We own three A series and I do the maintenance and servicing on all of them. I believe routine servicing is essential and this series of articles is about how to carry out the various regular jobs that are well within the abilities of the enthusiastic amateur mechanic. I personally find this aspect of classic ownership as enjoyable as driving the cars themselves. It can also save you a fortune in garage bills. I stress however that everything that follows is just my way of going about things, my opinions and based on my own experiences of (successfully, I think) running a 1985, 176,000-mile 2cv as everyday transport. The club’s own forum has a wonderful technical section, and I urge anybody who is planning on doing anything to their car for the first time to have a read through the entries and see what pitfalls are awaiting them. A workshop manual, Haynes, or something similar, is essential too.
Unlike modern cars with lubricated-for-life steering joints, an A series has moving parts that need regular greasing. At the bottom of each kingpin housing (the ‘hinge’ on which the front wheel pivots) there is a grease nipple. Applying a grease gun here will push fresh grease up the hollow kingpin and through the holes in the side of it to lubricate the top and bottom bushes that rotate around it. This needs to be done regularly (every 600 miles) and is not particularly difficult or time-consuming and is considerably easier than replacing the kingpins and bushes, which will wear out quickly if they are starved of lubrication. MoT failures due to ‘excessive’ play in the kingpins are common as they are of a very simple, but sturdy 1930s design and need a little space between pin and bush for the grease; hence some play, even with brand new parts fitted. The same amount of movement on a modern car’s ball-joints would show something is seriously amiss and really would be excessive. Try and find a classic friendly MoT station rather than trying to argue about it with one who doesn’t understand the difference. I think it likely that a great many kingpins have been needlessly changed because of this. However greasing them just prior to the test will usually take enough play out of them to keep the tester happy.
Preparation
You will need to raise the front wheels off the ground to grease the kingpins, so you want to be parked on a nice level hard surface. Chock the back wheels so there is no danger of the car rolling in either direction. If you intend to remove the front wheels, loosen the wheel nuts now. Release the handbrake and make sure the steering lock is off, jack the car up until it is high enough to slip an axle stand between the two bolts that hold the front axle to the chassis and carefully lower it onto the stand. Check the wheel is clear of the ground and repeat on the other side. Before even considering crawling underneath, give the car a good shake to ensure it is safely supported and check that the chocks are still tight against the rear tyres.
Kingpins
To check the condition of the kingpins, grasp the front tyre at 6 and 12 o’clock and try to rock it back and forth, you will immediately be able to feel any play in the joint. Clean any road filth from the grease nipple with a clean rag, for easier access, push the wheel until the steering is on full lock and apply your grease gun firmly and give it a couple of strokes, old grease should appear on both sides of the suspension arm, move the steering through its full range of movement while trying to get some more grease into the joint.
| To improve the seal on the nipple, place a piece of clean, but thin, cloth over it before connecting the grease gun. |
When done, wipe away any surplus grease from the nipple and try to rock the wheel again, the play should have gone or be greatly reduced. Repeat on the other side. Kingpins greased!
Driveshafts & Steering
While the front of the car is raised you can check that all the rubber gaiters on the driveshafts are undamaged and securely fastened, and apply a few strokes of fresh grease to the nipples on their inboard ends.
Move the steering from full lock to full lock, it should be smooth with no tight spots; grab hold of the track-rods and see if you can feel any play in the joints at either end. Spin the front wheels to see if you can hear any rumbling or feel any roughness in the wheel bearings or binding front brakes. If you have the SPOG grease nipples fitted to your outer steering joints, remove the road wheels and grease them too, look for old grease oozing out of the bottom of the rubber seal (where the steering arm disappears into the underside of the joint) to judge when enough fresh grease has been added.
Knife Edges
First make a simple attachment for your grease gun out of two bits of clear polythene tube and a fuel pipe clip to make a thin flexible nozzle. I unscrewed the end fitment on my gun and replaced it with the new pipe; it needs to be a tight fit on the threaded portion of the tube. On the underside of each suspension arm is a bracket to which the suspension rod end ‘eye’ is attached, with a triangular section hardened pin, held in place by two spring clips.
The entire weight of the car is taken on the thin edge of these four pins, hence the term ‘knife-edges’. Squeeze the flexible nozzle into one side, between the inside of the bracket and eye, and squirt plenty of grease into the gap and repeat on the other side. Move over to the other side of the car and repeat.
The purpose is to use the grease as a seal to try to keep mud, water and grit out of these simple joints. They will wear our eventually, but if you grease them regularly, the knife-edges and rod ends will last for years.
Lastly have a look for any signs of corrosion, oil or brake fluid leaks, loose or leaking front shock absorbers and broken exhaust mountings, then replace the road wheels, if removed. Raise the car enough to remove the axle stands, and lower gently. Chock the front wheels and apply the handbrake and raise the back wheels. Grease the rear knife-edges in the same way as the front.
Spring Cans
Occasionally it is a good idea to add oil to the spring cans, it helps keep internal rust at bay and could stop any groaning or creaking noises you may have heard from the suspension. DO NOT use mineral oil or LHM! It will soften and ruin the rubber doughnuts if any oozes out of the end-fittings. Any vegetable oil will do, it doesn’t have to be castor. 100ml in each end is about enough; the cans do not need to be half-full of oil. To get it in, prise the gaiter off each end-fitting and slide it back along the pullrod. I use an old 1 litre gearbox oil bottle with a homemade extra long nozzle, made again of clear polythene tubing, 8mm fitted snugly into the bottle nozzle, then 5mm slid into that with a longer piece of 3mm to finish off.
It needs to be long enough to get right through the tube of the end-fitting and inside the spring. Fill the bottle with vegetable oil, work the thin tube into the canister down the hole the rod passes through, it can take a bit of wiggling to get it in then simply squeeze the bottle. Refit the gaiters and if all four wheels are off the ground (or at least both on that side) you should be able to rotate the can(s) to spread the clean oil over their internal surfaces.
Don’t forget to fully tighten up the wheel nuts when the car is back on the ground. Not so difficult was it? You have just saved yourself the cost of your 2cvGB subscription in garage bills (again!) You also have a much more intimate knowledge of the underside of your car and quite possibly a new list of things that need addressing soon. This regular routine is very handy for spotting problems before they become major issues.
Incidentally, I personally use black general-purpose molybdenum lithium based grease for just about everything on our cars, no particular reason, I just like it. However it is does terrible things to my fingernails so I use blue nitrile protective gloves.
Old Goat, A.K.A Simon Mackett