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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - MOT Pass & Asymmetrical Steering Lock

"Hubert" successfully passed his second MOT under my ownership yesterday. Looking forward to another year of enjoyable motoring.

The inspector observed that the wheels seem to turn slightly more on one side than the other. With the suspension unloaded this results in the ARB linkage touching the tyre sidewall.

What do you think this could be due to? Could it be related to my steering wheel being about 10 degrees off centre when going straight (it is an after market wheel and I had assumed the PO installed it a spline off), or that the offending side has a dissolved rebound buffer resulting in the suspension dropping lower when unloaded?

-- Josh
Josh L

No, it won't be down to the steering wheel being not straight. The lock is limited by lugs on the bottom of the kingpins. It wouldn't take much there to make a noticable difference at the edge of the wheel.

It could be worth checking that the tie rod ends are both screwed on to the tie rods about the same amount. I've never tried it/seen what happens if the adjustment is all in one direction. At some stage there will be a limit to the movement within the rack itself - if the adjustment was well off centre that might affect it before the stops on the kingpin take up.
Paul Walbran

Do you have standard wheels/tyres?

Also, the stop lock is effectively the kingpin against the stubaxle housing.

Quite a few years ago, after getting an exchange set of stubaxles, I found my wheels touching the arb too when on full lock. It looked as if someone had ground back the stubaxle, thus allowing the Stubaxle to rotate further than it perhaps should. So I dropped a blob of weld on the stubaxles where the king pin flange meets them, when on full lock. I've long since exchanged those stub axles, and have not had the problem again.

Paul posted and beat me to it. :)
Lawrence Slater

I had the same issue as Lawrence, and fixed it with the same way - a blob of weld on one of the "ears", then adjusted with a flat file to the right amount. Very quick and easy fix.
Guy

This thread was discussed on 17/05/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.