Morris Minor Owners Club

hello all, hope you can help a very new member (joined on line yesterday)
i was recently given a traveller that had been garaged for the last two years. after a quick reline and cyl on the rear i took it for its mot..it failed on the two top trunnions....now i've looked in my autobook and i think they call them ''rubber bushed top links...am i looking at the correct page? and should i let an expert do the job or can an idiot like myself take it on.

thanks in advance
mike

Looks like you have the correct description. I would advise
fitting the modern plastic bushes as opposed to the rubber
type(Polyurethene,NOT hard plastic). It is a straightforward
job but only if you have a workshop manual to guide you
through the proceedure.

thanks Willie,
i have the workshop manual its just some of the terms they use are a little confusing.

Hi Vulcan
Did they fail the rubbers or the Top trunnion itself?

ah!
he just said ''both top trunnions are #x*%#* '' i think it was one of those technical terms they use to confuse.
how do you tell if its just the rubbers?
i've ordered a trunnion kit from a supplier does that have just the rubbers?

The kit is normally the metal part plus rubbers.
They are usually £15+ and the rubbers are only a few quid.

thanks for all your help its truely appreciated i think i'm going to like this club!!

as i know nothing about minors / mechanicals i will proberbly be haunting you all again, if i get on your nerves asking daft questions i appologise in advance

no appology necessary - that's what the board is for

Mike before starting check what the manual says is the correct way to do it as you dont need to take apart as much as some manuals suggest as you only need to jack the suspension arm up until the shocker arm clears the bump stop and then you can undo the fixing bolt after releasing the tab washer then you may have to release the shocker bolts then there is enough clearance to wiggle the shocker arm off and replace the trunnion, when reasembling the bolt and tab washer should not be fully tightened until the car is back on the ground, this is easier when you have it to hand than I have made it sound.

The bits arrived this afternoon, so its all grazed nuckles and bad language tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks Kevin your post explains it better than the manual

update:
the drivers side went like a dream i've now stripped the n/s and found that the top hat rubbers are missing from the pack. ......i think theres a lesson in that somewhere!!

how tight does the nut have to be, i looks like it could be easily overtightened and the rubbers squashed.

mike

Just until the rubbers start to squash slightly

Sorry CAM but that is not correct...the parts are machined
to allow the correct compression and the nut should be done
up until it touches the shoulder and cannot go any further.
It is then slackened off slightly until the car is resting on
the ground so that the rubbers can adjust their position,then
the nut is tightened COMPLETELY and the locking tab bent over.

Sorry, WILLIE but the comment:

looks like it could be easily overtightened and the rubbers squashed.

Threw me a bit and obviously if they can't be overtightened then there is no danger, however, if rubbers that CAN be overtightened are in question then I always just tighten them until they 'just' start to squash very slightly.

To be honest, I can't quite remember what I did for the top rubbers, but what you said sounds familiar..............

I did the complete front suspension on one of my cars summer last year including the rubbers.
The rubbers did get a bit stressed when tightened, and are already showing signs of cracking.
My feeling is that replacement suspension rubbers are just poor quality. The poor fit causes additional; stressing and with the suspension stressing the material perishes a whole lot quicker than the original parts did.
Fortunately my MOT place doesn't go overboard on the appearance of the suspension rubbers otherwise I'd have to replace them every 3 years!
On Euroboxes I've seen repair bills due to 'split rubbers' when they were really not that bad - maybe in some cases that's just garages trying to create work for themselves.

I've never used the poly bushes yet, as I usually do one corner at a time and don't want to have a different set up between the left and right suspension . Maybe I will just bite the bullet next time and start using poly bushes. People have been using them for a long time now so I would expect they are very durable as I've never seen a comment that they weren't.

I fitted the Poly bushes(yellow) to the top links last year.
One side did bulge a bit when done right up,the other side
didn't! After about 300 miles I used a stanley knife to trim
up the rough one level with the large metal pressure washer.
It has stayed like that ever since. I too found that the
rubber replacements were not lasting very long, due to
being poor quality or the wrong dimensions??

hey cam where do you find a nut and bolt tighterned on a rubber bush.
when doing up top link nut. ensure that the thin locking tab does not rotate as you do it up, and always remember to bend the tabs over our youll be bacy there in a month or 2

hey cam where do you find a nut and bolt tighterned on a rubber bush.

When I was on about the 'just squashing' bit I was referring to other bushes (eyebolt, rear spring shackle, etc.)

when doing up top link nut. ensure that the thin locking tab does not rotate as you do it up, and always remember to bend the tabs over our youll be bacy there in a month or 2

Yes it's best to fit new ones if you can as the old ones tend to wear round and so don't offer any resistance if the nut tries to undo!

hi cam. ive been thinking about the eye bolt.with the eye bolt, if the center pin is in the correct place (difficult). the outter eye bolt nut will tightern on the shaft, through the swinging arm on to the flat of the pin. it is locked dead onto it, secured with a lock washer. this should not interfere with the top hat bush, (but these days that not the case).
this pin moves inside the rubber, being connected both sides by the 2 halfs of the swining arm. so we have metal to metal contact with a rubber bush acting as a cussion between the arm assembly and the eye bolt socket. the rear spring hanger is true, but those rubbers are not subject to radial loads, only compression. the u bolts being locked up by double nut. they hold position of ubolts dead. intersted to find that nut locked up on a rubber bush.

I usually fix the pin to the rear swinging arm first then put that in place with the bushes and then tighten up the end nut after fitting the front arm.

this should not interfere with the top hat bush

Well, yes in theory but in practice it does squash it a bit.

the rear spring hanger is true, but those rubbers are not subject to radial loads, only compression

When you say radial loads, are you using the bush's or the car's orientation as a datum? as they mainly compress radially (normal up and down suspension movement), but I would say that there is axial loading too when cornering to provide axle location.