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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Rubber Link Seals (swivel pins)

During routine service today I noticed that all four rubber link pin seals (item 48) in the WSM have split and are falling apart. I guess these are intended to keep grease in and muck out. Replacing them looks straight forward although will entail removing both top and bottom bolts in the swivels (kingpins in uk terminology??) but I suspect individually rather than together.

The car was rebuild about 8 years ago so don't expect too many issues with rusted parts. Is this a regular maintenance issue or down to poor modern components? Any tips on going about it?
Graeme Williams

Hi Graeme

I think you are suffering like most people from poor quality rubber parts. Declan on here does proper quality kingpin fulcrum seal sets for arounf €32 plus postage. I am sure he will be along in a while with full details if not contact is declan_burns @ web.de

Barry
B Bridgens

Me too! I've given up changing them, as the next time you look, they have rotted. I just keep pumping the grease through to keep the grit and dirt at bay. It would be nice to get hold of some decent seals.
Lindsay Sampford

Thanks Barry, I just contacted Declan and should have some sent to me soon. They are 33 euro plus 5 euro for the postage and he will accept PayPal. Send it 'Friends and Family' so that he receives the full amount.
Lindsay Sampford

I must have better luck than others. I keep a set greased up in a box ready to fit. My thinking is that if they survive greased up in a box, they will survive on the car as well, and so I can avoid the multiple replacements due to poor quality.

This strategy has served well, and I have had no problems with rot on the car for years. IIRC I get mine from Moss but as I am packing to fly home from Bangkok tomorrow, I can't check.
Dominic Clancy

MGOC do a set (all 12!) for about £5. Mmmmm, wonder about quality?
Graeme Williams

My first replacement set of seals (ex Simon Robinson)lasted less than 12 months while the car was being restored. Second set was from Moss and these also perished within the year. I then rang around various suppliers trying to get information on seal quality but the only interesting titbit was from Cecelia at Scarborough Faire who said that the reason Moss seals fail so quickly is because they are made from natural rubber. She said she had commissioned seals made from nitrile rubber and hers did not suffer from contact with oil/grease. So I bought my third set from SF.
These lasted about three years before they started to crack (see pic.)

So when Declan Burns offered his seals on this forum just over 12 months ago I bought my fourth set from him. They have been on the car exactly one year and there is no sign at all of cracking/splitting rubber.
At the time Declan would not divulge the type of rubber he had specified but he did say it was resistant to ozone attack.
This made me wonder whether ozone was the reason my first two sets had perished so quickly without the car going out of the garage. During restoration I had been carrying out a lot of MIG welding which produces copious amounts of ozone.
But whatever the reason Declan did seem to have given careful thought to the choice of rubber.

I do have one criticism however about Declan's king pin seals which do not seem to mate properly with the metal and there appears to be a fairly large gap. (I'll post another picture).
It's possible there may be rubber contact inside where you can't see but the fit doesn't look quite right and ideally he would modify his moulding tool to suit.

On greasing after fitting no grease appeared to emerge from the 'gap'.

The price of Declan's seals is quite a bit higher than for other suppliers but now I wouldn't touch other suppliers' seals with a barge pole! ..........................Mike


Mike Moore

Picture of Declan Burn's seals

Mike Moore

Oh dear. Over winter I stripped front suspension as not been checked for years. All fine but changed bushes and all seals I could. New seals are Moss so I will monitor. The good point is I didn't throw any of old seals away and they were fine after decades of use so may go back on again in due course.

Paul
Paul Dean

....... all of which makes me wonder whether it's worth replacing the seals but relying on copious quantities of grease to keep the muck out.
Graeme Williams

I replaced these seals (the Moss ones) on my car a few weeks ago.
I couldn't help but notice that they were extremely tight fit onto the links and they needed considerable force just to get them on.

I would have thought that being in a continually stretched state like this would contribute to them breaking down more quickly.

Like most other owners I have replaced these seals quite a few times and then gave up in disgust. My last attempt at a solution was to wrap the area with "self-amalgamating" tape which seemed to seal the area ok but, admittedly, it looked a bit of mess.

Declans seals seem to be at least twice as expensive as the Moss ones but I suppose that assuming that they last longer than twice as long, then they are worth it.

Colyn
Colyn Firth

These seals part no AAA1323, according to the part number are the same seals as used on the B, I fitted a set of these seals from Moss to my B over a year ago and these are still as good as the day I fitted them, I had exactly the same problems with these seals as everyone else with them only lasting a matter of months, when I complained to Moss they told me that they now do a modified seal and no longer sell the old type same part no but with a X on the end, the store in Bradford has 60 in stock and they are £1-50 each,
Andy Tilney

Mike,
Thanks for the comments regarding my seals. That is the first time I have heard of any gaps. I know there are slight differences between original and repro trunnions but that had to do with the fulcrum pin seals and not the kingpin seals and I did consider that when designing them. There was a discussion on the TD/TF board concerning this.
The reason that they are more expensive is nothing to do with the rubber but the actual moulding is not an automated process and each seal has to be manually extracted from the moulding machine.
I have attached a photo I received from a customer in Austria showing the fit of the seal on an MGA.
The fulcrum pin seal will also fit the MGB.
Regards
Declan

D Burns

Here's two photos of the moulding process.

Declan

D Burns

Second photo.
Just to show what is involved. This one is actually a Morris Minor kingpin seal. I made the tooling and this is one of my mate's moulding machines.
Declan

D Burns

Declan, Thanks for the info. I thought I'd post another picture of one of your king pin seals in situ and taken this morning (bottom near side).
You can clearly see the gap.
I've had the car for 33 years but I don't know the history before that so it's possible that the links have been replaced. But they do have casting numbers on them so they could be original.
But as I mentioned there is no sign of grease emerging from the gap so it may be just a cosmetic concern. Although given the choice I would prefer there to be no gap!

I'm personally not worried about the price as I've already paid more for a lot more for three duff sets than for yours and if it saves time stripping the suspension down each time I buy a new set then I'm more than happy.

One thing I was wondering and that is whether you have tried persuading one of the many MG parts suppliers to stock your seals. I always worry that years (hopefully many!) down the line I'll be able to obtain them again................................Mike





Mike Moore

Just had my a word with my garage about split trunnion seals.

It seems that in the UK any car can fail the annual MOT test if the seals are split ( new rules from the EU!!!!)

Has anyone thought of manufacturing these in silcon?

Or perhaps they are out there. and I haven't found them yet
John Follett

Mine passed the mot with split seals. I go to a a pretty tough Morris Minor specialist who seem only to test cars older than 30 odd years.
Graeme Williams

Moss Europe have recommended I replace my old split seals with ones for the MGBV8, which I understand are supposed to be much better. Has anyone had experience of these, and are they any good? Regards John
John Follett

John have a look at my post on the this which was on the 31/03/2017, my seals are still as good as new,
Andy Tilney

Declan Burns makes these in a high quality rubber. Unfortunately I went to order a set at the start of the week and he replied that he's in hospital so it will be weeks till he can supply a set.

My car is due it's MOT tomorrow and I have just seen that they are split, so fingers crossed that the tester is lenient because although I j^have a set on stock I would rather do the job just once....

Dominic Clancy

Andy
Missed your post!!
Thanks
John
John Follett

This thread was discussed between 29/03/2017 and 23/05/2018

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