Morris Minor Owners Club

dudload wrote:Phil, sent you a pm, or at least I tried to but looks like it may be stuck in my outbox

For info. Private messages sent via the forum remain at 'outbox' status until they're read by the recipient, after which they gain 'sent' status

aha! that explains it - thanks!

afternoon all!

spent this morning on the springs and didn't get anywhere unfortunately - the nuts came off the U-bolts quite easily but i couldn't actually get the bloomin U-bolts out! It looks like the old rubber cushion has deteriorated so much that it's getting in the way of the bolt on the bottom and top plate holes - hammering the bottom upwards got me to the position where the both bottoms of the bolt were flush with the bottom plate, but it wasn't possible to pull it up any higher.

I fitted the new dampers I bought whilst i was there (old ones leaking through seals), but thinking this may be a garage job if i can't get them bloomin bolts off! rear shackles look ok as were replaced by previous owner and fairly new, but the front pin is covered in underseal and looks like a pain already!!

any ideas? pictures below to show the horrible mess that confronted me

Just cut them off with a angle grinder and replace them. It will be far easier

It's just a matter of keeping at it, use a punch to move the U bolts further out, wiggle about and lever here and there. The plates look like their holes are distorted and possibly holding the bolts. A garage would only do the same and cost you money. By the state of the parts, consider renewing all you see in the picture.

Undo/remove both 'U' bolt sets of nuts and knock both 'U' bolts upwards and the bottom plate(s) downwards, just trying to remove one at a time is no good as you are finding out. The tension is still remaining on one side and that will pull the bottom plates off square and hard onto the other 'U' bolt making it difficult to remove even though the nuts have been removed.
Having both 'U' bolts out means that the bottom plate can be knocked off and then all will be free to be removed.
Those 'U' bolts do not seem to be in too bad a condition - I have seen considerably worse.
Once you have removed the 'U' bolts you may have to give them a squeeze to get the 'U' bolts back through the holes underside plates - they do have a tendency to open up over time.

thanks all! will give it another shot - hopefully during the week.

looks like i was being shy and not just taking all the nuts off and knocking the plate down, but i noticed that the bottom plate seems to have a nut in the middle, almost as though the pin from the springs is protruding and has a nut on it. i guess if it doesn't budge i'll just use the nut splitters, but my new springs don't seem to have a pin that will go through the plate. any thoughts, or am i overthinking?

Doesn't the bottom plate have a large hole in the centre, allowing the nut to pass through, rather than it holding the plate?

The nut you can see is the nut on the dowel bolt that goes through the spring leaves and holds the spring leaves together. There is absolutely no need for it to be undone.
As pointed out by Les the bottom plate which mounts the damper has a large hole at its bottom centre and sits over and around the spring leaf dowel bolt/nut.
Your new springs will have the dowel bolt/nut holding the leaves together.
Below the actual spring you have will be:-
The rubber spring pad.
The metal rubber spring pad seat/axle locator into which the rubber spring pad seat sits.
The bottom plate with damper.
Above the spring you will have:-
The rubber spring pad.
The metal rubber spring pad seat/axle locator into which the rubber spring pad seat sits
The axle mounting bracket.
The head of the dowel bolt sits inside the rubber spring pad which in turn sits inside the axle mounting bracket.
All these parts are held together by the 'U' bolts.
See link below for exploded parts diagram:-
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-mo ... minor.html
It should be noted that the front half of the spring will have more spring clamps than the rear half of the spring. The larger number of clamps indicate the front of the spring and should be fitted accordingly.
There is no part number quoted in the link for the dowel bolt/nut as they come supplied as part of the complete spring.

Job done! Been a long time coming but finally got the chance to get the new springs on yesterday and today (10 hours total including some rustproofing whilst I had access)

All seemed to go well, but both front pins were stuck like no tomorrow. Only a very large hammer and bar eventually got em moving. Both spring eyes were badly oval on both sides with ropey rubber.

Two questions remain
1) how tight should the u bolt nuts be done. Enough to keep them from distorting, or 40lbs (whichakes them squeeze out the side
2) I noticed that new springs have two clips on both ends, whereas the workshop manual says to put the one with two at the front. Bit of a close shave with the damper link arms but seems ok if no-one has any concerns?

Well done.

The 'U' bolt nuts should be done up tight but not so tight as to distort the rubber either side of the spring.
Make sure that they are done up equally so as to keep the bottom plate square to the springs.

If the springs have a 2 - 1 spring clamp arrangement the 2 clamps go to the front of the axle and 1 clamp to the rear of the axle.
As you springs have a 2 - 2 spring clamp arrangement it does not matter which way round they go. Just check that the clamps are equidistant from the spring centre and not offset for clearance issues.
As regards the damper link - if it clears it clears and that is the main thing. Just keep an eye on it and if marks appear on the link then come back on here and we will see what we can do to help but I am sure that all will be well.
Note:-
Original Minor spring clamps had a tube (Pt No: AAA1379) that fitted over the spring clamp bolt and between the clamp bolt faces - it reduced the clearance between bolt and spring and which helped reduce tramp. It also ensured that the bolt could not be overtightened squashing the clamp against the side of the spring.
Please correct if I am wrong but your springs do not appear to have them fitted.
If they are not fitted and the old springs have them and they will fit over the clamp bolts I would use them on the two front clamps and the rearmost of the rear clamps.
Again well done.
Phil