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Swivel Link THRUST WASHERS and SEAL PLATES - FS-109

This is just a heads up for a small assembly problem. I have a report of the Moss Motors swivel link thrust washer (part number 324-510) being too thick, and greatly variable in thickness. A friend says the Moss "Major Suspension Kit" (Moss 264-358 or 264-348) contained 8 of these thrust washers, 4 being 0.060" thick and 4 being 0.080" thick. He says the originals were 0.070" thick. The book says case hardened, 0.068 to 0.065 thick, with 0.505 -0 510 ID and 1.25 OD.

He also reports that the seal support (Moss number 264-010) is also about 0.005" thicker than the originals.

These same parts are also found in the MGB Lower Trunnion Kit (Moss 263-445).

Oversize thrust washers and seal supports combined could make the trunion assembly more than 1/32 inch too wide. This makes assembly with the suspension arms undually difficult, but not impossible. The solution is to loosen the cross bolt in the middle of the MGA shock absorber arms to spread the arms apart during installation of the upper trunion. for the lower trunnion you need to loosen two bolts in the a-arm closest to the trunnion to spread the brackets apart to accept the wider trunion assembly.

This is not likely to affect the function or stresses on the suspension arms or fasteners, as the arms and brackets will have enough flexibility to accompdate the small difference in the trunnion assembly width. So this is just a sort of inconvenience caused by the slightly irregular parts.

Illustration No. M.15. Assembly of the king pin swivel link.

Check the fulcrum pin distance tube "39" for scoring or wear. These should be 2.337 in.+/-.0015 in. (59.36 mm.+/-.04 mm.) long by .7485/.7480 in. (19.01 mm./19.00 mm,) dia.
Examine the case-hardened thrust washers "40" for ridges; the faces should be flat and parallel within .0005 in. (.01 mm.).
The thickness should be .068 in./.066 in. (1.73 mm./1.68 mm.) and the bore .510 in./.505 in.(12.95 mm./12.83 mm.) and the outside dia. 1.25 in. (31.75 mm.).
When the swivel link distance tubes and thrust washers are assembled, the total clearance "A" should be .007 in. to .013 in. (.18 mm. to .33 mm.). (See illustration No. M.15.)
Check that all grease nipples are clear.
Examine the rubber seals "41" and "11", and if these are perished or split, replace.

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