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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Knocking from rear when cornering

Hi, I was suffering a slight knocking noise from the rear R/H side when turning right. Wheel nuts were tight, so I removed the brake drum and all seemed well inside (apart from the shoes needing a bit of adjustment). No play in the wheel bearing or fluid leaks. On removal of the half shaft, I discovered a slight step on the splines, where I suppose the spline engages with the diff, which I can just catch my nail on. I measured the difference in thickness between worn and unworn parts of the splines and it averages out about 10 thou. Now I've put it all back together, the knocking noise has gone! There's no guidance on this in the Haynes manual, do you think the wear is acceptable? The car is a late 1500 with steel wheels and the mileage is believed to be 65,000. Thanks Simon
s cordell

my guess is that when putting the shaft back in the wear point is now slightly inside of the spline on the diff, so that the freeplay is temporarily eliminated

in the past, the amount that I have used as the maximum acceptable wear there is 0.010", which yours is right at

I have seen them go to 0.020", but the more that it grows, the more likely it is that this stress riser will result in a fracture. New half shafts are not too expensive, and are nice insurance against having one fail and the metal shards lunching the differential if you don't get it stopped in time.

The good thing is that the shaft seems to be softer than the gear in the diff, so a new half shaft should return the clearances to original.


Norm
Norm Kerr

The knocking is most likely much simpler issue

have you Tightened up all the hardware on the suspension yet esp the leaf springs ???

this comes up like clock work every 2 months, vary common


Prop
Prop

Thanks for the guidance. I'll look into replacement half shafts now, I wouldn't want to risk them taking out the diff if they break! I'll have a check round the leaf springs for loose nuts also. I did notice that on one side, the bottom shortest leaf did not sit completely in line with the others above, so maybe I'll start there? I've already had a rear shock absorber come loose! I ignored it for a while thinking it was just the jack jumping up and down in the boot! I'm old enough to remember driving old British cars of the seventies and I don't remember things falling off like this then! But then this is my 1st MG and of course it's another 30 years older. Anyway I'm still really enjoying midget ownership and learning all the time. Like I removed the steering wheel using the knee under the wheel, big hammer technique and discovered I'd broken the plastic in the collapse-able column. Thanks to this forum I found the tip of repairing it with a Hot melt glue gun.
s cordell

This thread was discussed between 29/07/2011 and 30/07/2011

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