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MG TD TF 1500 - Steering failure

A few days ago I experienced a driver's worst nightmare in the faithful MGTD. Doing 45mph in the right lane on a busy 4 lane highway, the steering wheel detached. I was belted in along with my 10 year old daughter, but let's face it, in an MG there isn't a lot of protection. the curvature of the road caused the car to drift to the right as I applied the brakes. It is a very helpless feeling to have absolutely no control.
As luck would have it, I narrowly missed hitting a 6" curb, a telephone pole by 4 feet, and ended up catching a driveway entrance into a vacant lot where we made a successful panic stop, all with no directional control. We were very lucky.
Investigation revealed that over the years, the retaining nut on the end of the steering column had vibrated loose. This allowed the steering wheel
to be pulled forward off the steering column and the keyway. In TCs and earlier cars, the steering column is fluted with grooves so, if the steering wheel did come off, one could stick it back on and regain control. With the TD's keyway design, and no key,
it's hasta la vista baby. I found the key and nut on the floor, replaced both, and made it home. My fix for now is filling the plastic steering wheel cover with foam to prevent movement of the nut. Is there a more permanent fix? I'm going to check it every driving season to be on the safe side, suggest you all do the same, if not yearly, then just once to make sure all is secure. Cheers, Lee

Lee Jacobsen

Hi Lee, you and your daughter are very lucky to have escaped unhurt. It happens frequently to several old cars and indeed some things have to be checked yearly. On SVW cars it is vital to check the draglink and its ball connections. They are famous for becoming loose and they just pop out with the same result. Two of my friends had that experience and they were both lucky too!
The steering wheel nut can best be secured with Locktite, that makes it very safe.
Hope it does not give you nightmares!!

BAS
Bas de Voogd

Lee,
Glad to hear that you and your daughter escaped unscathed. I bet that experience got your attention.
Do you or anyone else know if the TFs have that same securing arrangement for the steering wheel.

Cheers - D.L. Rainey - Sacramento
Dennis Rainey

TF and TD steering wheel and gear are identical.
John Dutton

This thread was discussed between 05/10/2001 and 11/10/2001

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.