TA Front Axle Orientation

[Ed & Kris Curtis]

A question to the group concerning the orientation of the front axle of a TA. To make a long story short, I have reached the point in my restoration of TA 1128 that I am about to mount the front axle on the springs. I have obtained a completely rebuilt axle with magnafluxed stub axles (or steering knuckles as they are called in the TA Service Parts List), new hubs, rebuilt brakes, etc. Since it was completely apart, I want to be sure that it was put back together properly in relation to the left and right handed knockoffs. I want to make sure that when the axle is mounted on the car the caster angle is inclined in the correct direction. There was a discussion thread back in August concerning wedges to change the geometry of the steering. It was pointed out that the printing on the TC axle should be toward the back of the car. It was also pointed out that the TA axle did not have this printing. A careful review of the e-mails of that discussion does not seem to answer my question - Can I look at my TA axle and tell how it should be orientated on the car? I hope to be able to avoid taking the King Pin out and measuring the angles as one of the earlier e-mails described. I note that the I-beam of the axle is straight between the spring mounting pads, but has a small arc or offset from that point out to where the King Pins mount. Should this arc or offset point to the rear or front of the car? And can this arc be used to guide the orientation of the axle? Thanks oin advance, Ed Curtis curtis@novagate.com 55 MGTF1500 37 MGTA

[Roger Furneaux]

Re: [mg-tabc] TA Front Axle Orientation Hi there - we could all write reams, but Mike Sherrell got there first! Pages 111 & 113 tell you (almost) everything. Not all axles have writing, and not all have it at the rear, but [b]most[/b] TC axles do. With the spring-mounting pads on a good flat horizontal surface (use a spirit-level) it is just possible to see the backward lean of the kingpins (looking from the top, of course) without removing them and inserting steel bars. Also make sure you have the correct cotter pins with their heads at the rear of the axle (TCs Forever p.113) Happy [b]M[/b]otorin[b]G! [/b] Roger Furneaux

[quote]A question to the group concerning the orientation of the front axle of a TA. To make a long story short, I have reached the point in my restoration of TA 1128 that I am about to mount the front axle on the springs. I have obtained a completely rebuilt axle with magnafluxed stub axles (or steering knuckles as they are called in the TA Service Parts List), new hubs, rebuilt brakes, etc. Since it was completely apart, I want to be sure that it was put back together properly in relation to the left and right handed knockoffs. I want to make sure that when the axle is mounted on the car the caster angle is inclined in the correct direction. There was a discussion thread back in August concerning wedges to change the geometry of the steering. It was pointed out that the printing on the TC axle should be toward the back of the car. It was also pointed out that the TA axle did not have this printing. A careful review of the e-mails of that discussion does not seem to answer my question - Can I look at my TA axle and tell how it should be orientated on the car? I hope to be able to avoid taking the King Pin out and measuring the angles as one of the earlier e-mails described. I note that the I-beam of the axle is straight between the spring mounting pads, but has a small arc or offset from that point out to where the King Pins mount. Should this arc or offset point to the rear or front of the car? And can this arc be used to guide the orientation of the axle? Thanks oin advance, Ed Curtis [u]curtis@novagate.com[/u] [u]mailto:curtis@novagate.com[/u]> 55 MGTF1500 37 MGTA Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service [u]http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/[/u]> .

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[Dwyer]

Ed

Don't worry about the printing or lack of it.

If you stand the axle assembly so that the mounting pads are horizontal, you should see that the kingpins are #noticeably# not vertical in the fore-and-aft direction. To give a stable steering situation, the bottom of the kingpin must point toward the ground ahead of the wheel, ie the top of the kingpin leans backwards.

I think you'll find that the knock-off nuts are marked 'LEFT' and 'RIGHT' or possibly O/S and N/S (remembering that O/S means the RHS of the car in UK). Since the nuts themselves are right and left threaded they will prove whether the hubs are on their correct sides, after you've decided which way around the beam should go.

It's possible to fit the stub axles to the wrong sides, but you can check this without dismantling. Each stub axle has a tapped hole for the steering lock stop screw, and this means that they are visibly L & R handed, apart from the actual wheel bearing threads being L & R. I think that those screws are fitted toward the rear of the axle but you'd better check that.

Regards

Dave Dwyer

[C. Knight]

> Ed & Kris Curtis wrote: > Can I look at my TA axle and tell how it should be orientated on the car?

If you rest the axle with the pads horizontal then you should be able to see the slope of the king pins by eye. They should slop forward when on the car. That is the slope should be the same direction as the windscreen. When on the car the easy way to check the king pin angle is to remove the bolt, washer and felt washer from the top of the king pin and hold a 2 ft ruler or similar flat bar on the flat top of the king pin. Then measure the distance of each end from the garage floor (which needs to be fairly flat) The difference between the 2 measurements should be 2.5 in. for the correct 6 deg castor angle. If your bar is not 2 ft then simple geometry can be used to calculate the angle. Best wishes Cliff