JohnMGFusa

No concern Airportable. I would have bought them anyway. Just leaving the conclusion for the next guy!

I bought four new MG Rover OEM knuckles. I’ve attached a video showing they have the identical play the old ones have! They absolutely have a great deal of slop, even when brand new.

This can make some sense.. If this were a ball joint, there would be a spring pushing up from underneath. On these cars, the spring is above, pressing down. In addition they are under compression because the hydragas sphere is constantly pressing down.

Since I figured I already paid for them, and returning them to the UK is prohibitively expensive, I decided to install them anyway. Guess what? They don’t fit. The combined thickness of the bottom steel pad and the nylon cup is larger than the hole. I broke a new one trying to shove it in there before I measured they are physically larger. Said screw it, and put the old one back in.

Further I contacted Dawn Kennedy at Hydrolastic and Hydragas Service who regassed the spheres for me and asked “ Question about knuckle joint under displacer. These have lots of slop. If is was a suspension ball joint I’d say it’s got to be replaced. Is the same true for these knuckles?”. Her reply was “ Knuckle joints don’t need to be replaced unless they are broken, they don’t wear like ball joints.”

I don’t doubt the aftermarket lowering style feel nice and tight, but after spending the dough on OEMs I can say they are not worth it.

Vid: https://youtube.com/shorts/t3jI4gZ2sKo?si=szkwQ_JAptQks4CU

Hi- My concern is not the cone. I’m talking about this thing… there seems to be a great deal of play/looseness to it.

Hi Cobber,

This the part I’m referring to:

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-RGG001219EVA

Thanks,

John

Hi- Are the knuckles under hydragas spheres supposed to be tight like a ball joint? I’m replacing the hydragas spheres with re-gassed units from HAHSLTD.co.uk. Took out the old spheres and was surprised at how floppy the knuckles were. If they were ball joints, I’d assume they were bad, but since these are in compression perhaps it doesn’t matter as much? They also have plastic parts inside which makes me think they aren’t supposed to be tight. A new set is very expensive.

Thanks, John