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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Removing Front Suspension?

Overhauling the front suspension on my '71 Sprite.

It's rusted solid, nuts are rounding off as I try to undo them, apart from the damper bolts!

As every part will be replaced, I'm going to cut it off with a grinder. I'll cut through the springs to remove them, then bolts which hold the wishbone to the brackets.

If I can't quite get to the bolts with the grinder, I'll chop off the wishbones near to the brackets to gain access.

Is this a plan? Any thing I should watch out for?

Thanks

AndyB

a borris

Andy
You shouldn't need to cut the springs, have you rounded the nut on the top of the kingpin? A trolley jack under the end of the wishbone while you are loosening it and then let it down gently. There isn't a lot of compression on midget springs in my experiance but take care anyway. If you cut the wishbones you will not have any to offer as exchange parts wich could be expensive! If only copaslip had been used on these parts all those years ago!

Good luck Carl
C Bintcliffe

Yes, nut on top rounded!

Replacing the springs and the wishbones are beyond exchanging, so thought I'd cut them out to save a bit of time.

And yes, a drop of Copaslip would be nice! There'll be a good coating when it all goes back.

AndyB
a borris

Andy,

Do NOT cut the springs they can be very dangerous !

As Carl suggested support the car on stands (assuming engine is still in place - need weight) and use a trolley jack under wishbone.
Either the top runnion bolt/nut or top kingpin nut should be removed and lower jack very slowly.

Richard.
richard boobier

You can also use a nut splitter to crack off the rounded fasteners; or drill them and split with a chisel. And as the others have said, I wouldn't try to cut the springs. There would be an almighty bang when they let go. In what kind of shape are the spring pan nuts/bolts? You can either let the springs out through the bottoms of the wishbones with long bolts or threaded rods, or support the end of the wishbone with a trolley jack, remove the upper trunnion pin, and then let the jack down slowly to decompress the spring.

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Thanks for the advice guys, will jack up the pan, cut the wishbone and release the pressure slowly.

The nuts on the pan and wishbones are just blobs of rust and not coming unscrewed! So I'm not going to waste time on them, have already got all the bits I need, assumed none of what's on the car would be reusable.

AndyB (who lacks patience!)
a borris

be very careful NOT to distort or damage the chassis brackets the wishbones bolt on to

remember the wishbones locates via the big washer doodahs with the slotted fixing when you rebuild

why do I mention this? 'acos people have had this bit wronbefore

the wishbone bolts go in from front at the front hole and from the back at the back

do use lots of coppaslease, lots.
Bill sdgpm

you need a set of 6-point sockets, like yesterday !
David Smith

Andy,
I have a set of pans if you need them for exchange, just a thought.

Good luck,

Howie.
Howard Wright

I used a sawsall to VERY carefully cut the wishbone mounting bolts between the wishbones and the frame mounts. Obviously, one needs to be careful not to damage the mounts and frame. See picture.


JM Mercer

This thread was discussed between 14/02/2009 and 15/02/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.