Hello, everyone:
Thanks to everyone who replied with information and offers. I got quite a
few but, through my own stupidity, dumped the three digests that would have
contained most of the replies.
I have my suspension apart. I went to the local Reddy Rents and rented a
hub puller. It was a huge monstrosity that bolted onto the wheel studs
with all sorts of places to hammer on it. The person at the rental told me
that it works better if you have a bigger hammer and asked me if I owned a
sledgehammer. Luckily, no undue force was necessary as the device had
enough leverage on its own. As luck would have it, one of the inner
bearings stayed on the spindle so it was back to the rental store. I was
able to remove the bearing using a bearing splitter combined with a two jaw
gear puller. Again, not a lot of force necessary, just awkward positions.
The bearing splitter would have probably worked by itself but It got caught
on the seal / inner spacer. Since I was at the rental place, I just
grabbed another puller off the wall to finish the job rather than diagnose
the problem.
Overall I am very happy with the condition of the front suspension. The
swivel pins and trunnions are in good shape other than some rust on the
bottom threads. The threads are tight. The trunnion bushings are in good
shape. I will have to replace two lower suspension links and the lower
bolts / distance pieces. Other than that, I need all of the soft parts. I
have definitely seen worse.
I will also be replacing one brake hose. The other front hose had been
replaced last fall due to failure so I figure that this is a good idea.
One of the reason that I started this whole mess was to check the shocks.
My front passenger side shock was nearly empty with very little damping
action. I filled it with a 50-50 mix of 20W motorcycle shock oil / Castrol
20W50. I will watch for leaks but my budget doesn't include shock at this
juncture. It works and probably won't add appreciably to the oil slick
that forms under the car now.
Concerning the stiff steering: I have not had a chance to look at it but,
thanks again to everyone's input, I have developed a strategy. I will
disconnect the U-joint and see if that helps. If it eliminates the
stiffness, I have an alignment issue. If not, I will start flushing the
rack with low viscosity oil until it loosens up. I will then refill it
with gear oil. I would like to avoid removing the rack if I can because I
am sure that I would find more things to spend money on.
For aligning the steering column, I am stupefied as to how I can accurately
set the measurements from the workshop manual. I am thinking that I will
make pointers for the ends of each shaft that end at the center of the
U-joint. I will align these pointers, mark the positions, reassemble the
steering and hope for the best. While I am at it I plan to replace the
bearing felts.
The weather people here claim that most of the snow will be gone by this
weekend. Quite a change from 6 inches we received Friday the -5F
temperature we had Saturday morning. Hopefully I will have the A back
together by then and go out for a spin!
Regards
Bill Eastman
61 MGA (MN plate no. 61 MGA) "I'm not dead yet"
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