Replaced mine with the prothane last weekend. Taking the front springs out
is real simple. Get two 6" carriage bolts (5/16" I believe).
Jack the car up, put on stands. Once the wheel is off, take a look at the
lower a-arm. The spring is held in place by a plate with 4 5/16" bolts.
One on each corner. Take off two bolts that are diagonally across from each
other. Replace with the carriage bolts with threads pointing down. Take
the slack up on these, but don't tighten too much. Then remove the other
two short bolts. The spring should now be held in place with the carriage
bolts only.
For this next part, I used a bottle jack that wasn't in my Haynes. Place
the bottle jack under the plate and open until it just touches the bottom of
the plate. Loosen the carriage bolts about 1/2 inch. Let the jack down 1/2
inch. Loosen the carriage bolts another 1/2 inch. Lower the jack 1/2 inch.
SO on and so forth. I always did it so that the jack was holding the spring
in place, and the bolts were there for security. with no weight or
pressure on them, I could loosen the 1/2 inch by hand. Everything else is
real simple. Reinstallation of the spring is reverse. First put in the
carriage bolts, then lift a little with the jack, bring up slack on bolt,
lift a little, bring up slack. I did it this way b/c I was scared to death
that the jack would tilt and send the spring through the car or me.
BTW, I only had one turn around the block before my engine quit, so I
don't know how the bushing turned out.
Mike
'78 Midget (Ohh... You want me running eh?)
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard D Arnold [mailto:richard.arnold@juno.com]
Sent: Friday, May 14, 1999 7:55 AM
To: mgs@autox.team.net; spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Midget front bushings
Am hoping to replace the lower and upper bushings on Molly, the '79
Midget 1500, this weekend. Scanned my Haynes for instructions on
compressing the spring, and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Maybe I need to be looking at the car when I'm reading it, but can anyone
offer a more comprehensive set of instructions?
Other tips, name calling, and finger pointing will also be cheerfully
accepted.
Rich
Council Bluffs, Iowa
'74.5 RB MGB "Miss Maggie"
'78 Chevy Half-Ton "Waltzin' Matilda" (LBC Support Vehicle)
'79 Midget "Miss Molly"
richard.arnold@juno.com or rdarnold@neonramp.com
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