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MG MGB Technical - Another successful front end rebuild

Many thanks to everyone who helped me over the last few months to understand the front end rebuild. I successfully broke down and rebuilt the suspension in two weekends. Last weekend, a friend and I spent all saturday tearing down the beast. One trunion bolt had to be cut, one tie-rod end had to be cut and drilled out. But other than that, it all fell apart as planned. Spent sunday cleaning, sandblasting and painting. Brought the swivel axles to the shop for new bushes and picked up on Thursday morning. I was outside by 10 am the next saturday and had wheels down by 2 in the afternoon. Yes, only four hours to assemble. I've now essentially got a brand new suspension. New shocks, springs, swivel axles and kingpins, all new hardware, buffers, bearings, bushes, etc.. etc.. One kink was after putting the left tire on, the steering rod end scraped against the inner wheel. hmmm.... I added a couple washers between the swivel axle and the steering arm. Not sure if that's the right solution, but it got me on the road. She rides really well, except now the rear end seems even worse with such a sweet front. The rear rebuild is next month. In addition, I fit a 3/4" front sway bar. She screams around the corners but I think that's mostly due to bad tires. But anyhow.... Thank's again to everyone who helped and now I can pass my experience on to others who are contemplating the same task. On to the next project!!!!
Brian Johnson

Brian, Your squeeling tire could be due to an alignment problem. You don't mention aligning the ft end, and I'm sure it needs to be done. My guess is that the tie rod end touches because it's not screwed-in far enough. Aligning is easy and the archives will give you several methods to acomplish it at home.

Does your ft end seem to sit high? If you tightened the inner rubber bushings with the wheels hanging down, they may be seated in the wrong place thus placing torque on the a-arms.
Fred Horstmeyer

Brian; Glad to hear you didn't have any major problems. I think about a year ago there was a
thread about tie rod ends rubbing wheels. I think the offending ends were too big, I don't recall
who made them but it sounds like you have one of those. How far the tie rod is screwed in the
tie rod end will not cause it to rub the wheel but it will affect wheel alignment. Replacing the
worn parts will change wheel alignment. Adding the two washers under the steering arm will
cause the wheels to toe out. The washers will also change the angle relationship between the
front wheels when the wheels are turned, maybe not enough to cause any problems.

The only alignment adjustments that can be made on the MG is toe in/out. You can check
it yourself. Get two straight 1"x 6" boards about 3 feet long. Have an assistant hold one
board against the tire on one side and hook the end of a tape measure on the board near the
rear of the wheel. You can hold the other board on the opposite wheel and measure the the
distance between the boards. Without moving the boards measure the distance between
them in front of the wheels. The front should be 1/16" to 3/32" less than the rear measurement.
Make corrections by turning a tie rod in or out as needed. Drive the car and note where the
steering wheel is pointing, if it is not straight ahead you need to adjust the tie rods to correct the
problem. My answer is already too long so ask again if you cannot figure out how to get the
steering wheel straight by adjusting the tie rods. Regards, Clifton
Clifton Gordon

Thanks guys. I never set the alignment, just eyed it to get the maiden voyage under way. It drives straight but I will bring it to the shop for alignment and tires this weekend. When the steering arm is mounted against the swivel axle, the tie-rod end rubs the inner wheel. This will happen at whatever depth the tie-rod end is screwed onto the tie-rod. I had to create "distance" between the rod end and the inner wheel to prevent the scraping. I'll read the archives for suggestions, but the only possibility I can see is the rod end is too FAT. I'll let the alignment shop deal with it. Can't remember where I got it, but am disappointed it was sold as replacement. Thanks. -Brian.
Brian Johnson

This thread was discussed between 12/05/2002 and 13/05/2002

MG MGB Technical index

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