HI John,
What you have sounds like lower king pin wear. Although John Twist insists
that lots of play here does not constitute a problem I recommend that should
be corrected.
Usually the play is the result of water having entered into the area of the
lower king (swivel) pin bush and the play is a result of either corrosion of
the king pin itself or wear of the lower bush or more likely a combination
of both.
If this is the case, replacing the king pin and bush is the best solution.
The Workshop Manual covers this very well.
I would recommend that you have the bushes installed and reamed by someone
knowledgeable in the field who has the CORRECT reamers and have the stub
axle crack checked while things are apart.
I don't know where you are located but we have exchange stub axle assemblies
on the shelf, as to several of the other suspects in the business, and that
certainly makes for an easy job.
Michael Salter
www.precisionsportscar.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-healeys@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-healeys@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of John Adamik
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 11:06 AM
To: healey list
Subject: front suspension play
While poking and prodding the car while it is up on jack stands, I noticed
that the front left wheel has about 1/32" of play when push/pulled (slight
clunk), hand on the top and bottom of the tire. It looks like the play is
located in the "swivel axle lower bush", (bottom of the kingpin) as shown in
the manual.
My question is, should I just replace that bushing (and probably the top
bushing) or is it time to go through the entire suspension and replace all
the
rubber bushings. The bushings appear old and surface cracked, but when
tugged
on nothing is loose or has play. The right front has only a few thousands
of
play in the same place, no clunking.
I replaced the sway bar rubber bushings, but I am not sure how tight to
tighten the nuts. It seems that the bushings can be over squished.
As always, any advice is greatly appreciated.
John '62 BT7
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