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MG MGB Technical - Steering play

My 1970 B is developing play in the steering column. The bearing at the steering wheel is also slightly loose although I was able to tighten this up substantially.

I note that the Rubber Bumper cars have a sturdier bearing at the wheel and Moss offers a replacement kit. Is there any way to retrofit a later column and rack (the steering shaft on the later rack is longer)? It is my impression that the column base in the body is located slightly inward on the later cars and that the conversion may not be possible.

There is also apparently play in the collapsible portion inside the car. On the midget, I drilled the pieces and installed roll pins, probably defeating the collapsible feature in case of head on collision. Is this a common fix on the B? I was able to expose the area inside the car where the pieces mate and it should be possible to drill and pin them without removing the column.

Any suggestions regarding replacement of the column with a later version or repair of the existing would be appreciated.

Glenn Mallory

Rotational play? Lateral/up-down? Or in and out?

If rotational are you sure it isn't in the UJ, rack or track-rod ends?

Collapsible columns of one type or another were used from the Mk2 in 67, then a full energy-absorbing type later on.

The earlier collapsible type in my UK 73 which was before the full energy absorbing type moves freely up and down inside the outer, what is used to hold the two halves together I don't know. But the implication is that if they had parted, then you would be able to pull the wheel and upper part of the column up when the lower half was still attached to the UJ and rack. As this has a solid outer I can't imagine repairing it in-situ.

The fully collapsible type has the upper half installed such that it cannot move up and down in the outer, in a ball bearing, I think. The connection between the two halves is injection moulded plastic, which can and does shear. The symptom of that is the lower half being pushed out of the bottom by a strong spring. I repaired mine (75 V8) with pop-rivet shanks and super-glue, regardless of the fact that this is bound to affect the collapsibility. Maybe possible to repair in-situ as the outer is expanded mesh, but given the spring pushing the two halves out of alignment maybe not. I didn't even try, just took it out, no big deal.

There is a huge difference in how the columns are mounted under the dash between my collapsible and full energy absorbing types, not a trivial exercise to switch I'd say. The UJ is recessed into the bulkhead more with my full energy-absorbing than it is with my collapsible, implying it is shorter. But then the one car is a CB and the other an RB, with different racks and crossmembers, with the rack mounted in a slightly different position on the crossmember, and the rack shaft going through the engine mount chassis bracket.

paulh4

I put two roll pins through the column where the collapsible pieces meet and the play is gone. This worked well for the Midget too when it got worn and sloppy. I am probably at risk of the pins not shearing properly in a front-end collision but I have been driving MGs since 1970 and we all must die of something.

I also installed a new rack, somewhat of a pain because of irregularities in the mounting holes. The casting had not been cleaned up so I drilled the holes out and finally got it mounted. The play is all gone for now.

The car made a trip down the Baja Peninsula of Mexico late last year and unexpected very rough terrain was encountered. There was a 35 mile stretch that took about 4 hours to traverse where the highway, although shown on the GPS, simply vanished. Apart from dings in the new exhaust system, the car is intact again. The scenery and adventure was wonderful so fussing with the steering column and rack was well worth it.
Glenn Mallory

This thread was discussed between 01/02/2017 and 02/02/2017

MG MGB Technical index

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