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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Dropping the Rear Axle

At the moment I've got the quarter-elliptics out, the rebound straps off, the prop shaft out - just need to disconnect the two brakes connections and it will be held only by the radius arms and the dampers, and of course my trolley jack under the centre.

I can't decide whether to take it out or not. I could complete my stripping and de-rusting with it in place, but (i) it's a pain, and (ii) I would be able to paint everything properly, renew bushes and so on.

So, how heavy is it, and what's the easiest way? (single-handed, of course) I'm already using my axle stands, which I can see might have been useful to support it on the way down, so maybe I would lash up some timber cradles.

Still full of oil, naturally.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

I would take it out for the reasons that you stated. I don't know the weight of the assembly since I last removed mine over 40 years ago but mostly it is an awkward process. You could use some blocks of wood at each end to balance it while you remove the rest of the attachments and then remove the wood when you're ready to drop the axle. Once you've got everything out, check the rubber bushings in the radius arms, they do tend to deteriorate. I replaced mine about 5 years ago with poly ones but I didn't remove the axle, just the arms.
Martin

I have used two small furniture dollies and blocks of wood to support the axle. Disconnect everything and roll it out from under. Drain it first.
You could also remove the axles and center section after draining which leaves you with just the housing and the brakes. Much lighter and easy to handle.
J Bubela

Yeah drop it and repaint it. You won't have as good an opportunity to do so as now.

You could stick the wheels back on and roll it out! :-)

Or a more sensible suggestion of how I might do it (I can't remember how I did exactly): support it on two axle stands and remove your jack. Lift one end, kick stand away, lower to ground (you should be able to lift one end up/down). Lift other end, kick out stand, lower to ground. Then "walk" it out from under the car (lift and move one end then the other and repeat until it's out).

Malc.

Malcolm Le Chevalier

Also a good opportunity to look at the diff. Thrust washers can wear giving you some nasty clonks!
Malcolm Le Chevalier

Nick, If it were me I'd drain the oil, then remove the brake drums, shoes and half-shafts then the diff. That would make it much lighter to manoeuvre the axle case to degrease, wirebrush/ rub down/ shot blast, as required, then paint.
W Bretherton

Easy-peasy. It will balance nicely on a central trolley jack, just disconnect, lower the jack and pull it out towards the rear of the car. Then pick it up and carry to a work area where you have already placed a couple of axle stands about 2 feet apart. Place on the stands, drain the oil, and refurbish to taste. That's what I do anyway.
davidsmith

As David says. It will lower and balance nicely on your trolley jack with you steadying it with one hand as you trundle the jack on its wheels from under the car. Its then an easy lift to transfer it onto waiting axle stands. If your stands are otherwise occupied under the car then prepare two stacks of house bricks, 2 high, to land it on. You only need enough height off the floor to stop it resting on and damaging the backplates.

Replacement is a simple reversal of the above!
GuyW

Yep agree with David and Guy that's the way I have done it too. With a nice carpeted floor(!) the backplates will be ok if you rest on them teporarily They are made of stern stuff!
Bob Beaumont

Thank you all for this splendid advice. I just have to let the trolley jack down, so that I can take the wood blocks out and nestle the diff nicely in the cup. I guess the rebound straps will do the job while that's going on.

I will make a couple of temporary cradles to sling the axle on; that will get me off the ground while I'm working on it.

This was just going to be a re-spray!
Nick and Cherry Scoop

I did this loads of times with RWD Fords to change the diff ratios. I jacked the car up and disconnected everything but the shackles which I loosened, then lowered it until the wheels touched. Then undid the shackle nuts, jacked up the body and rolled the axle away.

I can swap a Mk1/Mk2 Escort axle in about 1.5 hours on my own and I'm a little bloke. It's heavy-ish but not unmanageable if you're careful. Good luck.
Greybeard

You'll need to reconnect the rebound straps then! (see, we do read your posts)
davidsmith

Ha ha. So far I've disconnected the brakes, made the wooden stands, started on the radius arm and damper. The straps are on!
Nick and Cherry Scoop

Hooray!
I'm so fond of this board. I trollied the axle out on the jack, just like David said; it wobbled delightfully, but never looked like falling off. Mind you, the big radius arm towers do make it a bit top-heavy.

Now I just have to decide - is it a sitting-on-a-stool axle day, or a lying-on-my-back scraping day?

Nick and Cherry Scoop

I notice your board name is "Nick & Cherry". Sounds to me like 'Nick' should have a 'sitting-on-a-stool axle day' and 'Cherry' should have a 'lying-on-my-back scraping day'! Let us know how that goes ;-)
s1

Is that you, Steve?

Cherry's the reddish thing on the left of the picture. She never lifts a finger to help.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

The way i did mine was to but the wheels back on and hook up mh engine crane to the rear end of the car from the bumper supports and raised the car up then then rolled the axle asemble out

Its about 80 lbs ... its not so much the weight but rather the ackwardness of dealing with it its hard to find good leverage working in such a tight fit

I found that 2 bottle jacks were much better then the floor jack for hoisting it into place when reinstalling

But... thats on the 1/2 eliptic 1971 usa version... so not sure how much of a differance there is

Prop
1 Paper

Can I ask Bill, Bob and Guy to rescue me again, please? I was scraping the inside face of the triangular web (see below), when a strange dished washer unstuck itself from the oily underseal and fell to the Axminster. It was from the toppest of the three holes, so radius arm.

Dismantling on Thursday, I forgot to make a note of which side the bolt went in, so don't know if the washer belongs to the nut end or the head end (rescue #1). Then I impetuously reached across and scraped the nearside one off, thereby not noticing which way round the dishes were (rescue #2).

Nick and Cherry Scoop

Humm

Don't recognise that. The inboard end of the radius arm on mine has got just a spacer. The through bolt passes through the bracket, through the radius arm and spacer and is secured by a plain washer and spring washer. so order is bolt, bracket, arm, spacer, bracket, plain washer, spring washer, nut.
Bob Beaumont

OK, got it. The hole in the web is bigger than the one in the hefty bracket immediately behind it. So the dished washer does the job of giving the bolt head a nice uncomplicated bearing surface.

Thanks, Bob. I will return.

Nick and Cherry Scoop

I'm glad Bob answered you earlier Nick as I wouldn't have known from memory! I may have to consult you when I come to assemble the rear suspension as it's been a while since I stripped the original shell. Although I made notes and took pictures they may not be detailed enough. The Moss diagrams are very useful for assembly order reminders. I hope you haven't spilt oil on that Axminster!

Bill
W Bretherton

This thread was discussed between 05/04/2017 and 08/04/2017

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