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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Am I Being Stupid?

The answer is probably yes, but I want to make sure!

1. rear shock absorbers. Is the front bolt stupidly impossible to tighten up without going out and buying a very slim socket specifically for the job. I can't seem to get a normal socket/spanner on it.

2. New rear wheel bearing kits came with packets of grease. Don't the bearings sit in the axle oil? Why do I need grease?

3. Slightly less stupid. When rebuilding rear brakes does anyone ever replace the springs and adjusters? Do these wear out? I was just going to put in new cylinders (with stupid clips! :-D) and re-assemble.

Thanks everyone.
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Malcolm,

No, you are not, the rear lever arm dampers are a pain in the fingers - every time I take them off I promise to 'do something' about the fact that the hole in the damper is too close to the body of the damper to get a socket around - I'm not sure if a 'crows foot' spanner/socket will fit, but usually accept that it's going to a bitch and get on with it. - if i could find a 'large head' bolt that butt up the body it would so much easier.

Somebody has a picture, but I remember the bearings sit sort of back to front and I'm not sure if the do sit in oil.

I replace the springs if they look stretched, never swapped adjusters, but have swapped the 'in drum hand brake lever' because of wear on the hinge pin


Malc
Malc Gilliver

If you're fitting the shock bolts, it is normally easy enough to just tighten the nut on the outside, without a socket on the bolt head. This is assuming that you're not using nyloc nuts or rusty bolts.

If you buy genuine wheel bearing kits, they don't come with grease. I've never felt the need to add grease to the bearing.

I have replaced the adjusters, as they do wear. It's just a matter of how worn they are.
Dave O'Neill2

take my advice for what it is, as I dont have alot of hands on experiance with wheel bears...I perfer to read comments about them...haha

Ive always packed mine with axle grease...look up youtube and there will be lots of how to vids...there is a special tech for palming the grease into the bearing...its essy to learn once you have seen it done...but its essential to do it correctly

Im guessing the need to bath and soak bearings in oil is to "season" the bearing...but I think thats more for brass and not steel....agian just guessing, not alot of experiance here

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

1. Don't remember grinding the nut off when I removed mine a few years ago so must have managed to get a spanner on somehow. Agree with Dave that with a bit of luck and a new bolt/nut you should be able to tighten from one side.

2. Bearings do lube from axle oil. Don't suppose it would do any harm to pack with grease as well. I used third party bearings, the type with two rubber seals to retain the grease. I popped the inner seal out to allow the axle oil to get in but left the outer as belt and braces for the gasket and O-ring.

3. Read lots of horror stories about the new clip arrangement for rear brake cylinders. I had never used anything but circlips in the past. What worked for me, and in the end it was quite easy, was to file a flat on the outer circumference of the clip. If you hook the middle lug into place and press the flat down so that it is held from rotating by the axle flange it is relatively easy to lever the ends of clip into place. Without the flat I found that there was not enough room between the cylinder and the flange to allow the clip to locate properly.
W Dunsmore

I use a thin-wall socket for the dampers; made it out of a normal socket and a bench grinder :-)
David Smith

I have a 3/8" drive socket that fits. I just don't always need to use it ;o)

You could always fit some caphead bolts.
Dave O'Neill2

I don't know about the rear dampers since I've never removed/installed them.

The rear axle bearings don't need to be greased since they are bathed in the axle oil which rides up the half shafts out to the bearings, lubricates them and drips back down towards the differential. This design has been around for ages and been used on many rear wheel drive cars. You might put some of what ever you're going to put in the diff onto the bearings just to pre-lube them.

The springs and adjuster usually don't need replacement unless they are worn out.
Martin Washington

1/ I might need to do this as I noticed one shock absorber is wet at the bottom although it functions ok.

2/ I got 2 bearing kits from that company that rhymes with Toss. It contained a sachet of grease - so I used it.

3/ just fitted new rear cylinder (subject of a recent thread started by me) and fitted the dreaded C clips with the backplates off the car. When fitted to the car I didn't notice part of the C clip was between the backplate and axle flange causing clearance issues between hub and cylinder rubbers as hub rotates. I turned them round 180 degrees and couldn't fit the bleed nipple until I had filed clearance in the edge of the C clip. PITA

Rob
Rob aka MG Moneypit

This thread was discussed between 10/02/2014 and 11/02/2014

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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