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Winter Suspension Project

bugedd

Jedi Knight
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With the smoke somewhat clearing from the neighboring Camp Fire, and now rain with flash flood warnings, I decided its time to cover the car and figure out winter maintenance. I have had the car for several years, and it had a complete rebuild by a previous owner. One thing that has got my attention is its tendency to want to change lanes on rough roads. I know that the cars are a bit jumpy anyhow, but thought I'd look into front suspension service. What would be proper suspension inspection techniques? What should I be looking for other that the obvious visual aspects? I do know the car has the trunion bushings giving the front wheel camber, so someone has done work on it.
 

nomad

Yoda
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First would be to put a jack under the spring pan of each front wheel and jack it up. Grab the wheel and see if you can get it to move easily in any direction. In particular in and out at the bottom. Actually first you should probably check for shock rebound while its still on the ground. Car should definitely not want to change lanes on rough roads!

Kurt
 

Jim_Gruber

Yoda
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So if you are having lane changing issues you definitely have issues up from and perhaps in the rear that need to be addressed. My first Sprite was so bad that encountering a paint strip would make him change lanes,
1) Fulcrum pins will be worn, and sometimes screw threads are totally gone or the end of the wishbone will have a crack in it. Three Spridgets I took apart trying to salvage wishbones, 2 out of 3 had cracks right at the very end from fulcrum pin siezing up from lack of proper maintenance. Wishbones can get new bushings brazed in but it takes a special jig and technique to do it, Apple Hydraulics will do it for you but last set I had done ran me $250+ with shipping.
2) New Wishbones w fulcrum pins can be found on sale for $100 a side. MOSS also sells a better grade of Fulcrum Pins that are heavier duty. All depends on your checkbook.
3) MAjor Suspension Kit - yes you will need all of the parts and pieces as the bolts that secure the wishbone to the mounting points are usually all rusted up. A swazall is your friend so instead of swearing and having bloody knuckles. Cut them and wishbone will be out in 5 minutes.
4) Same for fulcrum pins from the kingpin. Unlikely that you will be able to unscrew the fulcrum pin. Carefully slice and cut the fulcrum pin not the kingpin. There is a pretty good gap thee and a thin blade fits right in the gap.
5) And do not forget a set of shocks from Peter C. A BE's Lever Arm functions like an upper control arm. Wear on the shock armsd can cause all sorts of gyrations in the front end.Call up World Wide Imports, give Mrs. Caldwell your address and Credit Card number and in a few days a box will arrive with return UPS Postage on it for your cores. Order a set for the rear as well as you need to keep the rear end under control as well. New Radius Arms more than likely will be needed if you've done a lot of driving. Unless you've get a torch to braze in new bushings, just order new and it's a bolt on.
6) Kingpin bushing need a special reamer tool. Truly a ream to fit. I sent mine off to Peter C. at World Wide and he provides a turn key service including fitting the proper number of Spacers under the Kingpin so front end turns properly, new bushings fit properly. Took a week in and out with Shipping from OH to WI. A couple of days more for you.
7) What's it all gonna cost. By the time you are done almost a grand. But the difference in the way your BE will drive is something you will not believe.
8) And if you've never done this before I'll post a disassembly link and reassembly.
While you are in there check front wheel bearings, regrease if nothing else. Check sway bar bushings. Pretty sure that car had a sway bar and I've got John K.s cell number and e-mail address if needed. IIRC you bought that car from him.

I've done a front end rebuild now 3 times and demo on parts cars 3 more times. Dirty, ugly job but not all that hard to do. It's the second most expensive repair to a Spridget but when it's done right Oh Baby!!!
 

Jim_Gruber

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
So if you are having lane changing issues you definitely have issues up from and perhaps in the rear that need to be addressed. My first Sprite was so bad that encountering a paint strip would make him change lanes,
1) Fulcrum pins will be worn, and sometimes screw threads are totally gone or the end of the wishbone will have a crack in it. Three Spridgets I took apart trying to salvage wishbones, 2 out of 3 had cracks right at the very end from fulcrum pin siezing up from lack of proper maintenance. Wishbones can get new bushings brazed in but it takes a special jig and technique to do it, Apple Hydraulics will do it for you but last set I had done ran me $250+ with shipping.
2) New Wishbones w fulcrum pins can be found on sale for $100 a side. MOSS also sells a better grade of Fulcrum Pins that are heavier duty. All depends on your checkbook.
3) MAjor Suspension Kit - yes you will need all of the parts and pieces as the bolts that secure the wishbone to the mounting points are usually all rusted up. A swazall is your friend so instead of swearing and having bloody knuckles. Cut them and wishbone will be out in 5 minutes.
4) Same for fulcrum pins from the kingpin. Unlikely that you will be able to unscrew the fulcrum pin. Carefully slice and cut the fulcrum pin not the kingpin. There is a pretty good gap thee and a thin blade fits right in the gap.
5) And do not forget a set of shocks from Peter C. A BE's Lever Arm functions like an upper control arm. Wear on the shock armsd can cause all sorts of gyrations in the front end.Call up World Wide Imports, give Mrs. Caldwell your address and Credit Card number and in a few days a box will arrive with return UPS Postage on it for your cores. Order a set for the rear as well as you need to keep the rear end under control as well. New Radius Arms more than likely will be needed if you've done a lot of driving. Unless you've get a torch to braze in new bushings, just order new and it's a bolt on.
6) Kingpin bushing need a special reamer tool. Truly a ream to fit. I sent mine off to Peter C. at World Wide and he provides a turn key service including fitting the proper number of Spacers under the Kingpin so front end turns properly, new bushings fit properly. Took a week in and out with Shipping from OH to WI. A couple of days more for you.
7) What's it all gonna cost. By the time you are done almost a grand. But the difference in the way your BE will drive is something you will not believe.
8) And if you've never done this before I'll post a disassembly link and reassembly.
While you are in there check front wheel bearings, regrease if nothing else. Check sway bar bushings. Pretty sure that car had a sway bar and I've got John K.s cell number and e-mail address if needed. IIRC you bought that car from him.

I've done a front end rebuild now 3 times and demo on parts cars 3 more times. Dirty, ugly job but not all that hard to do. It's the second most expensive repair to a Spridget but when it's done right Oh Baby!!!

Here's a step by step with pictures

https://www.mikeamick.com/76midget/
 

Alfred E. Neuman

Jedi Trainee
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Another thing to check for on a car that won't track straight is front toe. If the toe is off due to a simple mis-alignment or possibly a bent tie rod or something similar, it will cause the car to want to dart left/right. Especially if it's toed slightly out instead of in. Before I had access to an alignment rack, I just used a couple straight pieces of wood clamped to the front wheels and measured the width at the front and rear of the wheels to get the adjustment.
This is something you can check before you even do any suspension work if you get another decent day to drive the car for a bit. Or you could have a local tire shop do an alignment check. Most will do it for free.
 
OP
bugedd

bugedd

Jedi Knight
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Jim, you are correct on who I purchased the car from. It does have a front sway bar, I put the one from Speedwell on it. I also added some stiffer springs up front. Sounds like one of those projects to just dig in and go for it, probably by the time I take bits apart and inspect I might as well just do the job.
 

Jim_Gruber

Yoda
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That combination of large sway bar and higher rate springs may be the cause of some of these issues. Stock springs and stock Spridget Swaybar are the way I went. New shocks though as well as all new rubber bushings, and rebushed OEM wishbones did it for Bugsy. Rear Radius Arms were totally shot and rear end was moving all around. I replaced every bushing I could change out. Bugsy is like he is on rails. Peter C will get front bushings reamed properly and clearances set up. It’s all in the details. And again offset trunions may also be contributing to the issue go back to stock unless you know front end got bent. You aren’t AutoX in this car. Go back to base setup and see what happens but with stock setup to start from. Then experiment. Bugsy is stable and predictable at 85-90 mph and I haven’t taken him up any further.
 

nomad

Yoda
Offline
Agree with checking toe first. A little toe out and the car will be all over the place but likely you will need to do more.

Kurt
 
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