Hold the gearbox housing in the vertical position with
the differential side upwards and insert Fiat tool
A.62036 carefully from above into the bearing bore and
lock it firmly by tightening the knurled nut.
3 Using Fiat dial gauge C.689 which has been previously
zeroed on a surface plate should next be mounted
onto the t o p of Fiat tool A.62036 with its pointer resting
on the lowest position of the differential bearing hous-
ing bore as shown in FIG 6:10. To obtain the lowest
point move the pointer to both sides of the bottom dead
centre position so as to obtain the maximum reading.
The distance ' B ' in the formula for calculating the shim
thickness is designed to have a lower manufacturing limit
of 75 mm. Any deviation ' b ' is stamped on the drive pinion.
Therefore to calculate the value of ' B '
B = 7 5 + b (deviation)
The distance 'C' in the formula for calculating the shim
thickness is designed to have a lower manufacturing limit
FIG 6 : 8 Layshaft w i t h final drive pinion. The arrow
points to the number (14) for correct mating with ring
gear and to the centesimal figure (—10) for accurate
mating position of pinion and gear

RIGHT HAND TIE ROD
RELAY LEVER SUPPORTINTERMEDIATE TIE ROD!
STEERING BOX!
LEFT HAND TIE ROD
FIG 9 :1 Steering box, idler member and steering linkage arrangement on vehicle
FIG 9 : 2 Securing steering wheel mounting nut
Key
to Fig 9:2(Tightening torque: 29 to 36 Ib ft)
9 : 4 Steering box dismantling and reassembly
1 Remove the steering gear housing cover complete
with the adjusting screw and locking nut and drain the
oil from the unit.
2 Using Fiat puller A.4005.1.5 or a universal t w o leg
puller remove the pitman arm.
3 Remove the cotter pin from the lower thrust bearing
adjusting nut and unscrew this nut.
4 Remove the sealing ring at the sector shaft lower end
and using Fiat tool A.8065 loosen the eccentric bush
adjuster plate bolt and remove both the bolt and the
adjusting plate. Also remove the upper sealing ring.
98
5 Lift out the sector together with the upper thrust
washer and shims.
6 Remove the steering worm screw by pulling out from
below. The two bearing inner rings will remain on the
worm screw whilst the lower bearing outer ring will
remain in the housing.
7 Remove the oil seal using Fiat tool A.10110 followed
by the worm screw upper bearing outer ring using
Fiat tool A.66040 or a suitably sized drift.
Inspection:
1 Carefully inspect the sector teeth and the worm screw
threads to see that there are no signs of seizure,
indentations or scoring. Check that the contact faces
indicate that meshing between the two parts is taking
place at the centre.
2 Check the clearance between the eccentric bush 5
(see FIG 9 : 5) and the worm sector 11 which must not
exceed .0039 inch. These items have an initial
assembly clearance of .00 to .0016 inch. It should be
noted that if the eccentric bushing to sector shaft
clearance exceeds .0039 inch a new bushing should
be installed and its inner face reamed using Fiat
reamer U.0360.20.
3 Ensure that the worm screw is not distorted. The
permissible out of true is .0019 inch.
Adjustment:
1 If the backlash between the worm screw and the
sector is excessive it should be adjusted by first dis-
connecting the pitman arm and its relevant seal.
Remove the screw 7 (see FIG 9 : 5) fixing the abut-
ment plate 6. Rotate the eccentric bush 5 by the
adjustment plate and move the sector in towards the
worm screw. The adjustment plate should be secured
again using the second fixing hole.
Should the adjustment plate already be fixed in the
second hole remove the plate from the bush and
rotate one or more serrations and re-secure.

reassembling and during assembly liberally lubricated
using Fiat W90/M oil (SAE90 EP).
2 The pitman arm nut should be correctly positioned on
reassembly to the sector shaft and both are marked
with notches or a master tooth on the sector will mate
with a double tooth on the pitman arm which will
prevent incorrect reassembly.
3 The pitman arm nut must be tightened to a torque
wrench setting of 72 Ib/ft.
4 Fill the box up to the level and filler plug with SAE90 EP
gear oil.
Refitting the steering box:
To refit the steering box to the vehicle proceed as
follows:
1 Engage the w o r m screw f r o m the steering shaft by
gently manipulating the steering box.
2 Replace the steering box to body nuts and tighten to a
torque wrench setting of 14 to 18 Ib/ft.
3 Replace the t w o track rod pins in their seatings in the
pitman arm and tighten the self-locking nuts to a
torque wrench setting of 18 to 21 Ib/ft.
4 Replace the steering shaft to worm screw mounting
bolt, lock washer and nut.
9 :5 Relay lever and support
The steering idler arm is secured to the body by means
of a support bracket and a rubber bushed pivot bolt. This
is shown in FIG 9 : 7. When this unit is being serviced
the following points should be noted.
1 If there is excessive play between the pin and the
bushes the bushes must be renewed. Also check the
condition of the pin and if there are signs of excessive
wear it must be renewed.
2 To eliminate torsional stresses in the rubber bushes
during assembly the pin nut must be tightened to
torque wrench setting of 39 to 43 Ib/ft, once the
front wheel toe-in has been correctly adjusted w i t h the
wheels set in the straight ahead position.
3 The relay lever support to body mounting nuts must
be tightened to a torque wrench setting of 14 to 18
Ib/ft.
9 : 6 Steering rods (tie rods)
The steering rod is connected to the idler arm and the
drop arm by means of non-adjustable ball joints. The
track rods are connected to the right and left steering
arms by non-adjustable ball joints and comprise t w o
sleeves which are split and having internally threaded
ends. The ball joints are clamped to either end of the
sleeves. To facilitate adjustment one ball joint end has a
lefthand thread and the other a righthand thread.
Adjustment is made by loosening both the clamping bolts
and turning the central sleeve.
To remove the steering rods from the pitman arm, the
relay lever and knuckle arms Fiat pullers A.46006 and
A.6473 or universal ball joint removers should be used.
If excessive play is evident in the ball joint linkage or
the pin is damaged the complete ball joint assembly must
be renewed.
Upon reassembly the tie rod to ball pin knuckle arm
nuts must be tightened to a torque wrench setting of
18 to 21 Ib/ft.
F500101
FIG 9:7 Relay lever support section
FIG 9:8 Front wheel toe-in checking diagram
Key to Fig 9:8 A—B = 000 inch to .079 inch
It is important that all steering linkages are thoroughly
checked at regular intervals and if any parts are suspect
then they must be renewed.
9 : 7 Front wheel toe-in
To check and adjust the front wheel toe-in proceed as
follows:
1 Ensure that the tyres are inflated to the recommended
pressures. Ensure that the steering wheel is in its