Rear Axle and suspension:

The weather in December has been horrendous,  severe winds, and heavy rain, just about non stop. The marquee blew down, and the MG now has just a cover over it, so work on the body is on hold until the weather improves and I can come up with a new cover/garage of some sort.

Therefor all work in December will be on the things I can do in the garage, like suspension etc.







The rear axle and suspension was removed completely and gradually stripped down. Some of the bolts had to be cut off because they were so rusted.

 

The diff cover plate had rusted through so will have to renewed.

 

Severe corrosion on the axle where the spring u bolts and bump stop bracket fits. I measured the depth of the pit to be around 4mm deep, the axle casing must be quite thick.

 

I searched for a metal repair compound and found several available, but I recalled something called Belzona from by Rover days, where we used to use it to repair cracked gearboxes. If you can get hold of some, its about the best stuff you can buy.

 

You mix it to the correct quantities and then apply it. 

 

I used a scraper to smooth it over, once it has gone off completely it is very hard and can be sanded or filed smooth. 

 

MGB's suffer from worn diff gear thrust washers, which shows itself as a clonk when taking up the power, fortunately it is easily fixed. 

 

To replace the MGB tube axle trust washers, firstly knock out the roll pin holding the diff gear shaft, and then tap out the shaft itself, making sure you rotate the diff before the shaft is out too far, otherwise you cannot rotate the diff to pull the shaft out.

 The smaller copper looking thrust washers are worn, and the larger washers are worn, and in fact the right hand side has worn away completely. these will be replaced with new ones.

The axle is now complete, new thrust washers, new oil seals, new diff cover and fully painted.

 

The rear springs were very rusty, cant really afford to replace them, so I stripped them down and overhauled them. You can prise part the clamps and undo the central bolt and then separate the springs. Each leaf was put in the home made electrolysis tub, then wire brushed, then treated with Jenolite rust converter, then painted with Bonda zink primer, and finally painted black. 

 

The springs were then reassembled and plenty of copper grease packed between the leaves. New bushes front and rear. 

Having now finishing paintwork (apart from flatting and polishing), I will now start refitting the mechanic (the best bit by far). In goes the fuel tank and back axle and rear suspension.