OK all, I have a potential problem and my curiosity is aroused. At the last
autocross of the season, the safety steward (who took FTDI in a very stock and
very pretty '58 MGA), in teching (inspecting for safety problems) my 74 Midget
(Harvey), told me it looked like my kingpins were worn and wasn't it nice that
I'd have a winter project? He demonstrated by wiggling the front wheels
(while the car was on the ground) and they clearly had some (audible and
visible) play in a direction that would indicate either kingpins or wheel
bearings. As I have driven the car approximately twenty miles since that
autocross and I do not have a proper jack and stands at my college apartment,
I have not had the opportunity to look closely and find out where the play is
happening. I hope it's the wheel bearings, of course, but if it is worn
kingpins, could someone approximate for me how bad a job it is fixing that
sort of thing? I have replaced the entire front suspension with the
suspension from my parts car, but I didn't actually take it apart, just
unbolted the shocks and control arms from the frame and moved the whole thing
over. So, do I need special tools? Do I need (as Dave Barry so elegantly
puts it) a matrix wrench and 50 yards of tram cable? Is this a big headache
or a little headache?
Also, whether it's the wheel bearings or the kingpins, I think a wheel bearing
renewal might be a good idea. Has anyone used the tapered bearings that
Winners Circle sells? Do they appear to hold up under duress?
Thanks in advance!
Michael Chaffee
mchaffee@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu
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