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MG MGB Technical - steering absorbers


has anyone fitted a steering absorber on a early mgb.
if yes, would like to hear the pros and con of fitting one, and the way to go about it. am asking this question , because i was advised to do so.

thanks
vignes
vignes pillai

Sorry Vignes, but I don't know what you mean by "steering absorber". Are you meaning a collapsible steering column?
Mike Howlett

what i meant was a steering damper or a stabilizer. .
vignes pillai

Never seen one on an MGB. Who advised it and why?
Dave O'Neill 2

I have owned a few four wheel drive cars in my time that have had a steering damper fitted. It is just a shock absorber really.

Very useful when off road as it takes the shock out of hitting rocks and other things, that you do not find on normal roads, which results in violent wrenches on the steering wheel and your arms and wrists.

It has no effect whatsoever when driving on normal roads, you just cant turn the wheel that quickly, so I can't really see any point fitting one to your MG.

Tony
Tony Oliver

The only reason I could think of that would cause you to fit a steering damper to an MGB is if you had vibration at speed. There is sometimes a vibration felt in the steering wheel at around 60 - 70 mph. I have had it on both my MGBs and have never found a cause. On my current car, a V8 conversion, I fitted EZ power steering and the vibration disappeared. I guess the electric motor acts as a damper.
Mike Howlett

If you have vibration you really ought to fix the root cause. Unless the damper is fitted to the affected wheel or wheels the vibration is still going to be acting through all the joints between wheel and damper, and if the damper is effective enough to stop the vibrations reaching the steering wheel then it is going to be affecting those joints more than if there were no damping.

My V8 started a vibration with a new set of tyres, and repeated balancing on a standard balancer had no effect. Finally I had them done on a Road Force Balancer which got rid of it. The problem is that standard balancers hold the wheel by the centre hole, which was never intended for that purpose when our cars were built and it isn't accurate enough. I'd even tried a universal stud hole mounting adapter, but that was no better, probably due to the clearances in the swinging arms of the adapter. The Road Force system uses a selection of hubs with several sets of stud holes. They select the correct hub, then fit the studs to the appropriate holes, and the result is very positive and accurate mounting the same as on the car. Centre lock wheels are just as bad, even though the hole is accurate, because the standard fittings hold the wheel in the wrong place.
Paul Hunt

I own two four wheel drive vehicles and the steering dampers work great on both of them. This is, of course, is when I'm driving on poorly surfaced roads. On a B, it would only mask the root cause of the problem as Paul points out above. RAY
rjm RAY

Perhaps the poster is getting bump-steer?

This would create what would seem to be the 'need' for a damper as a cure, but as said earlier, prevention is what is needed.
John Bilham

A friend and neighbour makes them for Morgan sports cars. He's sold a large number of them all around the world Apparently they make a huge difference to a Morgan's steering.
Just click under "Products"
http://geoffsshed.net/

I've however never sensed the need for one in any MG I've ever driven
T Aczel

I cannot see any reason for the damper on an "on road" car. As stated above by others, if the wheels wobble or vibrate or behave in any way out of the normal then the right thing to do is to find what causes the problem and cure it, not just put a band aid on it.

4WD vehicles and road cars are totally different beasts when it come to where they are driven. If the wheels on my road car behaved that badly I would rather find out what the problem was then mask it with a device that has never been fitted (to my knowledge) on an MGB or any other classic or modern car that was not designed to travel off road.

I might add that the requirement to fit one to a Morgan in order to improve its road handling is a bit hard to believe, but the comments of Morgan owners would seem to suggest otherwise.

Just my opinion.

Tony
Tony Oliver

I find it difficult to believe that Morgan steering could be so bad that one has to hang on to the steering wheel on dual carriageways i.e. presumably relatively flat and smooth tarmac, let alone that it's been the case for over 60 years going by the ages of the cars referenced.
Paul Hunt

Oddly enough, my '75 Mb 300D came from the factory with a steering damper. However, I've never seen one on another car that is designed for use on paved roads. RAY
rjm RAY

About twenty years ago I mounted a VW steering damper on my 1937 MG-VA Tourer. It stabilized the steering and severely reduced the wander that was present before.
It mounted to the fron axle and tied into the cross link.
SANDY

Wander and vagueness is often a design 'feature' of steering systems other than rack and pinion (I don't know what the VA uses). The Morgan owners seemed to be getting much worse than that.
Paul Hunt

The MG-VA uses worm and peg similar to the MG-TC
SANDY

Coincidentally I opened my Enjoying MG last night and there was an article on the VA. Amongst period documentation a current example of the car was featured, and I thought "I recognise that registration" - it was the car that took my daughter and I to church for her wedding using wedding cars tonbridge in 1998. My memory for number plates isn't that good - I have a picture of bride and groom with the car as my 'wallpaper'.
Paul Hunt

You shouldn't need a damper on a rack and pinion. The pre 1988 Fieros had them and one of the best things I ever did was to remove it and toss it.
Bill Spohn

Where's the OP gone?

Back in the day, I used to ride a BSA Super Rocket with a steering damper that had to be wound down on the steering head (as opposed to the telescopic dampers fitted to some modern bikes), and it would induce wandering if wound down too tightly, and thus stiffen the steering.

When I eventually fitted a Steib sidecar the damper finally came into its own.
John Bilham

This thread was discussed between 26/11/2014 and 02/12/2014

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