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MGB differential in MGA I think

Posted by Captainjake

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MGB differential in MGA I think #1
Captainjake Cliff Jacobson Chico, california, USA	Posted: June 16, 2012 10:18PM Registered: 1 year ago Posts: 36

I just started to replace the bushings in the differential on my mg
According to everything Ive read on this subject there were supposed to be 2 bronze bushings and 2fibre bushings
I ordered the new bushings and tore it down but when I pulled the side gears they have 2 large bronze spacers instead of the fibre ones. Is this a modification that I'm not aware of? Has anybody come across this before. Do I pitch them and use the fibre ones or are they there in addition to the fibre ones. I read every blog I can think of but I don't hear any mention of bronze on the big gears, just the small conical ones. Has anyone ever seen this before?

Stopped in my tracks again
Cliff

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Re: MGB differential in MGA I think #2
JimNH Jim Mail Nashua, New Hampshire, USA 1957 MG MGA "Camilla (the Other Woman)"	Posted: June 16, 2012 10:22PM Registered: 3 years ago Posts: 2,657

I always thought fiber was the later cheapo replacement for the bronze. Maybe you just got lucky...or someone in the past had bronze bushings made up special.

JIM in NH

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Re: MGB differential in MGA I think #3
barneymg Barney Gaylord Naperville, Illinois, USA 1958 MG MGA "MGA With An Attitude"	Posted: June 17, 2012 12:40AM Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 2,155

All MGA and early MGB with banjo type axle originally had four bronze thrust washers in the differential, two large flat ones for the sun gears and two small spherical ones for the planet gears. The 1968 and later MGB (and all BGT) with tube-type axle had fiber washers on the sun gears. This was a very bad cost reduction decision, as the fiber washers are notorious for early demise. It seems that some of them apparently dissolve in gear oil and disappear in about 10 years or so, even without high mileage.

A few years ago Moss Motors (and perhaps some other suppliers) made an even worse decision and began supplying fiber washers for the banjo type axles. Stupid, Stupid, STUPID, and I will never stop saying it. I will never put those fiber thrust washers in my MGA. Last summer we had a club tech session at my place where we were replacing the thrust washers in several late model MGB in one day, because they all had the loud "clunk" from excessive backlash caused by worn fiber thrust washers.

It is horrible practice for the suppliers to intentionally reduce quality of restoration parts like this. They should go the other way and supply the bronze washers for the later tube-type axle, or at least give the choice or good bronze parts or the cheap fiber ones. By supplying only the trashy parts they should be shooting themselves in the foot and losing all sales. We need to shine a light on the truth and clearly point out who supplies the bad parts and where to get the good parts. Unfortunately at the moment I don't know who might still still supply the bronze thrust washers for the sun gears. Anybody know?

Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude - http://MGAguru.com
Notice: - Do not leave a PM for me on the forum server. Send any private message to my personal e-mail address barneymg@mgaguru.com

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Re: MGB differential in MGA I think #4
markmga Mark Wellard Brisbane, QLD, Australia	Posted: June 17, 2012 04:47AM Registered: 5 years ago Posts: 118

Alternatively Barney, Can someone provide the dimensions and material so that we can have out own made?

Thanks, Mark

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Re: MGB differential in MGA I think #5
Captainjake Cliff Jacobson Chico, california, USA	Posted: June 18, 2012 01:29AM Registered: 1 year ago Posts: 36

just an update on the diff bushings
After reading everyones post I decided to put the bronze bushings back in along with the new conical bushings
I left the fibre onoes on the bench
I don't know if this is of any value to anyone but I thought i'd share this
When i put the first planet gear in the housing it kept falling out as I rotated the housing to put the second gear in so I cleaned off the housing with carb cleaner then set the gear in place and put a piece of 3/4 masking tape over it . It stayed in place wonderfully. Then I rotated the gears in the housing to get them lined up with the pin hole. Then I put the bushings in place under the gears and tied them on thru the pin hole with sewing thread. Again they stayed in place while I re installed the planet gear pin.

Thanks for the info on the bushings

Regards
Cliff

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Re: MGB differential in MGA I think #6
fast-MG.com Dave Headley Cortez, 4 corners, Colorado, USA	Posted: June 18, 2012 09:09AM Registered: 4 years ago Posts: 3,240

I've disassembled numerous MGB and a few MGA banjo third members. All had the bronze side(sun) gear flat thrust washers. I've also never found any that needed replaced. smileys with beer

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Re: MGB differential in MGA I think #7
hunts H. Landon Hunter central PA '75 RB to CB, HS-4's., USA 1974 MG MGB GT 1975 MG MGB	Posted: June 18, 2012 03:20PM Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 2,916

I would think that knowing the proper thickness they could be made fairly easily from some shim stock??

Landon

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