Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Kingpins - DaveW's How To...........

Hi All,
Dave, I believed to see that you have made a kind of gaiter on the lower part of the cross head. Am I right or is it something else ?
If yes don’t you fear that it retains some dump ?
BR.
Daniel.

Hi Daniel

I made some Mohair gaiters for the rebound springs over two years ago. I didn't show them in these photos, but they are holding up well, although very greasy. These were the first pair which I hand sewed!!!! Since then I've sold a few but I don't have any spare at the moment because it depends on MrsW and her sewing machine.

You can see in picture no22 that there is nothing around the spring except grease, so they have worked well. When I get to the end of this job, I have a modification up my sleeve which will add something else to the gaiters for a bit more protection.

Hi Dave,
Yes I know because I bought one set from you by another channel
Keep up informed if you improve it.
But I enlarged the picture you posted and it was an optical effect. I had the idea to make a gaiter for the lower part of the cross head because it is very exposed and difficult to keep very clean, but I fear to retain some damp between the cross head and the gaiter.
I am very interested about what happen on your KP because I have exactly the same set up (Hard chrome KP from JW, bushes from PM - oversized as mine was originally fitted with Devol - and bearing + shortened spring from PM).
BR.
Daniel.

Tonight I reamed the kingpin. Pictures will follow. Slight problem in that the pilot attachment for the reamer isn't long enough for the Morgan stub axle so I had to improvise. You'll see how in the photos. This job is effectively the high point of the job, so providing there are no mistakes, it's all downhill from here. The big danger is over-reaming and having too much play, so I went at it very slowly, a bit at a time. It was quite difficult to get alignment of the bushes, even with my 'bodge', and the lower bush is crucial since it takes most of the load. The other challenge is having enough free play for the suspension & steering to work without binding. The adjustable reamer allows incremental expansion, so it's very touchy-feely.
This job took a couple of hours, so I reckon I've spent five (Saturday) plus two in the week, plus two tonight. Nine hours total. Not exactly a commercial speed.............Tomorrow should see side 1 back together though, hopefully in a couple of hours. The fine tuning - gaiters and fripparies may have to wait until both sides are finished. I'm working on an aluminium rebound spring shield, but so far it's only made of brown paper!
Time for some dinner.....

And it's the home straight on side 1......
This shows the Taylor & Jones reamer. The curtting blades are under the white label and the square end is off to the right. I used the adjustable wrench which worked fine.
On the left part of the tool is the pilot, which ensures both bushes are aligned. For this one is supposed to use the taper attachment to the left which resembles a salt pot. The black nut is removed from the reamer to add the pilot. Foreground is the stub axle and although perpective doesn't help here. the pilot isn't long enough to do it's job. So my improvised bush, which is the silver collar at the left end of the pilot, is made from a mock chrome effect coachline which has been in stock for this very moment. I was able to wind it round the pilot so that it was an exact fit in the second bush - so aligning the two.


Here's a close up....


Here are the components. The original blue spring to the right, and the Mulfab shorter spring to the left. The steering bearing is the silver washer, reflecting light from the camera flash. I've replaced the rebound springs as it seemed daft not to. The originals are slightly shorter, due to 'wear' no doubt.


Steering bearing, not yet greased.


Dry fit assembly........


Apply grease with clean fingers. I took some time in cleaning out the swarf from the stub axle. It really does need to be spotless inside.....


Greasing the steering bearing.....


And so to the assembly>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For this I did struggle a bit. I used the spring compressors on the main spring, but they are very marginal on grip, so I'm very wary. The two M8 threaded rods need to be about eight inches long. I used extended nuts on the bottom, but it's too tight to use them at the top. Make sure that you fit the bottom plate the right way round. I didn't and it wasted some time. Note that I cable tied the base of the rebound spring to the baseplate, to stop it bidding for freedom.


This shows it on the way up. You can see here that I tried a neoprene washer at the base of the kingpin as a dirt barrier, but the spring pressure distorted it to the extent that I don't think it will do much good. I trimmed off the excess neoprene with a craft knife when the spring was fully home. This part of the job takes some jiggling, as the stub axle must be manipulated to slide up inside the dust cover. It's such a good fit that an upper gaiter isn't really necessary.
You must also manipulate the rebound spring up through the hole in the lower cross tube and swivelling the stub axle gently helps this process. The top bolt should be located at the start of this process but not fully tightened. GoMog notes that this can be cross threaded, so be very careful. The bolt passes through the end of the upper cross tube and it would be very easy to cross thread it. I'm only comfortable if I can tighten by hand. There should be no undue resistance,




Nearly home, and the bottom thread of the kingpin is just emerging.


And now with the correct nuts & bolts in place and the reaction bars and track rod end connected.


Hub & disc replaced. Hub nut was put back to original tippex mark & split pin replaced. Use a new split pin, but get the right size.

These are the components of the steering damper at the chassis end. I've cleaned then up, and added a strip of neoprene to keep the dirt out. I've replaced these parts on the chassis. That way they can't be lost.


Caliper replaced. I took the pads out and cleaned it all up.
The gold finish was freshened up with a paintbrush and spray paint in an aerosol can lid.


So that's it - half way.........


I don't intend to post the other side in any detail, but the finishing off will appear when both sides are complete.

Dave ---You are in a class of your own!---absolutley SUPERB!
Nothing missing every detail shown. Well done and thanks.

great job, very well documented with clear photo's

and a couple of questions/ observations

i)on strip down it looked like you had been lubricating with moly grease yet you re-assembled with LM - any reason for this

ii) your KP's had worn after a low mileage and I assume regular greasing, any theories?

iii) is LM - a high melting point wheel-bearing grease[and probably the stuff most of us have in our grease guns] adequate for the job? Any lube needs to maintain a film between the bush and KP - premature wear of the components leads to the conclusion that the film has broken down, so more frequent greasing is needed - perhaps daily if say touring.

iv)owners hand book is suitably vague - only recommending 1000 mile grease intervals [more often on poor roads -{which is most roads in the UK - I wonder what effect speed bumps have on the isssue - the rapid acceleration of the bushes through the KP might be a significant factor in sheering the grease film}] and no mention of which grade of grease

Thanks both. The biggest problem is taking the photos as I go along, because my hands get really messed up, and sometimes (like when reaming) it needs absolute concentration.
i) With regard to the grease, I've used LM since I got the Roadster in 2008, but it certainly looks like before that it got Moly. Although I've greased frequently since '08, the damage was already done. It's possible that the wear particles have greyed the grease - like metal polish makes your rag go black..........
ii) There has been talk of premature wear of the factory stainless pins, and this seems to back that up. If you recall my car had updated stubs fitted in '2007'. The kingpins didn't appear on the bill, so they were left alone. But the new stubs must have been reamed - maybe by the factory to a standard size. In all my visits there I haven't seem anybody reaming stub axles, aso maybe that's contracted out. So when the Dealer said there was wear at the bottom of the nearside kingpin, I was sceptical given that history, and only about 8k on the clock.
At the following test at my local garage(last year) I watched the tester and there was noticeable play. Note also that my top grease nipple which was added at the upgrade was blind, so no use. Current MOgs have two per side now which is an improvement, but all the wear takes place at the bottom, because that's where most of the load is.
iii) I believe that LM is OK for this application, but I don't like the fact that the nipple channel exits above the bush. It ought to have been redesigned to emerge in the lower bush. Both bushes have spiral channels cut in the inner face, and I suspect that because the inside of the stub is effectively sealed by the grease, the suspension movement will force grease down through the bush by hydraulic pressure. I gave twenty strokes to the upper nipple and ten to the lower, on reassembly after putting plenty in before I started. None came out.
I think we should be greasing the bottom nipple every few hundred miles, so when touring, maybe daily, and protect the rebound spring as much as possible to keep road dirt out.
iv) Speed bumps won't help at all, but there's not much we can do about that.
I've stripped the offside this morning. Getting the hang of this now, and I'm just about to press the new bushes in. This kingpin is equally scuffed, and most of the wear pattern is vertical. It appears that the 'bronze' bushes are harder that the stainless pins. But now I have the hard chrome pins, they have quite a reputation for longevity.
This job is quite tough - harder to do than MGB kingpins.
The difficult bits are:
Removing the spring and stub from the cross tubes. Compressed springs are scary. Side 2 did go better than side 1 though.
Removing the bushes - Big hammer approach so hard work physically.
Fitting the new bushes - lots of spanner turnung - takes forever.
Replacing the spring & stub on the cross tubes - fiddly and with compressed springs. Probably the scariest part.
No wonder Dealers charge so much for Kingpins........

Anyway - time to press on.