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MG MGB Technical - Creeking noise from the rear

hi everyone, i have a problem with my rear suspension. every time i pull away from a standstill in my 68 GT i get a lot of creeking noises. it never used to do this. could it be the leaves in the springs?
A P New

Does it creak when you do the 'suspension' test - ie. bounce the rear end? Mine was terrible; rubber bushes were gone, springs falling apart etc.
So changed the whole thing - new leaf springs, poly bushes for everything, new armstrongs (both were leaking with no restistance)new drop links, u-bolts. Mine needed doing and the difference is amazing but it can be that yours is not so bad and it could well be that the u-bolts are not tight or the connections to the frame are dry (hence bushes need replacing or lubricating) Try talking a crow bar to see if anything is untoward.
Regards
Moss
Moss

Quite easily, my V8 used to creak until I painted the leaves with Waxoyl then ran a heat gun over them to melt it so it sank in. Didn't fix it immediately but over a few runs it seemed as if it gradually worked its way in and they became silent. Can also be poly bushings in the rear suspension if you have them, less likely with rubber.

Bouncing the suspension should tell you it *is* the springs if it creaks then, if it doesn't it could be something more serious like the UJs in the prop-shaft or something else in the drive-train.
PaulH Solihull

thanks guys, ill give the suspension test a go tonight. im hoping its just the leafsprings moving
A P New

There was a recent thread on GT tailgates squeaking. You might want to look at that one.Barrie E
B Egerton

I have a feeling that the U bolts are not tight enough. I had this problem a while back and that was the solution. A torque figure is not given in the manual but 22ft/lbs is enough.
Iain MacKintosh

Loose U-bolts *usually* give a rear-wheel steering effect, and unless you use plain nuts the torque figure isn't really relevant, Nylocs are usually supplied with the bolts these days. The problem with these fasteners is that you are clamping two rubber pads, which have quite a lot of give, and so the nuts only tighten very gradually, up to a certain point where they start stiffening up more rapidly, and that is where I stop Even so checking them again a few months later I could put a few more flats on. A deep socket is very handy for these so you can use a ratchet, they wind on a long way.
PaulH Solihull

Agreed, loose U bolts usually do give a rear wheeled steering effect but in my experience they have to be fairly loose to do this. Whjen they are just a tad loose the movement of the spring in the rubber blocks seems to cause a creaking effect. Also agreed that torque is rather iffy with nylocs but at the same time it does give a clue to how tightly the rubber blocks are clamped and from experience 22ft/lbs is about right. By all means go back a few weeks later when the bolts might take some more torque.
Iain MacKintosh

I quite agree with you all, I had the same squeaks, the u bolts were quite tight but simply the leaf springs were dry. On a 38 year old car I decided to renew the lot for up-rated springs and slightly lower, all bushes changed for urathane. Boy, what a difference nice and tight and no noise. Oh, and not overly firm I thought I might have overdone it with the uprating but honestly it is no worse that my Hyundai Tiburon which was cursed for its hard ride ( and it is not that hard!) Now, changing the springs, oh, that was hard. My front eye bolts had seized!The front eye of the spring had to ground off. long job but I got there. Is it worth it? Most certainly. with all suspension parts working correctly, even and MG can show modern cars a thing or two!
J.M. Doust

Having changed springs on three cars it was third time unlucky for the front eye bolts. I used a *cutting* disc in an angle grinder, thinner than a grinding disc, which allowed me to cut up each side of the spring eye to cut through the bolt, just shaving the eye, without touching the sides of the bracket. I first cut the leaf off the eye so I could rotate the stub of the leaf out of the way. It literally took me five minutes each side, less than to remove the U-bolts. http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/suspensiontext.htm#srjul2010
PaulH Solihull

Damn! wish I had known that Paul, Thanks for the tip! Regards Mike
J.M. Doust

This thread was discussed between 20/11/2010 and 26/11/2010

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