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Front Suspension up-date – Good News finally!

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Bret

Bret

Yoda
Offline
Well this is an update of my front suspension upgrade. I sit here wearing my Lucas Prince of Darkness t-shirt, cup of strong black coffee in hand – ready to finish up the last few items - before I put the wheels back on and take her off of the jacks stands. Thank goodness!

A moment of silence please to pay homage to the Air Tool & Compressor Gods. For without their help I’d still be banging away under my car right now.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angel.gif

For those of you that dont know the rest of the story or want a refresher - this link will clue you in to what I’ve had to go thought to get to this point.

The Bachelor's life

Anyway with the “NEW” parts in hand (thanks Moss!) yesterday - I spent the rest of the day and early evening completely re-assembling the front suspension. All that’s left now is to check & tighten a couple of bolts and do a little clean-up.

Here is the hit list of NEW items taken care of this past week:
1) All front Bushings replaced with Energy Polyurethane bushs.
2) New Tie Rods.
3) Steering Rack Boots. (still can't figure out how to put oil in it?)
4) Miscellaneous parts & hardware.
5) Cross-member - dropped, inspected, re-fit & tightened all front mounting hardware.

All of this was done to compliment some of the following up-grades done previously:
1) Cross-drilled Rotors.
2) Up-rated Semi-metallic break pads.
3) Braided Stainless Teflon Break lines (front & rear).
4) Coil Springs Front – 550lb. Lowered 2”.
5) Leaf-springs & lowering blocks. (total drop ~1.5”)
6) Rear Bushings – Polyurethane & all mounting hardware.

The only thing left to do to the suspension is have a local shop check the front alignment. Oh I’m sure I put everything back together correctly but because of the extremely poor condition of the bushings, loose hardware and the new Tie-Rods I want to error on the side of caution and have someone with all the right equipment have a look at it for me.

Well it must be said that this was by far the hugest project I’ve tackled on my B since I’ve owned her. Not recommended for the weak of heart.

I’ll post some pictures later.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Congrats! Lowering the car will make a huge difference in handling since the rubber bumper cars were far too high to begin with. I installed Superflex bushings on my car and the difference in response was noticable. The car is sharper on twisty roads due to less body sway. I'm considering a panhard rod at some point to eliminate the rest of it.
 
Congrats, lots of /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif FUN /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif isnt it? i bet you will see a large improvement in handling.


marl
 
[ QUOTE ]
Congrats, lots of /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif FUN /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif isnt it? i bet you will see a large improvement in handling.


marl

[/ QUOTE ]

Well Marl,

I’d started to wonder if all the work was worth it or not. Heck I’d really didn’t think I would notice the difference. But she really seems comfortably tight and precise in her road manors, while at the same time vary smooth movements. Good positive feed back from the road too.

I took her out for a couple of shake down drives around the neighborhood to test things out. The first was to listen & feel for anything out of the ordinary – but nothing was detected. Brought her back to barn – pulled the wheels and poked around & checked for any loose hardware and look for anything else that might be a problem. Again nothing to report. The second trip was about a three mile drive out on surface streets. Nothing to report at the end of that trip either. Thinking back I must of had a huge grin on my face, but other than that the drive was uneventful.

Not too harsh (no more than normal anyway) on speed bumps and dips. All I can say is that I must have done something right – I haven’t had the ol’gal’s front end aligned yet, but she tracks well with absolutely no drifting to one side or another.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

Wanted to drive more but I’d still like someone to check my alignment before any long trips.

All & all considering how much I was hating life last weekend – today more than made up for it.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
snip.... Thinking back I must of had a huge grin on my face....,

[/ QUOTE ]



/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Like this /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif


O what a feeling /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif


mark
 
As promised here are some pictures of the before and after of the suspension work I did last week. As you can see in the first pictures the bushings were toast and in dire need of replacing. Likewise the steering rack boots had long ago seen better days. What you can’t see is how bad the tie-rods were.

Two before shots: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/pukeface.gif
was.jpg

old_rotor.jpg


Two After shots: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
susp8.jpg

susp10.jpg



Anyway as you can see it’s a totally different front suspension. Again not a job for someone without a little bit of mechanical aptitude. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being most difficult) I rate this as a 7. Not to be attempted unless you have the proper tools and aren’t afraid of opening a can of worms cause you can never be 100% sure what you’ll find taking apart a 25 year old suspension.
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Congrats!!! I've been trying to decide if i dare tackle the same project myself or cave and have my mechanic do it. It's currently a matter of time.
 
Bret, The steering rack is charged with lubricant (gear oil,I think) through the top of the rack gearbox. Unlike a Jag rack, the gators are more than dust shields. The rack seals are actually lubricant seals for the rack. Without lubricant, the rack will wear pretty fast. You will need a little funnel to charge the rack.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bret, The steering rack is charged with lubricant (gear oil,I think) through the top of the rack gearbox. Unlike a Jag rack, the gators are more than dust shields. The rack seals are actually lubricant seals for the rack. Without lubricant, the rack will wear pretty fast. You will need a little funnel to charge the rack.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey John,

I did some looking and according to some of the info I've found on the web (like the following links) the rack takes about 1/3rd of a pt of SAE 90 using an oil gun. No grease!

MGB-Stuff Hammer & Spanner

Anyway they are telling me that I need to pull back one of the gaiters (large end) and put the oil in as the rack is slowly moved from lock to lock. Seems kind of messy and a royal pain in the rear to do it this way.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

Thoughts?


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Bret, you add gear oil to the rack through the dome shaped damper nut on the top of the rack, directly over the pinion.
We Midget drivers are lucky, as we have zerk fittings to pump the oil in.
Jeff /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
We Midget drivers are lucky, as we have zerk fittings to pump the oil in....

Some of us (I don't think any of the 1500 Midgets have Zerk fittings...different rack).
Anyway, great job Bret (and Jeff is correct...put the gear oil in the rack through the dome-nut near the steering-wheel shaft).
Wouldn't be a bad idea to check/top up your front lever-shock oil if you haven't done that recently.
 
Thanks Guys,

But I tried the procedure spelled out at British Automotives web site.

British Automotive - Steering

Kind’a messy and you need to take you’re time because its’ not just a matter of pouring it in and walking away. I had to stop several times to allow the oil to drain into the steering rack. At the same time it helped to work the rack back & forth then start again. The whole procedure took about a half an hour to get the recommended 1/3 qt in there +/- a little spilled oil.

I'll check the shock oil next.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
I didn't realize that, Nial. Shows you how much attention I pay to 1500 Midgets!
Bret, did you notice that the first procedure listed for servicing the rack (at the link you posted) was to do it through the damper nut? That's the domed nut I was referring to. Also, 1/3 of a pint is the total capacity of the rack, from empty . I hope you really didn't put 1/3 of a quart in there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Jeff
 
[ QUOTE ]
<<SNIP>>
Also, 1/3 of a pint is the total capacity of the rack, from empty . I hope you really didn't put 1/3 of a quart in there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Jeff

[/ QUOTE ]

OPPs! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif I meant to say PINT, not quart. Anyway I actually did put in darn close to a 1/3rd of a pint.

FYI Just got back from driving it around for about a half hour. Hugh difference in the feel of the wheel with the oil in the steering rack. D#$%’ed if this car isn’t getting even more fun to drive!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

One strange thing to report /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif : Checked for leaks when I got back and I noticed a couple of fresh drops oil right under the steering rack where I filled it. Not 100% sure the rack is leaking, so I cleaned up the general area thinking (hoping) that it’s just spillage from when I filled it. If it is a leak - I should know in the next hour or so, as I doubt the rack could have leaked out completely during my short drive without leaving some sort of evidence under my car.

Up date to follow.
 
Bret, I suppose it's possible you overfilled it a tad, and this is just the excess working out.
Or, you could use the old line from my aircraft days.
"That's normal seepage for cooling and lubrication."
Jeff /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bret, I suppose it's possible you overfilled it a tad, and this is just the excess working out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I was wondering if I might have overfilled it too. The good news thus far is that I've been back several times to have a look in the last half an hour and can’t find anything. Must have been some oil that spilled while I was filling her up.

[ QUOTE ]
Or, you could use the old line from my aircraft days.
"That's normal seepage for cooling and lubrication."
Jeff /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Being an old Huey Crewchief – I’m more than a little familiar with that concept. Some airframes just seemed to leak a whole lot more than others. Mater-a-fact I can think of more than a few helicopters (CH-53s’ & CH-46s), that I wouldn’t ride in on a dare unless I could clearly see hydraulic fluid on the walls & deck.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Bret, Sounds like they want you to charge with 90w while the rack is off the car. I usually charge the rack on the car by removing the cap on the pinion box. Then by moving the rack to and fro, you can get a reasonable amount of lubricant in. Removing the gaiters while the car is level does not sound like you can get much lubricant in.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bret, <<SNIP>> Removing the gaiters while the car is level does not sound like you can get much lubricant in.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is correct. The other procedure says to lift the car from the driver’s side and then remove the gaiter to put the oil in. This is what I did and although it really didn’t say how much to elevate the car I lifted it from the hard (jacking) point under the door.

I basically put in oil until it kept overflowing. Then I’d stop and return in a little while and continue to pour until I’d put in the 1/3rd pint. Took a little time but not too hard this wey.

So tell me to when you remove the cap on the pinion box – do you remove the splash guard or do you connect a hose to the bottle of 90w oil? Something else perhaps? I only ask as both seem like their a little more difficult & time consuming than jacking the car and removing the gaiters.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Anyway, for now it looks like I'm set – everything still looks good – no leaks.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Thats quite a feat! Wondering why you used polyurethane bushings and not the V8 bushings? Also, I have an uprated sway bar on the front of my '73 B. It makes a big difference. Maybe you should try it.
bert
 
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