MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

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 - silent blocks

Hi, good morning.
I am restoring a 1600(1960)and at the moment I am working on the rear axle,rear suspension.
I have removed(not easy!) the old silent blocks from the rear springs on my MGA.
Now I want to install the new ones.
I thaught to put the spring and the silent block between the jaws of my vise and to force the silent block in place but I am afraid to damage the silent block.
Can anyone give me a better way to install the silent blocs please.
Thank you.

Herman
H. Jorens

Herman, I think that is the right way. But first I would check the fit, internal and external diameters and new vs old bush, to make sure it is not going to be too tight. Also clean out the inside of the spring eye and grease it.
Art Pearse

Ok thank you Art.
I was not sure it was allowed to use grease on the inside of the spring eye.
I will give it a try this evening.

Herman
H. Jorens

It should be tight enough, it will not move, but may prevent rusting in place next time.
Art Pearse

Herman,

I just did my silent blocks a couple of weeks ago. As the others have mentioned clean out the spring eye and add a bit of grease. I used a large vise to press in the silent block. Make sure it is correctly lined up as you start pressing it in. I used a couple of blocks of wood on each side to help avoid damage to the silent block and my newly painted springs. This made the line up a bit more fiddly but worked fine once I got it started. One side was much tighter than the other and I had to finish the job by using a socket as a drift and tapping the last bit of the silent block into place.

Getting the bolts back in may require turning them in through the silent block with a open end wrench. Take care not to over tighten the silent block bolts. Theoretically the metal spacer will maintain the correct spacing but as in my case I began to bend the mounting flange when I tightened the nut and bolt too much.

John


jjb Backman

"Getting the bolts back in may require turning them in through the silent block with a open end wrench."

The bolts should be a free fit in the tube. Deburr or ream out the tube as necessary.

"Take care not to over tighten the silent block bolts. Theoretically the metal spacer will maintain the correct spacing but as in my case I began to bend the mounting flange when I tightened the nut and bolt too much."

The design requires that the center tube be clamped solidly in place. The tube is NOT meant to pivot on the bolt, and it will if not clamped. This means the motion is not taken by rubber in shear as designed, leading to wear on >>> both bolt and frame ears <<<, squeaks/clunks, and other odd noises. If the frame ears bend out of square, then the tube is too short, fit washers over the bolt or whatever. The center tube is (meant to be!) longer than the width of both the spring eye and the bush; any spacers should not contact either. Tighten the bolt only when the normal car weight is on the suspension to avoid overstress of the rubber, as in all oscillating rubber bushes.

I strongly recommend the use of antiseize on both the ID & OD of the bush.

FRM
FR Millmore

Since at least 2004, these Silentbloc bushings have been too short in the center tube. See here:
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/faulty/ft017.htm

I don't know if anyone has produced a correct one recently. The fix for the short tube is a flat washer or two to make up the distance. The bolt should be very tight when finished to prevent movement of the tube or bolt in the frame, and the frame plates should not be bent in the process. The leaf spring should not touch the frame plates on either side.
Barney Gaylord

I don't like to use grease (except rubber grease) on anything rubber as you never know if it will react and cause problems maybe a year later.

Dishwashing liquid works very well as a lubricant and dries up and disappears after you are finshed.
Bill Spohn

Amazing how people make and sell parts and can't afford a $15 set of calipers! Or maybe they are too dumb to use them. Or maybe they just don't f888ing care.

Bill - "Silentbloc" bushes have steel shells inside and out. While these are pretty certainly not real "Silentbloc", they have still got the steel shells, at least until some cheap dumbshmuck decides to cheat us some more.

FRM
FR Millmore

The grease is between 2 metal parts, Bill is right no grease on the rubber.
R J Brown

I got my old silent blocks out using a tool that was perfect for the purpose - it was a $14 pitman arm removal tool for small cars. See pic attached.

I put a washer on the end of the arm that was just smaller than the inner diameter of the spring eye, and pushed everything right out using a socket wrench. Worked great! I had tried "drifting" them out, but they wouldn't budge.

I put the new Prothane red bushings in, and wouldn't do it any other way now.

JIM in NH

AJ Mail

This thread was discussed between 02/10/2009 and 17/10/2009

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MGA BBS now