Morris Minor Owners Club

I have a problem with Gladys, March 1962, 4 door 948 cc.
58,000 miles done.

I have never been able to change down from third gear to second with ease, and now it seems worse- I find that when I have to turn left, I have to bring Gladys to almost a stop in order to get second gear before taking the left turn. This aint popular with following traffic.

I have tried turning in third, but this is impractical as she's so out of control.

Also, in first gear I can only get up to around 4 mph before she needs to go into second and so there'sa lot of short-shifting involved.

Can you help with the following queries?

1 Is there supposed to be a syncro from third to second?

2 Is it possible that there's wear or damage in the gearbox causing the problems?

3 Do the later models, say , 1967 on, have a different/better gearbox and should I upgrade to one?

Any help will be much appreciated

Yes Yes and Yes. The 1098 ribbed casing gearbox is stronger, but still not bullet proof.

1st is really only to get you moving, so changing to second at 4MPH is normal. Reluctance to change from 3rd to 2nd could be a worn syncro hub for 2nd, which is fairly common failure, and the parts are hard to source.

Other things it could be. Loose selector fork, broken detent plunger spring, dragging clutch. Make sure gearbox is using engine oil (20/50) and NOT Hypoid.

i had the same thing with third to second, in the end it turned out to be one of the springs on the clutch pressure plate had broken so it wouldn't allow me to change gears well(only massively noticeable on said gearchange)

Your gearbox is worn out - better to ource a newer box from a 1098 car. You could learn to double de-clutch of course - and this would keep you going for a while. But it's only a matter of time before it starts jumping out of second gear on over-run and then it's all downhill. 1098 boxes are plentiful and can be inexpensive - but of course you don't know if you are buying a good one - or a knackered one unless the vendor gives you some assurance that it is known to be good! When you do fit a 1098 box - you must use the clutch fork from your old gearbox and NOTthe fork on the 1098 box. And DO fit a new carbon thrust bearing while doing the job!