Promoting the Preservation and Use of the Postwar Morris Minor
https://board.mmoc.org.uk/
Are they branded “Powertune”? I found their wheel bearings to be complete rubbish and swiftly removed them and replaced with new old stock originals. I think the original UJs were Hardy Spicer HS194 so you may be able to find an equivalent of better quality than what you have. The fact they don’t seem to be lasting very long seems odd.ndevans wrote: ↑Tue Aug 19, 2025 1:20 pm These are the boxes they came in.
IMG_20250819_085103082.jpg
The two on the right are the two I ordered on Friday. One of these is on the front joint-they seem to fit the gearbox yoke better (the other suffered a damaged bearing cup when a couple of rollers got dislodged and trapped at the base of the cup).
The three on the left were my spares (two of which I didn't know I had until I had ordered the new ones!) Two of those are identical to the ones ordered last week, the third is the one with the grease nipple angled a bit lower which fits nicely into the recess on the yoke. This is now on the diff end of the shaft.
All are marked RGUJ115, MGB/Midget, and came from ESM. Credit to them, they have been very helpful, even offering to send me a replacement foc.
It is so much better if you can find original parts. They fit first time with no fuss and bother. Unfortunately, it is not usually possible to find such parts "on demand" and the only way to do it is to buy them when seen and keep as stock in the garage. ESM are very helpful in terms of offering refunds or replacement but my experience when parts simply do not fit or are wrong (e.g wiper wheel boxes) is that they claim never to have heard of a problem before and just carry on selling them.Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 20, 2025 10:44 am I tried using those Powertrain items, from ESM, I think. Fitted alright, but the joints were virtually unmoveable. I tried thinner circlips, to reduce the preload, without success.
I was lucky enough to find two genuine Hardy Spicer UJs which fitted perfectly and are now in service since last year.
No doubt I should have contacted ESM, they are excellent with after sales service, but didn't.
"CAUTION : the new UJs must be fitted the correct way round - if fitted the wrong way round there is no space to put a grease-gun on the grease-nipple, so the new UJs cannot be greased at regular intervals and will wear out quickly. The new front UJ must be fitted with the grease-nipple facing towards the front of the propshaft, and similarly the new rear UJ must be fitted with the grease-nipple facing towards the front of the propshaft. (older UJs overcame this problem by using long grease nipples) Study the available spaces to understand what this means before starting any reassembly with the new UJs."
I found the above online.
Yes all are Powertrain. All came from ESM, who have been very helpful, they are very good at after-sales.svenedin wrote: ↑Tue Aug 19, 2025 3:37 pm
Are they branded “Powertune”? I found their wheel bearings to be complete rubbish and swiftly removed them and replaced with new old stock originals. I think the original UJs were Hardy Spicer HS194 so you may be able to find an equivalent of better quality than what you have. The fact they don’t seem to be lasting very long seems odd.
Stephen
Actually the HS194 is also used in dumper trucks which must have a very hard life!ndevans wrote: ↑Wed Aug 20, 2025 11:02 amYes all are Powertrain. All came from ESM, who have been very helpful, they are very good at after-sales.svenedin wrote: ↑Tue Aug 19, 2025 3:37 pm
Are they branded “Powertune”? I found their wheel bearings to be complete rubbish and swiftly removed them and replaced with new old stock originals. I think the original UJs were Hardy Spicer HS194 so you may be able to find an equivalent of better quality than what you have. The fact they don’t seem to be lasting very long seems odd.
Stephen
The old joints had lasted at least 40,000 miles, I have no complaints about them. They were marked GKS and were fitted by the workshop that reconditioned the cardan shaft. They are Bristol based and do work for various organisations including doing cardan shafts for railway locomotives. These are significantly bigger than those on the Morris, which are poxy by comparison!
I guess the thing about U/Js is that they rarely suddenly fail, they just tend to get noisier over time as they wear. You don't always notice the change until it becomes intrusive.
Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 20, 2025 10:44 am I tried using those Powertune items, from ESM, I think. Fitted alright, but the joints were virtually unmoveable. I tried thinner circlips, to reduce the preload, without success.
I was lucky enough to find two genuine Hardy Spicer UJs which fitted perfectly and are now in service since last year.
No doubt I should have contacted ESM, they are excellent with after sales service, but didn't.
"CAUTION : the new UJs must be fitted the correct way round - if fitted the wrong way round there is no space to put a grease-gun on the grease-nipple, so the new UJs cannot be greased at regular intervals and will wear out quickly. The new front UJ must be fitted with the grease-nipple facing towards the front of the propshaft, and similarly the new rear UJ must be fitted with the grease-nipple facing towards the front of the propshaft. (older UJs overcame this problem by using long grease nipples) Study the available spaces to understand what this means before starting any reassembly with the new UJs."
I found the above online.
Sorry I quoted myself in error. Apparently I can't delete my post on this forum. Why? For some reason it's posted twice too.Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 20, 2025 10:44 am I tried using those Powertune items, from ESM, I think. Fitted alright, but the joints were virtually unmoveable. I tried thinner circlips, to reduce the preload, without success.
I was lucky enough to find two genuine Hardy Spicer UJs which fitted perfectly and are now in service since last year.
No doubt I should have contacted ESM, they are excellent with after sales service, but didn't.
"CAUTION : the new UJs must be fitted the correct way round - if fitted the wrong way round there is no space to put a grease-gun on the grease-nipple, so the new UJs cannot be greased at regular intervals and will wear out quickly. The new front UJ must be fitted with the grease-nipple facing towards the front of the propshaft, and similarly the new rear UJ must be fitted with the grease-nipple facing towards the front of the propshaft. (older UJs overcame this problem by using long grease nipples) Study the available spaces to understand what this means before starting any reassembly with the new UJs."
I found the above online.
What you can do, if within the allowed time, is edit by removing all the content and then just write something like 'Opps double post'..Mervin wrote: ↑Thu Aug 21, 2025 11:17 am
Sorry I quoted myself in error. Apparently I can't delete my post on this forum. Why? For some reason it's posted twice too.
And yes, I incorrectly wrote Powertrain, should have been Powertune.
I think Stephen is correct - Hardy Spicer HS194. Looks like they're like hen's teeth now.
