Ken G's Journal - Front Suspension : Vintage Race Forum

Front Suspension

Ken G — Posted on The MG Experience
Monday May 17, 2021 11:34 AM

Front Suspension

I started working on the front suspension this weekend. Oh what a mess, the grime is so thick I needed to scrape it off to find the bolts to try to loosen them. I was mostly successful as I was able to remove from the passenger side:
-Front Sway Bar
-Hub
-Wish bone arms
-Spring Pan and Spring
- Shock

I have been unable to budge the lock nut on the tie rod, it has handled most everything I've thrown at it so far. I'm looking into getting a bigger hammer lol... (Edit. yup a vise and a Bigger hammer resolved this)

The wishbone arms are cleaned up and primed, I'll work on some of the other bits this week with the goal of getting it back together next weekend. I'm on the fence about dropping the front cross member. It certainly is nasty and needs to be cleaned up, but I'm not yet sure when else it will entail. More research needed.

PXL 20210513 214037400

What a mess

PXL 20210513 221816353

Lock nut that is giving me a headache

Trophy wall

Member Comments on Journal Entry: Front Suspension ↵

2021-05-18 09:18:44 # 73928

Comment by Theran S

I'm currently in the process of doing the exact same job. Mine was even more of a mess than yours. I too was tempted to drop the cross member but decided against it. The tough part is deciding where to stop. Everything needs attention, but the weather is getting nice and it's time to get this thing on the road. Currently waiting on Worldwide Auto Parts to rebuild my shock absorbers. Going on 4 weeks now....at a standstill until they are done. Good luck.

2021-05-18 13:08:30 # 73947

Comment by Ken G

Theran S Such rust and grime huh. You are right about it being tough to know when to stop.I think my shocks will be ok for this summer but I may get them reworked over the winter. Dropping the cross member doesn't bother me as much as having to disconnect the steering rack and get that realigned. I'll get the grease and crud cleaned off while it is in place and see where that leads me.

2021-05-26 14:45:44 # 74121

Comment by gregory kozuhowski

try using a 50 % mixture of atf trans and laquor thinner spray it on and let it soak it frees up engines with frozen piston rings in a couple of days.

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Front Suspension Cont.

Ken G — Posted on The MG Experience
Monday May 24, 2021 4:06 PM

While I spent a majority of my weekend free time on my wife's garden fence, I was able to get a little me time and work on the MG. I have now removed the entire front suspension including the steering rack and the cross member. They are really filthily, and pretty gross.
This week I start the clean up and refresh.

Getting the steering rack to disengage from the universal joint was a hassle, but that was the most difficult part of this operation.

It appears that I need to get new wheel bearings for the front hubs, not sure how I will tackle getting those pressed in.

PXL 20210523 154100282

The cross member was lighter than I thought it would be.

The grime on this thing is terrible

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Front Suspension Cont.

Ken G — Posted on The MG Experience
Wednesday June 2, 2021 10:17 AM

We had a few rainy days that saved me from working on the garden and I was able to get a lot of clean up on the Front Suspension completed. Monday the weather turned and I was able to start priming and painting. There is still more clean up work to do, the steering rack being the worse, but I feel like I'm making great progress. If the weather holds I hope to have to front end back together in about 2 weeks...

PXL 20210531 173324689

PXL 20210531 173554422

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Front Suspension Cont.

Ken G — Posted on The MG Experience
Sunday June 20, 2021 12:13 PM

Life has been busy and it has slowed my progress a bit. However I've been slowly plugging away at the front end. I finally got most of the parts cleaned up or replaced and was able to start putting it back together. The main crossmember went in last weekend and this weekend I was able to get the springs and axels back on. The second time went a lot faster than the first time and the third time didn't take long at all. I'm pretty happy with the way this looks. I've still have the steering, wheel bearings, brakes and roll bar to get in. Maybe by the 4th but I wouldn't bet on it, The kids are out of school and camping season is here.

See anything wrong with this? yup backwards this is why I had to do it three times

PXL 20210620 164124019

PXL 20210620 163642072

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Front Suspension Cont. Steering

Ken G — Posted on The MG Experience
Sunday July 4, 2021 4:55 PM

Happy 4th of July!

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I posted here, but I guess I've not made a ton of progress so it does sort of make sense. Camping and house projects have slowed the progress. but today I was able to sneak out to the garage and finished putting the steering rack back together and getting it installed. The whole slide the rack pinion into the knuckle joint was a pain, especially for one person. I think with a helper it might have gone easier.
Anyways It is in and looks pretty good to me, tomorrow I put the oil into the steering rack and if I have the time and ambition replace the front wheel bearings.
The front end is going a bit slower than I had hoped but I'm starting to see a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.

What I started with

All cleaned up

Back in the car

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Front Suspension Cont. Bearings

Ken G — Posted on The MG Experience
Monday July 5, 2021 5:11 PM

I was hoping to get the bearings removed and installed today. I removed the old ones, got the hubs cleaned up and got out the bearings to get them prepped. It was at this point I realized that I had ordered the wrong bearings and that pretty much stopped all progress. Need to send that wrong ones back and reorder from Moss.

Got the Kayak racks installed on the 4Runner and played with the kids in the pools so overall good day.

PXL 20210705 150454446

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