| Suspention, Steering and Brakes - feeling strong? |
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| First a word about Nuts. The castelated front hub nuts (or outer drive shaft nuts) are stiff. No, I mean, really stiff. Think what stiff is...got it? They are stiffer. 130lbs / ft or 18kg/m. Lesson 1: It is much easier to loosen them while the car is on the ground (not once it is up on stands as I did - but hey, I always said this site was about learning from my mistakes!) Lesson 2: Soak them area with a penetrating oil like Ferrosol. Lesson 3: When you really need torque, have someone standing on the brakes with the engine running (out of gear!) while you lever a 1 5/16th socket on a T-bar with a 4ft pole attached. |
| Pop back soon to see how the revived assembly looks like with new joints, poly bushes, powdercoated spings, wishbones and new braided brake hoses. |
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| CV Boots and Steering Rack Gaitors As I am replacing the ball nuts, track rod ends, and removing the wishbones, which involves removing the hub and drive carrier, I have decided to also remove the outer and central drive shaft to repack the CV joint with greace and check the rubber boots - an MOT filure point if they are split. I used universal CV boots and Gaiters from Bailcast: Inner and Outer CV Boot Part # DBC100 Steering Rack gaitors Part # DBSR200 They come with metal ties and CV Grease. Don't forget your CV Boot Cone and oliy spray! |
| Joints and Bearings Ball Joints and Track Rod ends are being replaced. Track Rod Ends are fairly available and compatible with MGBs, Ausin 1800s and 2200s. Ball Joints are also available - possible compatible with Saab 99? Must check that... Springs are coming off to have a coil removed to slightly lower the ride height but moreso to stiffen the ride. Removing the springs requires spring compressors and is easier if the top bump stop is removed from inside the coil first. If this cannot be done, remove the top ball joint and lower spring seat. Find out more about that on the next page Wheel Bearings part numbers Front SKF# 233200 (Saab Part # 702905) Rear Outer SKF 6304 (703334) Rear Inner SKF 6305 (702905) Rear Inner 95 SKF 6209 (703130) The Saab 95 rear axle is a popular rally upgrade due to its stronger axle stubs. |
| Lesson 4: The Chisel. I resorted to this as I had already taken the wheels off. Chisel a groove into one of the faces. It needs to be fairly deep. The first attempt is to use that notch and start chiselling at an angle, anticlockwise to try and drive the nut around. If that fails, keep chiseling straight down and then again on the opposite face with the intention of spreading the nut or even splitting the nut. If you are careful you will not damage the threads. You will need new nuts! Thanks to my teachers Woody and David. |
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