Morris Minor Owners Club

A good round of opinions there folks, thanks.
The car has gone to another home now but as and when Doris is uprated to this spec I'll be sure to take the advice given. One thing this has done is to reinforce my opinion over replacement poly bushes. Whilst I agree with their use in top and bottom pivots I cannot recommend their use in tie bars.
The episode with the anti roll bar has shown that some fore and aft movement (relative to the track rod) is evident at the end of the bar - this is how the rubber was working it's way out. As the tie rod runs parallel it is clear that this need to move fore and aft too. If this movement is restricted by the use of 'harder' poly bushes then the track rod is put under undue fore-aft strain which could lead to serious premature wear of the eyebolt or even failure.
Worth thinking about.

I can see your point about the Tie Bar bushes, having recently replaced all the bushes.

which could lead to serious premature wear of the eyebolt or even failure.

Dont really see how this would cause the eyebolt to fail as its fairly substantial, and when rebushing with poly bushes you should also replace the eyebolt ones as well, in my case because the eyebolts showed signs of wear I replaced them as well.
I have also come across the economy owners who have turned the eyebolts around (180 degrees) to extend the life for a few more years as the eyebolt only appears to wear on one side.

The really hard poly bushes are more like a plastic type material and can actually wear away the steel!

If the softer poly bushes are fitted then there should be no problems.

I fitted the hard (red) type all round but then had to replace them ALL because they caused too many squeaks and they seemed to break up too easily after a short time due to them not being compliant enough. I replaced all mine with the yellow type from JLH minors and I am pleased with the result! (finally!!)

Kevin, you ask which type of anti roll bar I have fitted.
I am using a MR Grumpy one as it is the only only I
could find which involved no welding and no drilling
of holes in the chassis legs.( it fits to the original engine
mount bolt holes). My other car had the Owen Burton
type which was ok until the bar snapped in half!!!

Willie do you thimk that the Grumpy one is better due to its different positioning, how long has it been on the car compared to the Owen Burton one ?

kEVIN, I fitted Mr GRUMPY'S roll bar about 4,800 miles
ago. It is performing nicely. The Owen Burton one had
a tendency to work the front rubber bushes out of their
mountings, this one does not, but it does give the rear
rubbers(at the point where they are joined to the rear tie-
bar bolts) a bit of a pounding. However,they are very simple
rubber bushes which are very similar, and may be exactly
the same as, the rear spring shackle bushes.

Just fitted one of the OB anti roll bars at the weekend - the picture earlier in this thread looks similar. Despite mounting the front pivots as forward as possible (pressed against the front crossmember) the rear chamfers of the bar are hard against the rear bushes. The rear bushes are enclosed in a cup with a lip on one side (which should be to the rear) in order to prevent the bush coming out. I assume that you have checked that yours are correctly fitted so if yours doesn't have a lip then maybe its a design upgrade and you could enquire about getting a new pair of mounts from OB? The best way I can describe this lip is to compare it with the brake blocks on your old push bike which had a lip to prevent the rubbers being pushed out - hope that helps!

It makes a big difference to tackling roundabouts, but above 70mph I get serious wheel wobble so I am going to check out the front wheel bearings at the weekend in case its showing up another fault.

I lubricated the bushes with petroleum jelly, but the whole lot is caked in Dinitrol now.

Good luck

I have a minor mania anti roll bar, it is rose jointed where it connects to the tie bars (i.e. no rubber bushes) and then the brackets welded on to the front of the front chassis legs. A much better design, but you have to pay for it.

The rear bushes are enclosed in a cup with a lip on one side (which should be to the rear) in order to prevent the bush coming out

Just as I had it. But then the bushes just ride forwards!!
I had considered drilling the spherical sections and screwing self tappers into the bush but this seemed a bit drastic.

The best way I can describe this lip is to compare it with the brake blocks on your old push bike which had a lip to prevent the rubbers being pushed out

Yes indeedy. Always a good laugh when you were flying down the first big hill after servicing your bike and couldn't remember which way you had put them in.