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MG MGB Technical - wallowing/mushy suspension

My BGT feels a bit mushy/wallowy on the freeway when changing lanes or if you have to swerve a bit. Its been doing it for awhile and i've slowly been chasing other suspension issues by updating and replacing worn parts.
As of right now I have the Doug Jackson kit in the back (composite springs, urethane bushings and new shocks) and have replaced all the front bushings with the exception of the cross member pads. The spindles are original and have a tiny bit of wiggle but not too bad. The front shocks and springs have been on the car since I've owned it (8 years). The sway bar end links are also 8 + years old.

My thought was front shocks might be the culprit, but the sway bar end links have me suspicious as well. Can the ball end of the end link wear out, it seems like it has rubber inside? Any one make an aftermarket end link that works?

-Bill
Bill Mertz

The real problem is that it isn't a Spridget ;-)

Also be aware that the fulcrum pin at the bottom of the kingpin has been known to freeze in the bushing and wallow out the a-arms.
David "get some Peterbuilt shocks, too" Lieb
David Lieb

With all you have done I'm wondering if it is your expectations that are too much. OTOH loose U-bolts on the axle can cause rear-end steering which can cause feelings which others may describe differently. Even bog-standard suspension can take some quite strong inputs without giving weird sensations at the seat of the pants.
Paul Hunt

David,
I did check the a-arm holes when it was all apart and they looked fine. My old ones did the oval thing.

Paul,
I wondered if my expectations were maybe too high as well. But there was a time,the first time I went through the suspension, where things felt great all around. As of right now I'm pretty happy with overall cornering and the ride is fine, but the wallowing during transitions at speed I feel could be improved. I even went as far as to bulk up the seat mounts as I thought some of it might have been flexing in the that area (turns out it was as one was cracked and required some additional metal and welding.)

I'll take a look at he u bolts again. Also the rear setup now uses thick blocks between the spring and axle to compensate for the skinny monoleaf setup. Perhaps some weird leveraging is happening here.

Or maybe I just have too much time on my hands.

-Bill
Bill Mertz

Leverage when using lowering or lifting blocks is exactly what I thought might happen when I first saw them recommended. But funnily enough I've experienced 'lurching' on both my cars recently, although only under some pretty violent cornering. In both cases I went into the corner hard and the car adopted a certain roll-angle, then almost immediately I felt the rear roll a little more and come round a little more, almost as if it were going into oversteer (this was on warm dry tarmac in both cases so nowhere near skidding). But that was quite a hard turn as I say, I wouldn't normally drive it like that on the public highway. Maybe the rear dampers were still moving and changing the attitude. The only other time I felt anything like it was in a Ford Granada with two people in the back. On just a moderate turn the same thing happened and the two rear seat passengers (unbelted in those days) ended up in a heap in one corner - they were not impressed.
Paul Hunt

Hi Bill
I might be totally wrong but having a similar problem with my latest B I have just finished a thread regarding topping up the shockers with the correct oil to the right level. It had sat in a garage for 12 years, or so the story goes, being rescued when the house was sold. It did receive some attention before I bought it but not everything was done. My drive home was OK but it was, like yours, not the firmest car on the road when changing lanes and turning corners. Its fine now after a tranfusion of shocker oil. You say the front shocks have not had any attention for 8 years so just maybe the oil level has dropped (by the same magic that mine had) thus wollowing about the place when a turning manoeuvre is undertaken as is generally the case once a car leaves the safety of the warm dry garage at home.
Hope that this is of some use.
Doug
Doug E

Doug,
Good thought, I 'll dig around for your thread and look into an oil top off.

Paul,
Glad you were able to get your hands on a Granada. I have a friend from the UK who was obsessed with Yank Tanks when he was younger and would have loved a Granada.

-Bill
Bill Mertz

But I hated it! For one thing it was a Ford ...
Paul Hunt

Yeah I don't think it was the performance or handling that drew him to the big iron American machines, more the novelty. I had an old galaxie for awhile and it was terrible--well it ran forever but was otherwise terrible.

-Bill
Bill Mertz

This thread was discussed between 30/09/2008 and 06/10/2008

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