Morris Minor Owners Club

Rasputin, welcome to the party

Drivewasher, thanks for the info.

It was all making since until the last sentence about volt drop method. Any chance of a photo to spark my understanding?

Pete

can't really photograph it.
If you suspect a bad earth then a continuity check will still show low resistance IE a good circuit. Best way is to put a voltmeter across the return path straight to the battery ground on the battery, switch on the faulty circuit and if voltmeter reads a voltage then the earth is not doing it's job properly as the return takes the easiest route IE your voltmeter. Ideally you want no or at least millivolts flowing through the meter you want it to go through the earth!

After too much playing with the Multi-meter I have had to face into the uneven wear on the front tyres.[frame][/frame]
Near side front after only 3,000 miles

Advice elsewhere on this forum, (thanks to all) directed me to too much toe-in and too much +tve camber, but ahead of looking at that I committed to replacing the suspension bushes so that I had a decent starting point.

Armed with a set of front end poly bushes and 2 standard rubber bushes, 1 for each tie rod (as advised elsewhere on here) I set about completing the job in time for Sunday lunch [frame][/frame]
A couple of photos of the standard suspension before I set to work.[frame][/frame]
I wire brushed and oiled the nuts & bolts the day before to ensure everything was as easy as possible

My Whitworth spanners/sockets hadn't seen the light of day for a few years (happy days) but were a rather good fit!![frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
The torsion bar remains under load when the car is on axle stands (thanks for the advice ) as evidenced by the shock absorber arm 'resting' on the rebound buffer in the photo.

While the car is up on stands id derust and paint the underside tie plate, panel front chassis leg is welded to with the large four round holes, also give the inner wing a good coat of paint - waxoyl or simuliar for protection..

Torsion load was taken off by jacking up the rear of the lower arm only.[frame][/frame]
This allowed my to undo (from inside to outside) the eye-bolt fulcrum pin, lower arm bolt, tie rod fork and bottom trunnion pin.[frame][/frame]

Removing everything was easier than I had hoped - this is what came out and what went back in on the end of the tie rod. 1 x poly + 1 x rubber = ?[frame][/frame]

Rotating the upper trunnion made removing the bushes simple (rubbish photo)[frame][/frame]
Everything cleaned up and was in good condition so here again is what came out and the poly bushes that went in [frame][/frame]

And then the bit I'd been dreading, removing the fulcrum pin and bushes at the end of the torsion bar.

This would be when I'd lose the 49 year old ride height set up. I've read so many threads on here about this subject and resetting this still reads like a dark art.[frame][/frame]

In reality I'm indebted to the advice to simply knock the rear lower arm (now unloaded and off the jack) backwards along the splines until the pin and spigot are sufficiently exposed to allow the eye bolt to be rotated and the pin and bushes to be removed.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

The plan was to change from the factory +tve to (a preferable for radials and the junior mechanic's aggressive cornering) -tve camber on the front wheels by simply inserting some washers behind the eyebolt.

Unfortunately I'd sized the washers to suit the thread on the eye bolt, not the larger shank

Sadly as Boris is an every day driver I had to reassemble things without changing the camber [frame][/frame]
Pin in great condition courtesy of shot rubber bushes. New poly bushes. White lithium grease on new bushes.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
Must put some batteries in this thing

Time as ever ran out so after a good Sunday lunch I ordered some M16 & M20 washers which will be here in time to do the near side and shim the camber on both sides next weekend.

With the terrific advice available on this forum so far so good thanks to all.

Pete

Paul,

Thanks for the advice.

Boris is generally in terrific condition underneath and I've been rather lazily smearing oil around whenever I've been underneath.
I know I need to take things more seriously - what's recommended if not underseal?

Thanks

Pete

Thank you for this visual demonstration. I will now also be replacing the bushes on my car. I have replaced all but these.
Regards
Rob

Top job and great pictures, it isn't uncommon for the eyebolt bushes to be worn through and the pin to be wearing the eyebolt.

It's not ideal, but you CAN cut round washers into a C shape. Then you can loosen the eyebolt nut, lever the bar away from the chassis leg, and pop them in. Not need to remove anything else at all!

Cover them in plenty of grease though, as the cut-out could trap water, and allow it to get into the 'tube' that the eyebolt goes through.

Be sure to get the tracking properly checked after rebuilding, and after shimming the eyebolts too. As shimming will make it toe out more.

Rob, Marky, Chris,

Thanks for the replies.

Rob, I find other's photos so useful and the job really wasn't difficult at all, infact I'm dreading the rear end which you've done already.

Marky, I was expecting worse and have no experience of the longevity of poly bushes. Why are ESM bushes a fraction of the cost of others? Is there a quality standard that I will wish I had known earlier?

Chris, a man after my own heart - there's always an engineered alternative. I've yet to do the near side bushes so that will get the full works. Time will tell for the off side

Pete

Great pictures of this area that terrifies lot of people! The only thing I do differently is to mark the cast wishbone and torsion bar with a bit of tipex so that if it does come off the back of the splines its easier to line up in the right place again. I did my daily diver about 3 years ago with ordinary rubber bushes and they are knackered again already so I will try the poly bushes next time, I did fit them to a friends pickup and was impressed with them.

David,

Thanks for the message. Having now done it I agree there is little to fear.

I did take a dimension from ground to underside of the rear cast arm once it was off the jack to be sure I could put it back in the right place.

I also pulled it off the splines to have a look and tried it one spline lower - it's surprising how much difference there is.

I'm not sure of the pros and cons of lowered front suspension so put things back as the factory set up.

One for another day subject to informed opinion.

Pete

I replaced the inner bushes of my Morris yesterday. The rubber bushes was however almost none existent.[frame][/frame]