Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all, with the current demise of the lack of avaliabity of king pins at the moment, i was wondering if kingpins from a van would fit. I have been in contact with the parts department at charles ware morris centre today and they said it might fit but no one has done this sort of conversion, the only difference they can see ( with out comparing one from a saloon ) is the hole that holds the steering arm in that attaches to the track rod end, has any one done this conversion? would it work? with the mot on molly due next month ( march) i don't know what else to do. even when fitting new trunions to the lower kingpin on both sides of the car the threads are shot no taps are available there will still be an advisory on the mot, as this is what happend on last years mot. any ideas would be a great help cheers

Van ones will fit ok - but you will need the heavier van steering arms - do they have any ? there are some second hand swivel pins on ebay - may be worth a punt. As long as you only get an 'advisory' - at least you can still drive the car - although worn swivel pins are certainly not a great idea. I think aupickup has some new pins - you could ask him!

ok first of all
it was only 8cwt vans that had the larger steering arm, so lets get that out of the way first

the 8cwt van legs will fit no problem, the only difference is the larger hole for the steering arm and that is the only difference with them

but, the larger steering arms are very difficult to obtain
so unless you can get the arms for get it

As they mentioned the steering arm hole - I suspect it is the 8cwt version swivels that they have. I did ask if arms were available with them too! Do you still have some nos swivel pins Dennis ?

Here's a few on ebay - no idea about condition, but they have been painted, which makes all the difference.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Morris-minor-trav ... 240%3A1318

yes i have nos swivel pins legs
unfortunately due to the present state of them, will be keeping them

i will allways have a moggie so will need them i think

Quite right! I thought just a few days ago you suggested you had some spare and for sale. So - second hand it must be for the foreseeable future! Which makes it all the more odd that no-one bid on the pair that were on ebay last week!

yes i was prepared to sell one set
but then heard that the repro ones were not around so nw have decided to keep them

could i ask , what weights were avaliable on vans ( not my subject) is there a kingpin from a lesser weight van with the same diamater steering hole as the saloon ?? the ones they were talking at the moggy centre could be for the 8cwt and were complete with trunions, they were going to look for a pair of second hand arm units, will need to ring them again next week, i also have a spare car i can take both kingpins from but it has never been on the road for a number of years so don't know if they would be any better than the ones on the car at the moment , this has been most informative thanks for the help

There was a 6cwt and a quarter ton option...

Hi

If nobody is making the pins then how are we to keep our morris minors etc going seems like a dead end situation to me.

Makes me feel slightly angry

James

Apparently they will be available... soon (ish) but there has been a problem with production. We have been waiting a while now and it has been discussed in immense length on another thread so I won't go into any more detail. I did notice that Ian (wanderingstar) has some going, (I think only if he breaks his car though) It may be worth dropping him a pm if anyone is desparate...?

What price are they asking for these 'van' swivelpins - with suitable steering arms ? I suspect they won't be cheap!
Yes - there is a supply problem - a 'fix' has been promised for quite some time now - but doesn't seem to be any nearer.
Guard your spare swivelpins with your life !

We were offered some at the National last year at £120 each plus trunnions, and this is trade price. Hope the new supply comes in soon to stop this profiteering.

If anyone needs pins for MOT, don't forget that club spares (details in Minor Matters) can supply pins with re-cut threads and matching trunnions. This was a standard repair when the Minor was in its heyday, so should be quite serviceable now. They will ,however, eventually run out. Back to the other thread......