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Almost back together....

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sparkydave

sparkydave

Jedi Knight
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Got some good news from the machine shop that they should be done rebushing my swivel axles today, so after a few weeks of getting the front end apart, cutting through some rusty parts, repainting a-arms, and correcting a little snafu with the wrong grease fittings in the rebuild kit, I think I can actually put things back together this weekend! Good thing too, it's been marking its territory in my friend's garage /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. A few things I have learned about front end rebuilds:

1. PB Blaster, a small sledge hammer, and a Sawzall are your friends.

2. Check all the parts in your rebuild kit before you start putting things back together.

3. Be sure you tell the machine shop exactly which parts need to be saved if you have them work on things, lest you have to order a $0.99 grease plug because somebody mangled the old one while they were getting the #*@& fulcrum pin out.
 
Your trials and tribulations have convinced me to hold off on rebuilding my front end till this winter. I really want to dive into it but I don't want to be off the road that long. When I first looked into this I though it would be a nice weekend project, case of beer max. Now it seems like it might take a whole keg...lol. How bad did the machine shop beat you up on the rebuild? I'm still looking for someone local that has the right tool for the bushings. Also is it totally impossible to do the upper and lower bushing independantly and avoid buying the $300 reamer?
Glad to hear that you are almost there.
JC
 
I'd have to agree that it might have made a better winter project. The shop that could do the bushings was quoting me $70 to rebush and ream them, and the shop I gave the A-arms to charged me $50 to grind out the fulcrum pins. The other option I had considered on the reamer was that there was another British car specialist that had an MGB reamer who had been thinking about adding the Midget reamer to his collection. I had considered offering a deal where we split the cost of the reamer if he would rebush the axles and he can keep the reamer. Just a thought, if you find yourself in a similar situation. Considering how the price of the reamer went from $250 to $300, I wonder how short the supply is of those things.
 
I have access to a full machine shop here at work and never even batted an eye at the thought of pressing old bushing out and pressing new ones in. We have tons of reams here but none that are quite like the ones in the Moss catalog. With that aside I just never figured on it being such a big job. I've reworked suspensions before and even though they were a pain it was nothing compared to the horror stories I'm reading here. Someone could get in over their heads fairly quickly on this project...lol
JC
 
[ QUOTE ]
Considering how the price of the reamer went from $250 to $300, I wonder how short the supply is of those things.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got lucky and found a midget kingpin reamer for sale in the UK on Ebay. Cost with shipping was around $100.00. Looks like it's never been used. They don't show up often, but every now and then you can find one on ebay.
 
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