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 MGB Technical - Jack and Jack Bag

What is the correct colour for a jack for a '71 car. I am guessing red. If so, anyone know what the code is please?

Also can someone give me the dimensions of the hardura tool bag please.

Thanks

Colin
Colin Parkinson

Clausager sez:

"The original red King Dick jack was replaced in May 1973 ...". No idea of the code.

The bag is 20" x 13" with a flap of about 7.5". The flap is a bit of a guess as I keep a 2 tonne trolley jack in mine so the flap is a bit ratty.
paulh4

Colin, this is the bag of my 76 roadster and measures 27.5" long by 13" wide. The flap is 8" long. I bought this one off ebay for £25 a couple of years ago and it's well made.

My jack, which looks original is black, but they may have changed colour over the years.

Andy

Andy Robinson

Blue from May 73, Black from Feb 74.
paulh4

My original Dec 73 jack is black.
Chris at Octarine Services

Colin

Here's a snap of my (June 1974) B/GT original jack and jute storage bag. This was a (PED) car shipped to the USA.

The jack clearly blue. Jute bag (approx. 30" open.

Larry C.

LC

Thanks guys, so do we know the red colour of the King Dick jack?

I thought I had enough material to get a bag stitched up, but not enough unfortunately.
Colin Parkinson

Would Steve Gyles know, he has a website of car jacks. He sometimes posts on the MGA forum and his email contact is on his website.

http://www.classic-british-car-jacks.uk/King_Dick_Jacks.htm
Nigel Atkins

Sorry guys. I am not an MGB expert. I cannot add anything other than what is already said in the database entry. I rely very much on prime data feedback from you all to make up the entries. If you think there is anything incorrect in the King Dick entry (and Shelley and Metallifacture) please contact me so I can sort.

With nearly 800 jacks catalogued and over 350 jacks linked to specific cars I struggle to be an expert in any one car/jack. MGA excepted. I think I have that one just about sorted although the changeover date/chassis number from one particular Shelley jack to a King Dick is still vague.

Steve
Steve Gyles

To be brutal Clausager doesn't actually 'know' anything, he could only go by factory documentation which by the time he started his research was already decades old and who knows how accurate and complete that was. He also makes his own errors such as describing the V8 radiator as 'cross-flow' which it obviously isn't.

I have my doubts with the three pictures he shows as going by the feet the red King Dick is flat bottomed with a straight angled top, the blue 'from the same maker' has a curved foot, as does the black Metallifacture jack.

I have a 73 roadster and a 75 V8. I also have a blue jack and a black jack, so allegedly a King Dick nd a Mettalifacture, but which jack came with which car I can't remember as I've never use them, let alone know if they are original to the cars (or how original to the cars his jacks are). The two jacks are assembled identically as far as I can see, but have some component differences as in the attached, but the feet are the same. No obvious manufacturer marks.

The blue is 19" long and the black 20.5". The blue lifting bar is 10" and the black 13". The blue lifting bar has the stop pin on the side, but the black is on the underside (arrowed). The bracket that attaches the lifting bar to the screw is a different shape, also arrowed. Clausager's black lifting bar looks significantly shorter than mine, and also has the stop pin on the side as my blue one.

FWIW.
paulh4

Hi Paul,

I just looked back at the photo I posted (earlier) and I never paid any attention to the base of my (1974) blue jack and it's "curved" as well. Never used my jack either....... I carry a small (aftermarket) scissor-jack with a flat base that I can use under an axle, or near the factory jack-point on the sill/s. May have only used that one three times in nearly forty years.

Regards,

Larry C.
LC

Clausager's blue jack has a completely different top to yours and mine, with exposed gears.

Can't jack under the axle on the roadster as the wheel tucks up into the arch to I can't pull it off the hub. So I carried a small telescopic to jack under the rear spring mount ... until I had a puncture - the only one on that in 30 years. The body dropped, I couldn't unscrew the lifting pad as much as I could with an inflated tyre, so I couldn't jack the car high enough to get the tyre off the ground! Since then I carry the telescopic and a small scissors, one to lift the body and the other to lift the axle having made sure the they will do the job. That's for 'every-day' driving, for long trips I carry the trolley jack, which lives in the V8 for every-day trips.

The moral of the story is, if you don't use the factory jack make sure whatever you do use will allow you to get a flat tyre off and an inflated tyre on.
paulh4

Mine is black on my 71
Paul Hollingworth

This thread was discussed between 29/08/2019 and 16/09/2019

MG MGB Technical index

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