I am going to put a socket on the shock mount bolts and now the rack mounting bolts as well. Thanks again to all for the advise. If everything checks out I will start the front suspension diagnostic process.

x2, no need for grade 8 for it, in fact, grade 8s only come in fine thread and you want the corsest available thread to make the process go quickly (put a little oil on the threads to prevent galling, then use a deep socket on a power driver to zip the nuts up/down)

Home depot hardware run, bolts and maybe some 3M glue for my convertable top. Thanks

Agree totally about the Autobooks Kenneth Ball manual. Keep one torn and grease covered one in the car. A clean one to refer to in the shop or from my easy chair. Several used ones on eBay at the moment. Make sure the Spridgets covered go all the way to your year. Many editions were published over the years.

As far as the bolts being 5 inches long...I have to ask aren't the coils extended close to 6-8 inches on a stock Midget? Don't you want the bolts to be at least that long? 5 inches seems like it would make more trouble when removing the springs.

Yes, 5 inches is a bit short. They were the max. length available at HD, but I could have gone with a 3 foot length of threaded rod, chopped up into a couple of suitable lengths. In practice though I found that most of the pressure was off the lower A-arm using the short bolts. Back in the day when I had a fully equipped shop I used a hydraulic spring compressor. Funny, it's like matching book ends to my working life. I started my career as a mechanic aged 15 using improvised tools and now I'm ending it the same way.

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Nick Cherau
Fredonia, NY
1971 Midget MkIII "Little B"
2004 Honda Civic Si Hatchback "200K and still a blast"

I used coarse unithread for my aborted spring swap project a few years ago. Still have them in my improvised tool drawer. There have been many "better mousetrap" moments for me, trying to restore DD on a shoestring budget.

Nick,

I thought the Sprite Midget steering racks up to 1275 model were not greased but were oiled? Not sure about the later Triumph racks. I'll check out John Twist's Youtube 'library'.

Roger

Roger, you are correct, the Morris rack used from '58~'74 takes 90W oil. Only the Triumph rack, used from '75 ~'79 takes axle grease.

However, corn head grease is pretty unique, it "sits" like a grease, and it "moves" like a heavy oil. My Morris rack leaked its oil at a pretty regular rate, even after having John Twist fit new seals. Then I tried refilling it with corn head grease, now its outside and the body around it remain dry. The corn head grease is pretty interesting stuff to see and feel, how it behaves. On the recommendation of someone on this forum, some years ago, I tried it and it seems to be working for me (so far).

It moves like an oil, when the agitation of the rack moving "liquifies" it, to do its job, and when siting still, it sits without moving by gravity, so it doesn't leak out.


N

Norm,

Thanks for the feedback. Over the years many people have assumed that the 'grease nipples' ( you call them zerks?) meant grease was required, and high temperature lithium bearing grease just didn't do the job as it fails to migrate to all components subject to wear. I've stripped down a few that showed serious wear that the owners had 'maintained' regularly. I understand the irritation that comes from rack oil leaks but, interestingly, most I've seen have been due to damaged gaiters, lack of lubrication and exposure to dirt. Some replacement rubber components available nowadays don't last sixty years, especially when exposed to EP90 oil. Who would have imagined? Anyway, any lubrication is better than none, unless you have to rebuild it in 5 years. Not many people would have a pressure oil gun, as opposed to a grease gun. The standard early Spridget steering rack is a beauty of a design, 2.3 (?) turns lock to lock and usually perfectly reliable for many years.

I've never heard of 'corn grease' and doubt if it's available here but I'm always interested in something that makes our babies more reliable.

Thanks for the input!

Regards,

Roger

John Deere Corn Head Grease AN102562 NLGI "0" grade 14 oz. tubes. Available from your JD dealer in Australia.Also - https://www.agensonline.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=270015

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Nick Cherau
Fredonia, NY
1971 Midget MkIII "Little B"
2004 Honda Civic Si Hatchback "200K and still a blast"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-02-06 07:11 AM by NickC.

Thanks Nick! I'll check it out. 12.16 am here so I'll call it a night.

Thanks guys!

Roger

Amazing stuff. There was a pretty thorough discussion of cornhead grease properties a few years ago on this forum. Guys on the motorcycle forum have also claimed some benefit over "fork oil." Employees at Tractor Supply (doesn't only get used on John Deere, natch ) will look at you funny because it is sold in large volume containers and you will use something like 10 oz of the stuff. Keep the remains for future projects!

Nick,
Thanks for the John Deere corn head grease recommendation! back when I lived on Long Island I would have to buy that off the internet. here in Lancaster County I can pop over to my local Deere Country store and pick some up. We just brought home a new puppy so my front end investigation my be delayed. Thanks to all for all the advice once again.