I spent the larger part of Saturday afternoon replacing the front
suspension bushings on my '64 MGB. I definitely learned the value of
anti-seize or grease!
I had rebuilt the front end a couple of years ago, using V8 A-alm
bushings and new kingpins, etc., but the front end had started to
squeak as it jounced over speed bumps.
I thought this time about going with Polyurethane bushings all
around, as they eliminate metal-to-metal contact. I got stuck on
removing the first side, because the upper fulcrum pin would not
drift out. I tried all sorts of tricks, but nothing moved. At first
I thought there might be an alignment problem with the notch in the
kingpin, but no luck. Finally tore enough of the rubber away to see
that the inner bushing was rusted to the fulcrum pin. WD 40 didn't
do it, so I ended up cutting the pin inside both sides of the shock
A-arm. I'd swear I greased the pin before I assembled it last time...
The epiphany was at that moment was that there was nowhere I could
get a new pin for a couple of days. The good news was that
scrounging produced an OK old one in a bucket under the work bench.
The other side came apart like it should. Pushing the V8 bushes out
went OK, too, using the right sockets and a bench vise.
Last rebuild, I had slathered the lower A-arm pins with silver
antiseize, and they and their nuts came right off. Probably a fine
cure for rusting spokes if you are assembling a wire wheel.
Now the question: How tight to cinch down the castle nuts on the
lower A-arm? No spec exists in the manual, and I'm not sure how
freely the arm should pivot when tight. The poly compresses
somewhat, and I think some compliance is determined by the elasticity
of the material. I ended up tightening the bushes up to just allow
the cotter pins to fit. If one were replacing the castle nuts with
non-OEM, there might be a problem, as the thickness of nuts/depth of
the castle slot can differ a lot.
--
Chris Attias
'64 MGB
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