Morris Minor Owners Club

Just about to go greasing on my Moggy and want to purchase a decent grease gun. I noticed most grease guns on the market have a metric grease nipple connector, will they fit my Moggy?

If you want a decent grease gun purchase a Wanner grease gun.
Plenty for sale on 'e' bay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364380969550 ... R7a8nNu0Yg
It is my grease gun of choice and the one I have has given very good service over many years and is still doing so.

Standard hydraulic outlet fits the nipples on my car. You may want to consider getting a flexible hose gun outlet which means you can grease the front suspension without jacking the car and removing the wheels more easily. Remember the steering rack has a grease nipple but does not take grease, it takes EP90 oil. You can getting a small push action oil gun for that. My grease gun is Draper and can be bulk loaded but I use cartridges for convenience. My oil gun is a Sealey small push action grease gun but it works with oil too.

Remember: always clean off the nipple before injecting new grease. You do not want to push dirt in as dirt will grind away the bearing. Also don’t try to yank the grease gun back off the nipple. It will not disconnect that way. Tilt and twist to disconnect.

Stephen

To get the grease into the bottom trunnions you do need to jack up under the lower suspension arm to take the tension off the torsion bar so allowing grease to circulate around the trunnion threads.
If you do not jack up under the lower suspension arm the grease will just find the easiest way out and not get anywhere near the trunnion threads.

philthehill wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:39 am To get the grease into the bottom trunnions you do need to jack up under the lower suspension arm to take the tension off the torsion bar so allowing grease to circulate around the trunnion threads.
If you do not jack up under the lower suspension arm the grease will just find the easiest way out and not get anywhere near the trunnion threads.

Fair enough but you don’t really want to be taking the wheel off every time and it can be awkward with a rigid grease nozzle. 1,000 miles comes around quickly with my car so the job needs to be as quick and painless as possible or it is a chore that gets avoided and doesn’t get done on time.

Just to be clear, place the jack under the lower suspension as far out as possible. It's not to take tension off the torsion bar but to take the load off the threads in the lower trunnion. This opens a slight gap on the normal bearing surfaces which is where the grease is desired. This can easily be done with the wheels on and is perfectly safe since the wheel is still on and only needs to be jacked up enough to get the wheel off the ground. A trolley jack makes the job quick and simple.

jaekl wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 12:39 pm Just to be clear, place the jack under the lower suspension as far out as possible. It's not to take tension off the torsion bar but to take the load off the threads in the lower trunnion. This opens a slight gap on the normal bearing surfaces which is where the grease is desired. This can easily be done with the wheels on and is perfectly safe since the wheel is still on and only needs to be jacked up enough to get the wheel off the ground. A trolley jack makes the job quick and simple.

As it happens I did this job this morning. I jacked up the front of the car, axle stand with block of wood under each chassis rail. Then for the lower trunnion exactly what you say, a trolley jack under the lower suspension arms as far out as possible. Very little movement needed or it can start to jack the car up. Then grease lower trunnion. Nipple is below and grease oozes out of the seal at the top so I assume the grease is going where it should? Wheels did not come off and with both off the ground it’s easy to steer the wheels to either extreme to access all of the required grease points of the front suspension and to oil the steering rack and work the steering back and forth. A flexible grease gun attachment does make it easier but actually I could not find mine and did it with a rigid outlet.

Stephen

The Series II manual says to grease the steering nipples every 1000 miles, while the 1000 manuals state 3000 miles/3 months.
But surely the components are identical!
I only just noticed this, having lost a Quiz Night point at MOT23, presumably due to the QuizMaster having a newer can than mine!

I think BMC realised every 1000 miles was a bit overkill. I'm sure I've seen every 500 miles somewhere!

Or according to this chart every 12,000 miles!

This poster is available from ESM. I am going to get it laminated for the garage wall.

Yes, every 12,000 miles to lube the steering rack, but I think 'mike 1864' was referring to the trunnions (despite mentioning 'steering nipples'). At least, that's what I understood, especially when he referred to the quiz answer, which must have referred to the trunnions.

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 1:56 pm Yes, every 12,000 miles to lube the steering rack, but I think 'mike 1864' was referring to the trunnions (despite mentioning 'steering nipples'). At least, that's what I understood, especially when he referred to the quiz answer, which must have referred to the trunnions.

Ah fair enough. I misunderstood.

philthehill wrote: ↑Sun Jul 30, 2023 8:28 am If you want a decent grease gun purchase a Wanner grease gun.
Plenty for sale on 'e' bay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364380969550 ... R7a8nNu0Yg
It is my grease gun of choice and the one I have has given very good service over many years and is still doing so.

Phil just been gifted a non working one from scrap pile, stripped cleaned, refilled and working perfectly Great quality period grease gun to go with the moggy. The link you posted had a great pic of the instructions, very useful thanks.

Bill
Well done.
Just noticed that there was a advert on the instruction sheet for Tudor rubber over riders for the Minor. I do not recollect seeing them advertised before.
I could not resist this Minor grease gun bought from a junk shop very cheaply but working as it should. A near copy of the Wanner grease gun.

Do you think it was minor branded or a happy coincidence, either way a great find

500 miles was the recommendation for the Series MM. Series III states 1000 miles as well. I didn't know later recommendation was 3000 miles but thought that was just for Marinas.

That greasegun Phil has posted a picture of reminds me of this one I inherited from my late Father.
Draper, Made in U.S.A.. Still in use and working perfectly for greasing the Minor's various nipples.

The Wanner now fully working and an old Tecalemit push type. No excuse for not greasing

Proper job.

Many people report having trouble with grease leaking everywhere and not going in the nipple.

This type of quick release connector has 6 points of contact and a very secure connection on the nipple. Combined with a flexible hose it makes the job easy. As greasing is a necessity and quite a frequent one at that, it is a worthwhile investment. Sealey make a connector that appears identical but is more expensive than the Draper.

Stephen