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 TD TF 1500 - Girling Shocks and Andrex rebuid?

Good morning
I'm trying to help a friend rebuild her MGTD Girling shocks front and rear. I'm only going to help remove then and send them to either World Wide or Apple Hyd. Any preference here? Also this car has Andrex shocks front and rear. Peter said he could rebuild, but it looks like only plywood friction parts. Where can those be purchased? Also all the shock link bushings and rear spring bushings need to be renewed/replaced. What are the best bushings to replace these with?
Thanks, John
John Hambleton

World Wide is the place, no question. And I say this having personal experience with both. Peter has rebuilt several sets of shocks for me, including a pair of front shocks that Apple Hydraulics rebuilt and failed within a few hundred miles.
David Littlefield

The best shop for rebuilding, without a doubt, is Peter at World Wide. He did my Girlings on my late 52 TD and they are excellent. I've seen many others comment here about his excellent service and he stands behind his work. He is probably the best to look after your Andrex shocks also, but I have no first hand experience with those. I've heard many negative comments about Apple Hydraulics on this site, but there again I have not dealt with them, but those comments were a very large part of my decision to send my shocks to Peter at World Wide.
Allyn Davis

I have read on this board that the Andrex shocks are not the greatest and can be restored to function as "looks" only and that if you change oil to a more viscose oil in the Girlings, you get the same function as the two sets of shocks would give you. Your best bet would be to give Peter at World Wide a call and ask him. He is well versed in both shocks. I have a set of Peter's rebuilt shocks on my 'B' and shocks and service are first class.
.. CR
C.R. Tyrell

Definately Peter at world wide for the girlings. When you send your shocks to Peter, include the links and he can rebush them for you which can save a lot of time and aggravation.

I too am working on rebuilding my andrex shocks. Peter said he could do them but really doesn't like to. I can tell you they can be a bear to take apart, you have to be really careful so as not to break the alloy case. The oil seal where the shaft exits the shock body is no longer available. You can buy the wooden disks from either Moss or Abingdon Spares, people have told me the moss wood isn't correct but I'm not sure how they know since I've never been able to figure out exactly what kind of wood was originally used. In any case, since I'm going more for looks and less for function, I decided to make my own out of mahogany and see what happens (pic attached).

Unfortunately, if the andrex bushings are available, I haven't been able to find them despite a 2 year search. I did manage to locate some similarly sized bushings which I got through amazon:

Energy Suspension 9.8106G End Link Grommet

They are the correct outside diameter. I reamed out the internal diameter slightly and then made a tool to fasciliate pushing them over the studs (similar to the moss suspension link tool). I have no idea how well they will work however since the car is long from being finished but they seem like a nice tight fit. As I don't plan on the shocks actually doing much of anything, it should be adequate and look close to correct even though the bushings are not quite long enough.

J Cosin

Thanks, all. I!ll pass this information on to my friends son. He has taken on the project.
John H.
John Hambleton

On the early TD were Girling shocks identified as right & left by the use of the embossed letters R & L in a circle?

Reason I ask is that my car has 2 Girling shocks with the circled letter R embossed into the casting. It seems one of these is probably installed backwards. On the driver's side (RHD) the shock looks correct but the one on the left doesn't look right, (if you know what I mean). If oriented the way the one on the right is, they are identical & not mirror opposites. I don't have a pic so this description will have to suffice. It didn't seem to affect the way it drove for the 18 months that I had it on the road in the 60's. As I'm planning to have my shocks rebuilt by World Wide, based on the above recommendations, I'd like to address this if needs be. TYIA. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Anyone with original Girlings on the front able to answer my question? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Looking at my Girlings (why does that sound strange?) they are also identical, not handed. As long as the trunnions end up in the right spot, which they appear to do, I don't think it matters.

My guess is someone had those shocks rebuilt at one point and either wanted to keep them on the same sides and/or didn't know they were interchangeable and marked them.

Post a pic of the embossed letters and I'll check to see if my shocks have them. A cursory review today didn't reveal them.
David Littlefield

Thanks David. The embossing looks/is factory. I'll take some pics when next over at the car. I've also asked the question of Peter from World Wide & I should get a reply tomorrow. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

John Hambleton posted this thread for a friend who has a TDC with Girling and Andrex shocks. I am the son of the friend, and I will be doing the work on the car. I thank all who responded for sharing your experience.
EB Blackwelder

I can confirm that the Girling shocks aren't handed & that the difference is probably that the nuts & bolts were installed backwards on the passenger side. As I've had no reply from Peter at World Wide I'm now having my shocks restored by Eddy from Diamond Head here in NSW. He comes highly recommended by other TD owners here. With 40 years of experience hopefully he'll do a good job. Price is less than World Wide even without considering the lousy exchange rate & I also save on shipping. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

The Andrex is a hydraulic shock, in principal, not unlike the Luvax.

However if you're dealing with friction shocks, Paul Beck seems to have the market well-covered. See https://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/categories/vintage-car-parts-andre-hartford-shock-absorber-spares . Maybe the bushing you can't find is in there.

Several years ago, there was a good article by the Octagon Car Club on the various MG shock absorbers. See - http://archive.motorsportmagazine.com/article/september-1952/42/3bd74e93-ba4a-4658-970f-45bd37fccabe/enthusiastsdirectoryno1-shock-absorbers, but this has since been withdrawn.

I never saved it. Did anybody else?

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.

Gord Clark

Gord - how is an Andrex hydraulic? The workings are a series of alternating wooden and metal discs, some held immobile within the housing, and some attached to the shock arm. A compression bolt provides more or less friction by adjustment. As the shock arm moves with the suspension, the contact between the metal plates and the wooden ones cause friction, which results in dampening. The Andrex is filled with oil but as a lubricant, and is never under pressure.

Unlike a Luvax, it seems to me this is totally friction. Am I missing something?

Tom Lange
MGT Repair


t lange

Peter Hehir could you give me Eddy from Diamond Head 's detail regarding repair of TF shocks.
Regards.
Ralph.
R E J Stewart

Ditto for me please Peter. I don't know if they need anything more doing to them other than the cleaning out and refilling that I have already done but having contact details for a potential refurb seems like a good plan.
Chris
C I Twidle

Don't have any real experience/expertise with wooden discs on shocks. But is used as part of the absorption of road bumps, I can only imagine mahogany being crushed and distorted, though a lovely wood is relatively soft and compressible. And in as much as ash a hard resilient wood (baseball bats) was the wood of choice for the bodies and readily available, I would assume it to be a "better" guess if species of wood is unknown.
Jon Levine

The problem with the wood discs is they split along the grain. I used thin plywood that is used in model air planes. Found it Hobby Loby. The alternating plys makes it hard to split. Also socked disks in oil for week before assembling with grease instead of oil. No oil leaks and have been on my car for 16 years. Forrest TD/C22679
Forrest Rubenstein

J Cosin, Connecticut, USA wrote:



I too am working on rebuilding my andrex shocks. Peter said he could do them but really doesn't like to. I can tell you they can be a bear to take apart, you have to be really careful so as not to break the alloy case. The oil seal where the shaft exits the shock body is no longer available. You can buy the wooden disks from either Moss or Abingdon Spares, people have told me the moss wood isn't correct but I'm not sure how they know since I've never been able to figure out exactly what kind of wood was originally used. In any case, since I'm going more for looks and less for function, I decided to make my own out of mahogany and see what happens (pic attached).

Unfortunately, if the andrex bushings are available, I haven't been able to find them despite a 2 year search. I did manage to locate some similarly sized bushings which I got through amazon:

Energy Suspension 9.8106G End Link Grommet

They are the correct outside diameter. I reamed out the internal diameter slightly and then made a tool to fasciliate pushing them over the studs (similar to the moss suspension link tool). I have no idea how well they will work however since the car is long from being finished but they seem like a nice tight fit. As I don't plan on the shocks actually doing much of anything, it should be adequate and look close to correct even though the bushings are not quite long enough.


Is the car finished and what's aboot the ANDREX shocks?
W_Mueller

Indeed it is. In fact I just picked up my brand new license plates today! The andrex shocks are all installed and look good but are set up loose so as to not function. The bushings worked perfectly--probably better than the originals. As you can see in the pictures, I sourced an O ring that was the correct size to fit in place of the seal. I added some PVC sealant to hold it in. This proved 75% successful as one shock leaked it's oil out after installation on the car.

J Cosin

shock assembled with oring

J Cosin

wooden disks soaked in oil (~ 6 months)

J Cosin

Hi
I was told that the wood is Beech (40 years ago)
This is what I used without problems
John
I
J A Davies

This thread was discussed between 14/01/2016 and 03/10/2018

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG TD TF 1500 BBS now