I was going thru the brakes and suspension on my MGA prior to Spring. Much
to my chagrin, I found that the lower pinch bolt for the drivers side
steering knuckle was loose. I had the same issue on my MGB years back and
feared the worst. Sure enough, the hole in the suspension arm has worn
oblong and the bolt is worn about 1/3 of the way through.
Disassembly was hampered by the fact that the bottom distance piece was
solidly rusted to the pinch bolt. This condition was caused when the
kingpin seals disappeared sometime in the distant past. The lower knuckle
was acting like a funnel for water and it was all settling at the bottom.
Thank goodness the previous owners were on good terms with their grease
guns. The lower bushing seems to be in good shape and the knuckle /
kingpin threads are fairly tight.
This all started in January when I noticed that Moss had the V8 suspension
bushings on sale. I bought them thinking that I would rebuild the
suspension "someday." Sure enough, when I was under there with the grease
gun, I notices that the old bushings were pretty well shot and there were
only seven bolts (per side) between me and their replacement. Now I have
the driver's side front suspension strewn across my garage floor and I am
facing the prospect of asking my financial officer to approve an
unscheduled parts purchase. Since I have already used up my "stupid
purchase" allocation for the month, I seriously considered just throwing
the hole mess back together and hoping for the best.
Now for the advice part:
1. Since I have to replace one of the front lower suspension arms, should
I get the ones with the anti roll bar holes in them? I will probably put
an AMMCO bar on the front someday so, if this bar needs the holes, now
would be the time to add them. On the other hand, I only need to replace
one of the arms so it would be cheaper to just put on one without the hole
rather than two with the hole.
2. My inner tier rod ends are slightly loose (ten thousandths or so play).
Is it a lot of work the take these apart and adjust them. The manual says
you need special tools. I don't think that they are loose enough to cause
problems but since I already have this much apart...
3. My steering rack is fairly stiff. This could be from some PO using
grease instead of hypoid oil (see previous mention of his fondness of his
gun) or it could be because the column and rack are not properly aligned.
Any advice / pointers for attacking this would be appreciated.
I figure I have two weeks to get this fixed before I start eating into
possible driving time. Spring is almost here!
Regards
Bill Eastman
61 MGA on jack stands and suspension challenged.
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