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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - TD Track Rod Ends

Recently renewed track rod ends on my TD. Bought new ends from Brown and Gammons. At first sight, the new ends were slightly longer, 3-4mm, than those taken off. Went to get tracking checked today, which was out. Due to longer ends there is not sufficient free thread to adjust tarcking. Just wonder if anyone else has had this problem. B&G will look into the problem when I email details, but I suspect will have no solution. One solution is to machine a bit off the ends, assuming there is enough internal thread left.I believe the rack etc is original, but cannot be sure.
Henry Buckeldee

Henry
I suggest you try a different supplier.I have dealt with B&G twice since I had my recently acquired TD, the first time I got a conversion gasket from them and when I went to fit the paper timing cover gasket it was too small, I phoned them and told them about it, the guy finally phoned me back about an hour later and said that the guys in their workshop told him that you have to soak the gasket in water overnight to make it fit!!, this is utter rubbish,I have owned and worked on MGs for 47 years and never had to soak a gasket in water to make it fit [ I ended up by making one ].The other thing I asked them for was bearings and a seal to fit the late type of water pump, I quoted the part numbers from their most recent catalogue and was assured that they had the parts.The following day I received a packet containing two bearings and two? seals, both the seals were for the earlier type pump which is completely different internally. Once again I phoned them and told them that the seals were wrong and was told by the guy that they were the only ones that they supply, when I told him that I had ordered the correct seal by the part number in their catalogue I was told that the catalogue hadn't been altered for 25years so you couldn't really rely on the part numbers!!. Needless to say I will not be dealing with B&G again. Incidently I have a feeling that the TD tie rod ends are the same as Morris Minor, worth checking out.
Harry
H.E.W. Walker

I have ordered several times form B&G and until now I had no problems with their service and the quality of the spares. It is true, Harry, that their catalogue is not completely up to date, but in general, I am very satisfied with them. Nevertheless, I am presently preparing an important order, which includes two TD tie rod ends. Therefore, I am very interested in the outcome of the issue with your tie rod ends, Henry. I would appreciate if you keep us informed.

Jesus
J.Benajes

Jesus
Have spoken to B&G with relevent details. They maintain that the track rod ends have not changed since time began. At the moment I am not sure.
Measuring the ones I took off, it is about 71.5mm from centre of grease nipple to end of threaded part. The ones they supplied measure about 73-74mm. I dont have any original ones to compare this with.
My tracking needs to come in at the front, to make it parallel. However I cannot do this because the ends are screwed right in.
One complication appears to be that when you go to get the tracking checked, to set the steering rack at dead centre position, they(the garage) seem to rely on the steering wheel being set at dead centre. In my case I dont think it is, but its not far out.
Has anyone ever used some simple homemade trammel device to set their steering. Or gunsons Trakrite.
Henry


Jesus/Henry

I will measure the track rod ends on my TD and let you know what they are. I do know that they are the right length because I recently set up the tracking on my car. I have a proper Dunlop optical gauge for doing this. As a matter of interest Henry it doesn't matter where the steering wheel is to do the tracking, as long as the wheels are centralised. the steering wheel can be positioned once the tracking is done
Harry
H.E.W. Walker

Henry,

I am having trouble understanding this B&G catalogue problem.

They gave me a new catalogue at Stoneleigh and it seems to be very up-to-date.

It is clear that at the top of page 10, they state that "... Parts to recondition the original water pump fitted to TD to engine 6482 with carbon ring seal are generally not available apart from the bearings. We advise fitting the replacement pump as above"

In addition, they gave me a diskette with their price list dataBase and it too seems very up-to-date.

I bought separate water pump parts (seals and bearings) from Abingdon w/o having to buy the eitire kit, most of which I would not need.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A. Clark

Hi,

Searching the archives, I found this interesting thread, where some friends exposed the same problem, even with new track rod ends from other supplier.

Go to:

http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgbbs&access=&mode=archiveth&subject=8&subjectar=8&thread=2001072615503119421

Hope that helps.

Jesus
J. Benajes

Jesus
Many thanks for that. It seems other people have had problems, the cause of which is not always clear. Unless you check every part you never know if your setup is original. In my case I am still not sure.

Harry
Would be interested to know what your track rod ends measure up to.
My remark about steering alignment checking was designed to highlight some garages reliance on the steering wheel being set central. On thinking about this at home, I realised the error of their ways.
Cheers
Henry
Henry


Henry
I must be getting old [ actually I am !!}. I did measure the track rod ends on my TD and thought that I had passed the information on to you, however, the answer is that they are 68mm from grease nipple to end of thread which still leaves me with about 6 spare threads. Don't know if the track rod ends are the originals because I have only owned the car a short while.
Regards
Harry
H.E.W. Walker

Hi.

I do not know if my old tie rod ends were original, but at least they seemed to give a correct toe-in.

Here are the figures of their relevant dimensions:

Tie rod end
- distance from nipple centre to threaded extremity – 69 mm
- depth of threaded hole – about 41 mm

Tie rod
- threaded portion on the tie rod : about 45 mm
- locknut width: 8.5 mm

When the tie rod is fully threaded into the tie rod end, only 5 threads are left in the outside, i.e. about 8 mm, which is less than the width of the locknut

Looking at some pictures I took before dismantling, at least on one side, there were no threads left behind the locknut.

Jesus
J. Benajes

This thread was discussed between 17/04/2004 and 25/04/2004

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.