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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Suspension Rebuild PT 3 - Help

i am now rebuilding the other side of my front suspension and i have a few issues. The first is the steering ball joint. The rubber cover has broken appart, and i have tried taking the old ball joint off, but it seems seized! the ball joint itself is ok, just the cover. Is it possible just to replace the cover? or is there an easy way of removing the whole joint?

the second, is there an easy way to get the shock absorber rebound rubber into its hole?

cheers :P
Rich K

Do you mean track-rod end? So cheap, buy a new one.

I use WD-40 to help fit the rebound rubber...

A
Anthony Cutler

<<is there an easy way to get the shock absorber rebound rubber into its hole?>>

Swarfega works well, also.
Dave O'Neill 2

few drops of wash-up liquid and twist it in.
David Smith

ah cool, will try that :P

yeah sorry its the track rod end. is there an easy way of taking it off?

thanks
Rich K

Or tie rod end...
Easiest way that I know of is to loosen the nut, then take a BFH (large hammer) and whack the end of the steering arm in line with the arm itself horizontally. The concept is that the hole is tapered to match the taper of the TRE and whacking it hard enough will deform the taper just enough to break the bond and allow it to slip out. Always works a treat for me. Thanks again for showing me, Peter Caldwell!
David "I won't bother you with the myriad ways I know that don't work..." Lieb
David Lieb

have rebuilt the suspension using poly bushes and have replaced the 1500 springs with 1275 springs. Its now sitting higher than before which is very annoying. I have rolled the car back and forth to see if that would settle it. I have attached some pics to see if i have done summit wrong :(

cheers


Rich K

http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss271/finch661/?action=view¤t=IMGP1017.jpg
Rich K

Rich, did you check the free length of the springs before fitting? From the pic the springs look way to long eg the coil seem to be deforming side ways towards the wheel.

Take it off again, check the free length against the original. If they are the same then the spring rate must be higher than original. Are they uprated springs or standard 1275?

The simplest way to drop the front (a small amount 12mm) is to fit the spacer kit between the lower spring pan and the mounting points on the wishbones. See Moss AJJ3322.

When fitting new springs and looking to lower, it pays to get uprated and shorter (lowered) springs designed for the job.

MGmike
M McAndrew

Rich, another thought... check the spring is located correctly at the top. If the top hasn't located properly in the cross member it could result in spring misalignment.

Good luck

MGmike
M McAndrew

hey, thanks for the response :) i had a wee look today, and its hard to tell if they are seated ok at the top. What i may do is follow the bolt method of lowering the spring, opposed to using the jack (the method i used), maybe something has mis-aligned when refitting.

as for spring length, the 1275 springs are the same length as the 1500 ones. the car was lower even when i removed the bumpers than it is now, so something must be off

(where abouts in lothian are you?)

Rich K

Rich, I'm in South Queensferry. Where are you? If not far I'm happy to drop around and help. Have already done a set of spacers on my mates car and have a set of extended bolts (screwed rod) used to drop the pan.

MGmike

M McAndrew

hi i'm in balerno on the outskirts of edinburgh :)

Rich K

not far.. send me an email with your contact details if you need a hand...

MGmike
M McAndrew

cheers for that, will have another go, and if i get stuck i'll contact you :)
Rich K

This thread was discussed between 17/03/2011 and 20/03/2011

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