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MG Midget and Sprite General - where can i get my king pin bushes reamed

hi struggling to find someone who can ream the king pin bushes on a 1500 midget can anyone help i need to know the sizes to get the correct clearance.cheers
c kilbride

There's a special reamer made expressly for that purpose, but it's quite expensive and not many of us own one. This is only a suggestion, but you might want to check with some of the other Yorks area enthusiasts and see if anyone can turn one up. Sometimes clubs do group purchases of special tools, etc., and then make them available to those in need.

Best of luck,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

I have a set of adjustable reamers if you fancy playing !!!!
Mick struggling with the wiring

You could try making a few calls to old-fashioned machine shops (of the automotive type).

I'd know where to go in London, but no idea in West Yorkshire. Yellow Pages will probably help, and a few abortive calls won't hurt too much.
Nick

I have done this several times on the MGB. My first question is do you have the proper tooling to remove the old bushings and install the new set without damage? The best way is with the use of a hydraulic press, using piloted drivers to push the old bushings out then, after cleaning the holes, to push the new bushings in. Damage to the new bushings can result if another method is tried.

Normal clearance between the bushing and the kingpin is kingpin diameter plus .001" with the stub axle turning freely on the kingpin. For best results, the bushings need to be reamed on the centerline of the stub axle, hence the production of a special reamer to do the job.

Many find that it is less expensive to get a set of exchange stub axles, with the bushings installed and properly reamed, than trying to do the job at home.

Les
Les Bengtson

Your right Les, but I've had some very poor exchange stub axles in the past. So expensive though the reamers are, I might do my own too.

I haven't done mine for sometime and am going to strip them for a look soon. If they need doing, I'm also contemplating buying a reamer and king pin set, and doing them myself.

Lawrence Slater

Lawrence. I agree with you. My procedure is to remove the stub axles, soak them in solvent, the clean them to remove all of the old road grime. When they are clean and dry, I bead blast them, clean them again, and paint them. They are visually inspected for cracks or other damage and, if any is found, they are crack inspected. The bushes are removed using piloted bushing drivers (easily made up by anyone having access to a lathe or a friend with a lathe). This allows you to insert the new bushings without damage, then ream them properly. A good cutting oil and removing the reamer frequently to clean it and re-oil it will make a good, smooth cut. At that point, you have two advantages:

First, you have done the work yourself, gaining in skill and confidence in what you can do.

Second, you know, exactly, what has been done to the part, that it is good quality work, and that the base part is of good, useable quality. Something that may not always be present when purchasing an "exchange" unit.

I hope you do decide to do the next rebuild yourself and enjoy it as much as I have over the years.

Les
Les Bengtson

Hi Les,

I was very stupid years ago, when someone offered me a reamer for 5 british pounds. This was about 20 or so years ago and i didn't think i would ever need it, as i expected to get rid of the sprite long before I needed to do king pins again. How very short sighted of me.

Another point in this came up in the thread on front wheel bearings.

These stub axles are getting very old now, and you really have to wonder about them. How many of the exchanges are actually free of damage? How many have been in accidents involving front wheel impact? I personally haven't seen an axle failure, but a few here report it.

These items can't last forever. I wonder when they will start to fail in significant numbers, and who will start to make replacements.

As regards enjoying doing the job myself. Yes definitely. That is a big part of the ownership for me. As much as I have cursed over the years. As much as I protest about having to fix this or that. The fact is I enjoy it. I enjoy the simplest thing such as setting the points, or, or, or?? ----- I was about to say I enjoy the most difficult thing such as -----, and then I realised there isn't really anything that difficult to do on a spridget in terms of fixing them. Dirty and awkward yes. Fiddly yes. Time consuming sometimes, yes. But the pleasure is that you can pretty much work it out for yourself, and very few parts are sealed for life units that you can't strip and see the innards. The king pins are a great example. greasy, time consuming, fiddly, lovely great chunks of metal that you can clamp in a vice, and shove a reamer into and enjoy yourself. I'm quilte looking forward to it. :)


Lawrence Slater

I bet Alastair Naylor at Naylor Bros Restoration based in Shipley knows -

http://www.naylorbrothers.co.uk/

David
David Wardell

Lawrence: Uprated stub axles, made from 4140 in a larger diameter than standard and provided with tapered roller bearings to suit, are being sold by Sprite Parts in Australia. They're not particularly cheap though. http://www.spriteparts.com.au/shop/performance.html
AndrewF

Yeah, they are expensive, but maybe in the future we might all end up having to buy them.
Lawrence Slater

Andrew,

I see that the picture of the new welded in stub axle does show it to be marked for race use only. Maybe they have concerns =about long term road use or insurance. Someone in the US does a similar conversion also.
David Billington

David, I believe that they mark it that way just to avoid being liable if something goes wrong. They believe it will not have any problems, but rather than have to worry about liability insurance or anything else... There's a heck of a lot of parts available over here marked for race use only or off road use only, that are sold for road cars. It's just a sad result of our modern world and over-litigation.
AndrewF

C Kilbride

Let me know how you get on with my reamers
Mick struggling with the wiring

AndrewF,

You're probably right but there might be an issue if you had an accident on the road and your insurer noticed those parts, you might find yourself without insurance.
David Billington

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure that the way things work over here the insurer can only use it as an out if it was that part that caused or contributed to the accident. E.g. A friend of mine has a car lowered below the legal limit. This is declared on his insurance, and he was told it is only an issue if it is found to have caused the accident or damage to his car. Sure enough, he had an accident in the car about 12 months ago (a kangaroo jumped into the road in front of the car, his car hit the roo and then a rock wall), and the car was repaired under insurance no questions asked.
AndrewF

This thread was discussed between 25/09/2011 and 04/10/2011

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