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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Front suspension play

I have decided to look at the front suspension of Blackie as he was a bit stiff the other day. All going well and greasing up the points as I find them but....

the nearside front damper arm has play at the suspension unit end - about 5-7 mm at wheel end in total travel. I have tried to tighten up the large nut that holds the arm to the unit but it is well solid. Is it something to worry about?
The unit itself is smooth in operation and the rest of that side seems Ok.
Dave
Dave Price

Yes Dave it is something to worry about. Over the years many midgets and cars that also use this same set up have had the front suspension collapse when the front lver arm unit falls to pieces. Recon units are available at very little cost so it is worth while getting it changed.
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

thats a big yeppers,

the arm with the big castle nut are attached to a shaft thats pressed into place and drives 2 opposing pistons....So need less to say that whole assembly is working its way out of its pressed in housing ....fixing it is not a job for the guy with a big shade tree....

FOr your side of the pond try peter may, he has some that are indistructable as does our our peter caldwell in the USA...(Wisconsin...just dont say michigan..LOL)

If your in a bind with time and cash, try ebay, theres always a decent set for around $30 or so...probably will leak and wont last forever, but I certianly wouldnt drive on the current bad lever arm.

Prop
Prop

Hello Dave.

Been there myself... the lever arm shaft has a way of wearing out its bush, providing fore/aft movement and slop in the steering - along with a loud rattle when motoring over the cobbles. New front dampers will fix this issue completely. When replacing them, also take the time to inspect all the rubber bushes in the front suspension. If the damper is that far gone, the bushes might be ready for replacement as well. When I bought my Midget in '95, I had both issues. I replaced the dampers with good rebuilds, and swapped all the truly perished rubber bushes with polyurethane.

You'll find that your car will track through corners much more solidly after this, with none of the skittery misbehaviour you're probably experiencing now.

Best of luck,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Been there too...

I had a very disconcerting CLUNK every time I went over a bump - when I investigated, it was down to exactly the symptom you describe.

Replacing the front shocks will clear it up. And, as Gryf says, improve your handling no end too.
MarkH1

and this is the problem where the frontline kit is the solution!
so get rid of that terrible leverarm shock and go telescopic!
Onno Könemann

Its definitely worth replacing both shocks with recon units (readily available and should be no more than £20 a side) and a relatively simple job too. Some here will shoot me down and say to replace with new units but these are a heck of lot more expensive.

Also a good idea to replace the upper trunnion bushes and pin at the same time (again very cheap and only a little more effort if you have the shock units off).

Ian
Ian Hooper

Use a poly bush for the top trunion - it's the most stressed bush on the car...

A
Anthony Cutler

I agree with all that is said above Dave, Front Shockers are the Achilles Heal of the Spridget's handling if not in good working order.

There is no NEED to go for Dave Billington's front suspension (as sold by Frontline) but it is an option to replacing std lever arms. In MY opinion, if well set up and in good working order, there is little to compare the two.

The choice between the new Moss supplied lever arms or good reconditioned units (from a reputable supplier like Peter May) would have been the new ones, but in the past three or four years I have experianced the new ones, I would say their life is not long and the fail rate is high, plus they never seem to match in damping resistance. So I would suggest that recons are more cost effective and probably more reliable.

That is MY opinion only....!

Mark.
M T Boldry

Mark,

I generally agree with what you said, I think the key is to find dampers in GOOD working order or GOOD reconditioned dampers. I would give Peter May the benefit of the doubt, I had a look at his site but could only see exchange re-valved dampers for about £34, couldn't see reconned specifically, he does have a good reputation to uphold. The other I would use would be Peter Caldwell as he has a very good reputation from what I see and he details what is done in the reconditioning process, and I think that process justifies the cost.

Personally I would stay clear of £20 dampers unless you could try them and verify they were any good. It has been said here various times that it is difficult to see what proper reconditioning could be done for £20, more likely new oil and a fresh paint job.

My personal experience with some cheap recons from a local factor is that they were little, if any, better than the worn ones they replaced, nice paint though, and that led me to design the telescopic conversion/upper link unit. Fitting those units in place of the recently reconned dampers was like night and day and I wouldn't go back.
David Billington

David,

The lever arm shaft has a way of wearing out its bush if the lever arms are stressed. It is important to mount the new or reconditioned dampers without any horizontal stress on the lever arms. I Used an eccentrically fulcrum bolt shims can do the job ass well.

Flip


Flip Brühl 948 frog 59

Flip,

If you mean me rather than Dave Price then I presume you mean you have eccentric lower bush washers to allow you to alter the kingpin angle, when viewed from the side, to minimise fore/aft static loading on the lever arm. In my case the chassis is aligned fine and the lever arm was not stressed in the static condition, the lever arm dampers in question came pre-worn from the reconditioners.

Having pulled apart a LA damper and considered reconditioning myself, I saw that the main pivot runs straight in the damper body with no replaceable bearings. I considered fitting such but at the time knew of no standard bearings with a thin enough wall to fit so they would not jeopardise the casing strength in my opinion. I had run across Vandervel steel back bronze bearings in a A40 steering box which would have been ideal but Vandervel no longer produced such thin bearings, 1/32" (0.8mm) and I knew of no one else that did so either. IIRC Peter Caldwell in the US make his own bearings, or has them made, in Acetal.

Mark,

BTW the best set of LA dampers I ever had was on an Austin A40 Farina. When I bought the car the front damping was non existent even though the fluid level was fine. I drained the fluid and filled with EP90, thought OK at the time by many, and they worked great, never had a further problem with them. They were tight as you could wish and had I not already done the telescopic conversion on the sprite they would have ended up there.
David Billington

Thanks for the advice so far - and I assume that you are all not on the payroll of Moss, May, Frontline or others!!!

Is there any milage in swapping both dampers at the same time - the O/S 'seems' OK?

Dave
Dave Price

I think it is always advisable to replace these types of parts in "pairs", i.e. both sides at the same time.
Ian Hooper

Dave,

Not on their payroll, especially Frontline.
David Billington

I don't know how the rebuilders are over in Britian, but if the exchange rate isn't to bad you might check with Peter Caldwell at World Wide Auto Parts. http://www.mailbag.com/users/nosimport/
Peter has developed some tooling to install delrin bushings in the housing for the pivot to ride on eliminating the metal to metal contact and also has a way to install a speedy sleeve and an actual lip type seal in place of the fiber packing originally used. His prices are very competitive over here and I think would also be even with shipping to Britian.
Bill Young

This thread was discussed between 19/04/2009 and 24/04/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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