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MG MGB Technical - Steering Column Alignment

Hi All,

I have a steering column alignment problem on a 1971 MGB Roadster. Several years ago, when I had the car resprayed, sand from the sandblasting was left in the steering column which didn't do the bearings any good. A local British car repair shop rebuilt the steering rack and installed a used column. When I got the car back, the car was way out of alignment, there was still some slop in the steering column, and the signal lights didn't cancel properly. I had the car alligned at a local alignment shop but the local shop was never able to correct the other problems and I finally gave up and learned to live with it. Recently, I found a good steering column and proceeded to change it myself. There is only one way that the column will go back into the universal joint. If you put it in wrong, the pinch bolt will not go in. So I know that I put the column back in exactly the way it came out. The manual says to insure that the "Trafficator Canellation Stud" is in the correct angular position but does not tell me what to do if it is not. With the wheels in the straight ahead position, it is pointed straight down, approximately 90 degrees off; and I don't have a clue as to how to correct it. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mack
M Sneed

Mack,

I don't know if it is the same as my 68, but if it is the signal canceller is stiff spring steel that is just clipped onto the column. It can be turned to any location you want.

Charley
C R Huff

Thanks Charley. I just tried it and it worked. Some of my local MG buddies were of the opinion that the rack was not properly centered; but I would think that would have some adverse effect on the steering; and other than some motion in the steering column I haven't noticed any steering problems.

Again, thanks for your help

Mack

PS: You are not that far away, why don't you come down and join us in Townsend, Tennessee for our 23 annual "Springtime in the Smokies" British car show and Gathering. It is the second weekend in May, i.e. May 7, 8, and 9. Check us out at blountbritishcars.org.
M Sneed

Mack,

Glad that worked out for you.

That does look like a good get together in the Smokies. Maybe I can make it. There is a good meet here in Louisville, the British Bash, on the first Saturday in June.

Charley
C R Huff

I put a thread on a few weeks ago about advice on lining up the steering column and rack. The manual shows some special pointers fitted to the rack and column that have to be lined up. I made up some using thick steel wire, these were only partially successful.
I have seen in the new Moss catalogue, they sell the pointers at less than a tenner a set. I don't know if these are anew item being included in the catalogue but I wish I had seen these before as they would have been handy.
Trev
Trevor Harvey

Ah yes, well spotted. These have been available on the American Moss site for years, worth a punt at that price.

However a while ago there was some discussion on these items, and a home-built set someone had made. The critical thing is the distance of the point (i.e. the cross-over of the two axes of the UJ) from the groove in the shaft. I got an employee of Moss in the US to post the measurements, and that is when things got curious. The Moss item measured 29.82mm for one position and 44.8mm for the other. The latter matches up with my CB roadster, but my RB V8 UJ measures 33mm as near as I could get. The Moss 29.82mm matched up with the home-built set, but that was queried by someone else who has the same 33mm as me (and *not* a V8 as far as I can recall), and I can only see two types of UJ in the Parts Catalogue for all years and markets.
Paul (too many Pauls own MGBs) Hunt

Hah! "You must order at least £10 of goods" and they haven't told me how much the postage is going to be yet!
Paul (too many Pauls own MGBs) Hunt

Useful link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIenGzrU02M&feature=related

//Per
Per Sjöberg

Hi Mack,

A while back I came across a very simple way to do this.
I wish I could point you to the original article, but I don't have a record of where it was, sorry.
Anyway get two of the rubber boots from a distributor cap ignition lead, two philips screw driver bits, like for an electric drill. Push these into the small hole of the boots. Fit the large end of the boots over the rack and column shafts, resectively. Measure the distance from the centre of the UJ cross to the centre of the locating bolt. NOTE this is a critical measurement, as the tips of the screw driver bits must be this distance from the centre of the groove where the locating bolt fits. Mine were about 46 mm, but as the previous posts show there seems to have been a wide variance in this measurement. Now fiddle with the shims under the rack and the column adjusting brackets till the tips just line up.

Herb
Herb Adler

This thread was discussed between 06/03/2010 and 09/03/2010

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