MG T-ABC

Am looking to replace the felt bush at the top of the steering column on my 1948 TC as there is a little bit of play there, and on taking off the Brooklands wheel and boss there appears to be a needle roller bearing at the top of the column .....
B-1416 TORRINGTON USA which appears to have an inner dia 22.3 mm (just a bit bigger than 7/8") and outer of 28.58 mm (1 1/8") and a length of 25.4 mm (1" inch)

Is this a standard fitting or has a previous owner in the USA added this ?

There is play on the outer diameter so I need to take it out which presents a problem without I take the column to pieces ?

Any advice here would be very much appreciated.

Brian D Shepherd
TC5124

I can't help but think that is some sort of modification. I just took my steering wheel off the other day, and besides needing a new felt pad, I did not encounter anything like you are describing. I don't recall seeing anything like that in the Moss catalog either. Certainly, there are others on here that know a lot more about it than I do though.

Does your car have a Tomkins steering kit? I believe the kit comes (or used to come) with a needle bearing for the top of the steering column, to replace the felt.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair

Thanks Tom, as it happens it does have a Tomkins kit so that makes a bit of sense. The car has spent most of it's life in the Boston area of USA and may well have been done then. The needle bearing is a good fit on the column and is rotating free, but the outer diameter is a very slack fit in the column casing tube and I suspect the bearing has been spinning and wearing the outer diameter.
To change it I will need a larger OD bearing in any event to take up the slack if I can get it out but I suppose if I can pack the outside diameter with something it may stop it spinning and take up most of the slack.
Will have to have a good look at it but it is usable as it is, it just knocks when you go over a bump.

Thanks for your help
Brian
TC5124

Original steering box (with no tomkins kit) does allow for precise adjustments. The Tomkins kit only addresses one of the two critical adjustments to the Bishop Cam steering box, and neglects the "end plate" adjustment. End plate adjustment gives the critical "pinch" to the ball bearings on either end of the worm (or cam). See 4th and 6th pic in article, and note the destroyed ball bearings: http://ttypes.org/ttt2/?s=bishop+cam&submit=Search

As people seem to think the Tomkins kit is all the BC box needed, it (Tomkins kit) is probably indirectly responsible for destroying countless TC steering boxes over the years. Buell article on TC front end is a quite thorough. http://ttypes.org/ttt2/?s=bishop+cam&submit=Search