Rob, I used your soap trick. Yes, I had removed the old bushing sleeves before blasting.
john
Anther question: Is this diagram correct in showing the upper bolts going thru one way and the lower bolts going the opposite way? Thank you in advance.
john
Hmm, mine has them going the opposite ways.
There may be a reason related to removal of the steering column or something.
Thanks Rob. The Viart book shows it as yours.
john
Rob, would you be so kind to confirm that the lower 3/8-24 bolts are 1-1/2 inch in length? You should have two of these on the left side and one on the right side. Thank you so much.
john
NB means National Bolt (American fine thread)
137 means .375" diameter
10 means 10/8" long or 1-1/4"
12 means 12/8" long or 1-1/2"
14 means 14/8" long or 1-3/4"
16 means 16/8" long or 2"
D is the British strength rating
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Hello John,
I just checked my original 120, and my bolts are the opposite of what you show in this drawing, outlined with the red ink.
What was the finish on your suspension parts you restored; paint? some sort of plating?
Thanks, RF.
Suspension and pretty much all chassis parts except front shocks and master cylinder are gloss black, but bolts and nuts are often red.
Rob, that was a great educational post for me. Thank you.
Fred, your Coupe and Robās have the bolts running thru the same and that is the way I will have mine as well. Thanks.
john
Good to know John, We have found that the artists rendition in some of my old Indian Motorcycle parts catalogues do NOT jive with the real thing.
On another note, Iām wondering if my miss-matched 120 FHC (has a 140 engine) would benefit from a 140-150 rack & pinion upgrade? Since I have to rebuild the front suspension anyway, and my steering box leaks, and maybe my radiator also, Iām wondering if I should just dive in with this conversion? Does anyone know all the exact details of this upgrade?
TIA, RF.
Fredā¦far better to start a new thread on your steeringā¦it might not get noticed hereā¦Steve
Frankly, thereās really no advantage in the mechanism of how you steer the front wheels, other than the simplicity and compactness of the rack and pinion. Were my 120, I would just make sure it was in good shape, in top condition and leave it be
Fred, the XK120 radiator placement leaves no room for the XK140 R/P steering. As I recall, the XK140 radiator was raked to make room for it.
john
I used to work with draftsmen, and very often they would draw the individual parts and not be aware of how they went together, or if they thought it didnāt matter, they would draw them the most convenient way.
I would fix the leak in the steering box. There is a shaft seal on the bottom and another in the front.
That said, taking the steering column in and out of a 120 FHC is a 3 man job, one to guide the top end, one to guide the main length, and one to pull the fender out at the front.
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Back in the day when there were no personal computers on every engineerās desk, I drew relay curves on onion paper with a French curve. I remember preferring my curves to follow the French curve and not so much the actual data. The difference was just a few amps or a few milliseconds, but hey, my boss always said John draws the best curves.
Question: How tight should the ball joint nuts be? I looked it up on Youtube and they ram a prybar between the upright and the lever to jam the ball, then they tighten it. Looks a little barbaric to me. Thanks.
john
A good number is 75-95 ft-lbs.
If using Nyloc nuts you would need to stop the tendency for the ball to turn once the nylon reached the threads, so a means of jamming it would be necessary. If using the original-style slotted nuts and split pins, it would be less of an issue. Of course, youād need the ball pins to have the split pin hole.
I recall my ball pin shanks having serrations to somewhat prevent them turning while you tighten the nuts.
Rob, yes, mine does too, but those serrations are beyond reach once the pin is in place.
Incidentally, my car has these āplastic-lessā locknuts. After I cleaned the threads, they no longer grab as intended, so I have to use blue Loctite. Itās pretty clever how they are made.
john
They are ODDIE NUTS - came out of UK Aircraft industry, as did a number of other Lock Nuts before the introduction of plastic/nylon based Lock Nuts first seen used by Jaguar with XK140ā¦ see catalogue pageā¦
BrownsMOTOR1950.p198.pdf (1.4 MB)