Morris Minor Owners Club

Under hard braking my Minor pulls to the left (no problem just steer it away). It did this with the 7" front drums, it does it with the front discs. I assumed it was the rears, but it still does it with the rear discs (I did them just as an excercise to see if it was possible). I think i'm left with either a damper or steering problem, any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

If sure it's not brakes (how can you be sure ?) then the rear axle may be steering the car - look for rot where the spring seats used to be - or the chassis is maybe twisted. Check the wheel base both sides. Also get a plank of nice straight timber and hold it against the rear wheels - pointing forwards. Should of course be dead straight down the centre line of the car. If it goes off to one side - there's the problem.

Tie rod bushes?
Front brake hose?
What were the readings when it was MOTed?
Maybe you can find an MOT place where they will test the brakes for you.
If the braking efficiancy is the same it is probably movement in the suspension.

most mot stations (Use your local guy) will test the brakes on the rollers costs nothing and takes a couple of minutes.Then you can start to look for the problem. Its no good looking elsewhere until you know for sure it's not the brakes.From there as others have said tie rod bushes rear axle.could be a broken tie rod mounting,broken rear spring .good luck with it

On a modern car I'd say it was front bushes without a doubt. Probably same on the Minor. Easy enough to replace if necessary though the top kingpin nut can be a right ***t.

Worth swapping the front tyres side-to-side, unless they are directional, to see if you find something that makes a difference.

dunketh wrote:On a modern car I'd say it was front bushes without a doubt. Probably same on the Minor. Easy enough to replace if necessary though the top kingpin nut can be a right ***t.

You were quite right the shock mount bushes are perished away (all the rest are poly, the Minor place was out of stock at the time). Thats 5 years of on/off storage for you. As for the other replies, the car has moted quite happily with good brake balance on both the front drums and discs. Hoses are new braided type. The rear axle is a ford english with new brackets very carefully measured. The car has had minimal welding (front undersill and rear inner arch ends only) and no accident damage so its straight. The car has pulled on crossplys,145 radials and the Ford wheels so i've tried the wheel swapping check. I will get new poly bushes tomorrow hopefully and without wishing to temp fate i'm as happy as I can be (til its done) that will be the end. Many thanks for replies.

Can't see damper bushes having the slightest effect. If it runs straight and true 'hands off' when under power and on lifting off - and only pulls to one side when braking - then it IS the brakes ! MOT allows a fair bit of unbalance before fail. Was it MOT'd on rollers - or just on Tapley? But do measure wheelbase both sides - and compare.

bmcecosse wrote:Can't see damper bushes having the slightest effect. If it runs straight and true 'hands off' when under power and on lifting off - and only pulls to one side when braking - then it IS the brakes ! MOT allows a fair bit of unbalance before fail. Was it MOT'd on rollers - or just on Tapley? But do measure wheelbase both sides - and compare.

I think I will go down the obvious route first, one way or another these bushes need changing. There are no MOT places round my way that take a car out to test the brakes. Unless the fluid feed to the front brakes is restricted in some way I have'nt yet spotted I can't see 2 sets of brakes causing the same problem. Just to be on the safe side I have got a mate to take the car into the bodyshop he works in and measure it up on their kit (a very sophisticated tape measure).

Surely if theres movement in the bush this'll be amplified when applying the brakes?
The chassis being able to move slightly more in relation to the stationary (or slowing) upright on one side than the other.

dunketh wrote:Surely if theres movement in the bush this'll be amplified when applying the brakes?
The chassis being able to move slightly more in relation to the stationary (or slowing) upright on one side than the other.

New poly bushes (via esms superb mail order) and no more pulling. The rubber ones were totally shot but more so on the n/s. Thats the last time I buy rubber bushes.

i have fitted super flex poly bushes, these are about the best
and yes they are very good, much better than the normal rubber repro ones

i have found with other makes that the polys do not fit very well especially the eye bolt ones, they need to be cut down

pauln wrote: Unless the fluid feed to the front brakes is restricted in some way I have'nt yet spotted I can't see 2 sets of brakes causing the same problem. .

A flexi hose would cause this problem ...

That is where all my cash is...

mick64 wrote:

pauln wrote: Unless the fluid feed to the front brakes is restricted in some way I have'nt yet spotted I can't see 2 sets of brakes causing the same problem. .

A flexi hose would cause this problem ...

That is where all my cash is...

Go back 2 posts. Thanks for replying.

New bushes fitted on what ? Can't believe it was anything to do with dampers.

bmcecosse wrote:New bushes fitted on what ? Can't believe it was anything to do with dampers.

Suspend your disbelief. 4 new poly top trunnion bushes. Have'nt touched anything else.

Ahhhh - now that's a different story - yes - these MUST be poly, even if nothing else is! Thanks for coming back on that - I will sleep soundly tonight!

bmcecosse wrote:Ahhhh - now that's a different story - yes - these MUST be poly, even if nothing else is! Thanks for coming back on that - I will sleep soundly tonight!

Allow me to further ease your slumber. These are the n/s (direction of pull) ones the o/s were nowhere near as bad. Sorry about the rotten pic.

Yes - that would explain it - poly is essential on the top trunnions.