At 05:20 PM 9/6/98 -0700, Kevin Richards wrote:
>Just embarked on the front end tear-down. I finished the passenger side,
now I have a few questions.
>
>I was wondering, how do you know (after the rubber seals are in place) how
far to screw in the upper and lower links into the spindle before you
reattach them to the shock (upper) and the wishbone arm (lower). It seems
to me that this is a very important reassembly item.
The swivel pins are "waisted" where the steel tube passes through the link.
screw the link onto the swivel pin until the hole for the steel tube lines
up with the clearance "waist" of the swivel pin. Insert the steel tube in
the link. Then screw the link up and down to determine the limit of travel
each way before the steel tube hits the thread on the swivel pin. This
should be about three turns total. Then screw the link back to about the
middle of that motion (about 1-1/2 turns) so that it can rotate freely both
ways in operation. And of course get the swivel links in the correct
location on the car, because all four are different. The parts fitted to
the left side of the car have left handed threads, and the right side parts
have right handed threads.
>What kind of tell-tale wear should I be looking for in the upper and lower
trunnion bushes/steel tubes? they look to have just minor pitting and
discoloration, hardly what I would call "worn out".
If the steel tubes are only pitted and not worn, and if at least 80% of the
original outer surface is still in tact (not more than 20% pits) and smooth
and shiney, then they can be reused. If in doubt replace the tubes,
they're pretty cheap.
Apply grease to the bushing and the tube, then insert the tube in the
bushing, and then try to wiggle the tube around in the bushing. Parts in
good condition will have no perceptible play with the grease taking up the
working clearance. If you can move the tube as much as 0.010" radially,
the bushing should be replaced (needs reaming after installation).
Looseness in these parts is amplified a few times at the edge of the tire.
>Is it worth pulling out the inner bearing out of the hub for re-packing?
The outer bearings are a piece of cake. The idea here is to be able to
disassemble everything, give them a good cleaning and repack with fresh
grease.
Yes, and no. If you can adequately clean them in place and repack them,
more power to you. Personally I've never been satisfied that they are
clean without removing them. There is the admonition not to remove the
bearings from the hub unnecessarily, as each removal and reinstallation
causes some wear to the bores of the hub. After several such operations
over the years, I had one front hub with loose bearing races and had to
replace the hub (with a good used part). Unfortunately it was the one that
carried the magnets for the wheel sensor of my rally computer, so I also
had to remount those magnets at the time.
>Lastly, does anyone have a good line on cheap rebuilt front shocks?? I
have a price of $85.00 plus core. They are professionally rebuilt. Anyone
have a cheaper source?
Ah, sweet and sour. In the spring of 1996 I paid $69.95 each (plus core or
exchange and $5 each shipping) for Apple Hydraulics to rebuild my two front
shocks. They came with a two year warrantee. They seem to last a few
weeks to a few months before leaking about the new seals. Apple was a
little disconcerted about the fact, but they replaced them with more
rebuilt units (exchange) without charge, and even covered the shipping
costs both ways for the replacement parts. In fact they did this repeatedly.
After two years and nine rebuilt units from Apple hydraulics, I am right
back where I started with one good unit and one leaky unit. So far 8 out
of 9 have failed, and I suspect the other one is likely to fail soon as
well. So now I'd just like to buy a couple of new ones. Does anyone know
who is now manufacturing new ones again? I heard that some major name like
Monroe has the franchise these days, but can't find the information when I
need it.
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude (and still one bad shock)
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