Front Suspension Rebuild

[vaultsman]

That was my thought too, Nigel....strain on both the bushes and the mounting.

What's puzzling me though is that the car had only done 45k when I bought it 4 years ago from the original owner's son, who's pretty sure it had never had any front suspension work done prior to that.

I think I'll fit an extra 3 x 1/16" shims to even things up and get all the geometry checked out when it's back on the road.

[NigelW]

That's the best thing to do I think, let us know how it turns out.

[vaultsman]

Upper Wishbone Mount, as found on my car during the stripdown. The deeper bosses, and therefore the longer bolts are uppermost...which is as Plate 53 in the Spare Parts manual suggests.
P1070059 by vaultsman, on Flickr

Page 228 of the manual (towards the end) lists the bolts the other way round - longer bolts to the bottom, shorter to the top. Assume this is a typo?

[cass3958]

Looking back at my photos it is definitely long bolts to the top as can be seen here during my strip down.

[DevilDog]

I agree....long bolts on top.

[Orlando St.R]

Hi Stan

Thanks for posting this detailed record of your front suspension rebuild - and especially for the excellent images. It will be so useful in the future for those undertaking this task.

Slightly off topic (sorry) but I was admiring the pic that shows your front valance. My 1965 car doesn't have one, but would certainly benefit from it to cover up my slightly scruffy front cross member. I acquired one from Martin Robey (their part number MRK4), but I'm curious to know how it's fixed. Are those bolts holding it on? Are the nuts captive? Or are they self-tapping screws? Also, it looks like there is no fixing through the hole at the end.

Fixing this valance is on my lengthening to-do list for the winter, so any guidance from you or anyone else whose car is fitted with a valance would be much appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation.

[cass3958]

Jose we have discussed this before and as you know I intend fitting a valance to my car as mine is missing so I too would be interested in more photos and details on the fixing points.
Perhaps you can move this to a new topic headed "Front Valance" so it is stand alone and easier to find in the future.

[Orlando St.R]

I believe I've solved the mystery of the missing front valance and how it's fixed. I've created a new post here: http://www.jagstyperegister.com/forum_n ... f=21&t=159.

[vaultsman]

Getting there on the rebuild.....pics will be up soon.

Having replaced the input oil seal in the steering box.....there appeared an annoying weep from the bottom of the box.

This is the high-ratio manual box and, for reference the input seal is available from Barratt's:
https://www.sngbarratt.com/uk/#!/Englis ... f16f58d5c2

But to avoid postage costs, for reference they're available on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W11207525R21 ... 2749.l2649

To replace the offending O ring causing the oil weep now requires the rocker shaft to come out. Not available from Barratt's, but it's a BS214 again available from ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/British-Std- ... 2749.l2649

Stripping down, the drop arm fits to the rocker shaft on a taper spline, needed a maxed-out 10 ton hydraulic puller to shift it.
Went with a satisfying bang though!
P1070393 by vaultsman, on Flickr
P1070395 by vaultsman, on Flickr
P1070396 by vaultsman, on Flickr
P1070397 by vaultsman, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr
/p/PDR9eg]P1070398[/url] by vaultsman, on Flickr
P1070402 by vaultsman, on Flickr
P1070403 by vaultsman, on Flickr

[cass3958]

Someone once gave me a tip about installing the oil seal over the top of the splines of the shaft. A lot of the leaks are due to trying to slide the seal over the splines on the shaft causing small cuts in the rubber on the inner edge which as the rubber seal gets old tend to weep. So I was told to wrap the splines in silver foil then apply lots of grease to allow the seal to slide over the foil wrap. Once on you can remove the foil and you have not damaged the oil seal.