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MG MGA - Steering

My MGA has always had a heavy feel to it. I can't feel any tightness when the front is jacked up.
Could it be that when the trunnions are loaded with the car weight, they cause stiffness?
I was wondering if new lower trunnions (and maybe king pins) would help.
Ant opinions?
Art
Art Pearse

Fairly important to have the car jacked up with the weight off the wheels when greasing the front end so the grease gets to where it's needed
William Revit

You may have grease in your steering rack rather than gear oil.

Jim
JL Cheatham

A possibility is the U-Joint in the steering column is misaligned.
The alignment procedure is described in the Workshop Manual and on Barney's website.

https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/steering/sr113.htm

Mick
M F Anderson

Art
After my rebuild ten years ago I found my steering did not self centre very well and seemed stiffer than before. I assumed that there was some stiffness in the steering with the new trunnions or there was some alignment issue. However, I couldn't find any stiffness in the king pins or the steering rack/column and all the alignment seemed OK.

I took the tie rod arms off and found that both wheels "flopped" from full lock to full lock easily. One side seemed a little less loose than the other side so I dismantled the king pin and trunnions on that side and used some fine grinding paste to ease the threads. I thoroughly cleaned everything before reassembling. I think it made a tiny bit of difference but not much. This winter I refurbished the steering rack and realigned the steering column.
I still find that the self-centering is limited. The steering is delightfully direct which I like, so am living with it.
John Francis

Art, John
Are the suspect racks original MG products or repro. Mind you main reason for repros is original US cars being reimported to UK so unlikely in Art’s case. Just curious.
Paul
Paul Dean

It is time for me to move on some of the parts that I am never going to use

For sale: Original BMC MGA RHD rack, complete, with dashboard, and the three pedals

I know this is a combination that rarely appears for sale. Please make serious offers or it will go on eBay and the MGCC site

The dash is newly painted OEW and (without going to fetch it from the attic) I think it is unmolested and has no extra holes

Dominic Clancy

Willy, I have just greased the trunnions while jacked up doing my discs.
Jim, it is oil in the rack
Mick, UJ is aligned perfectly
Paul, original rack, quite loosely adjusted.
Maybe I'm comparing it to our other modern cars with PS.
It definitely goes where it is told to.
Art
Art Pearse

This thread was discussed between 11/07/2019 and 12/07/2019

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