Morris Minor Owners Club

Dear All,

I have spent some considerable time (and no small amount of cash !!) fitting a second hand marina Disc Brake Conversion to the mighty Mog(adapted to take Minor wheels). I have changed the hub bearings, calipers, discs and pads and all seemed well until I test drove the car and there is now a grating sound (metal on metal) from the disc area and the discs are rubbing the calipers slightly on their inside faces. Also, (and most worrying) the hub bearings seem to generate excessive play every time I drive the car even though they have been replaced and I have therefore adjusted them numerous times.

The only things which have not been replaced are the Kingpins and the actual hubs themselves. All the replacement parts were new and obtained from a well known Minor specialist (who have been superb) so I find it hard to accept that they have supplied the wrong parts. The bearings seemed to fit the hubs well and there did not appear to be any wear then but before I change the hubs and/or kingpins, I would appreciate some expert guidance.

Please help. I'm stuck and running out of cash and ideas. From where I'm sitting right now, the scrappage scheme is looking an ever more attractive option!!.

Thanks,

CLIPPER

Go right back to the supplier! Obviously not correct - don't drive it! It's for all these reasons that I advocate DRUM brakes for Minors - they WORK (yes - even the standard later 8" ones) and are very much less hassle (and expense). I have no experience of the disc brake conversions - but I understand there are well-known problems with the kits that use aluminium hubs ? May be the bearings are tight on the stub axle (are they) - but not tight in the hub - have you tried them in the hubs off the car ? I think also it's necessary to use special stub axles with some kits (or fit a sleeve over the axle) - or did you get complete kit with modified stub axles already in the king-pins?

when you say the disks are rubbing the calpiers - is this the face of the disk or the outside diameter?

Are you sure that the hub is std Marina and has not been machined to use different bearings.
There have been 3 different Marina disc kits offered over the years so it might be worth taking your hubs back to the bearing supplier so that they can confirm the kit you have. If the bearings are incorrect then this can effect the offset of the hub, causing the rubbing that you describe.
Nothing inherently wrong with disc kits at all BM. Good quality well designed kits have no issues at all

Oh! I thought there was a problem with some kits - that used aluminium hubs - and the bearings were soon a 'loose' fit!

Reference the rubbing although I dont know specifically about the Marina Kits on the Ford based kit you have to centralise the caliper on the disc using various thickness washers.

There still is the 'old' problem with the alloy hubs, you are correct BM. This same kit as Bill says still requires the fitter to shim the caliper, why ??, ours doesn't and they are Ford based. As I say good designed kits have no issues

But then again Jonathon were back to the old issue 'You get what you pay for' my servo being a typical example.

Certainly, and its what I always say, be it panels chrome or discs etc. If there is a large difference in price between two similar products, then ask why !. Before the sceptics on here cry profit, I'd say , quality goods cost more to produce and hence a higher resale value than a cheap and cheerfull one.
Buying used kits , buyer beware, do your research first and ask questionsbefore parting with your money.

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty sure that these are standard marina hubs and haven't been machined.The discs are rubbing on their inner flat face e.g not on the ends and I've realised that if you look under the car one disc looks much closer to the backplate than the other. I'm guessing that this may either be because one hub has been tightened more than the other to compensate for play in the bearing or that the hub is worn.

Cheers,

CLIPPER

I think I'd be asking for my money back at this stage.

One of the big problems Jonathon, as we've discussed at great lenght, is, no matter how knowledgeable you are, if you are new to Minors (or classic cars in general) then you ask around as to who are decent suppliers and if you are unlucky you still end up buying a heap of ***p compounded by the fact that we are not allowed to detail any greivances against suppliers on this site (the reason escapes me). I bought a large pile of parts the same week as I bought the car - my first Minor. Would I do the same repairs/modifications again - YES. Would I use the same supplier - for some things YES. Would I buy exactly the same parts - a resounding NO. Many contributors to this site, yourself and BMC to name but 2 go out of their way to help those of us with less knowledge about Minors but generally that is after the horse has bolted and like CLIPPERBLU we've bought something thats efectively useless.
Sorry for the rant

I firmly believe that if every supplier fitted the parts they sell to cars then the market place would improve overnight.
For many, these parts may as well be screws,nails or wood , they are commodities with a profit margin. We the bodyshops and garages bail out these manufacturers and suppliers by swallowing the fitting costs of replacement items, which we cannot recoup from them, this can run into hundresds of pounds worth of labour. It makes my blood boil sometimes, and wish I had continued with the illustration career.
I'm not too sure that you cannot vent your displeasure at certain products though Bill.I'm afraid that I will say what I feel about a product ,given that I have experienced it/them first hand and can comment from a point of knowledge. I seem to be able to not tread on the toes of the T and C's too much in doing so.
If folk are interested in my (unbiased) opinion based on my experience them I'm more than happy to help out, either on here or by phone or email.

You did fit the little sleeve that goes onto the stub and fills the gap between the stub and the inner dimension of the bearing? Might've been stuck on the old leg?

I did mention the 'sleeve' a while back. It obviously takes a bit of engineering to fit these brakes - especially a second-hand set - which may have parts missing - or badly worn. It all sounds far too dangerous to me - talk of 'adjusting bearings' - Ehhhh? They either fit - or they don't - can't see how there can be any 'adjusting'!! Surely they should slide on - tighten the nut to the correct torque - and in with the split pin! Fit the little hub cap - drink tea - job done!

Surely they should slide on - tighten the nut to the correct torque - and in with the split pin! Fit the little hub cap - drink tea - job done!

Normally do BM

Thanks guys,

Believe me, I share your sentiments regarding quality of parts etc but I have to say that the supplier which I have used for other parts over the last year has been excellent. The sleeves are still on the legs. When I said 'adjusting' the bearings, I meant that I fitted them, they seemed to fit the hub fine, hub slid on stub axle fine, I torqued the nut (all OK) drove the car and hey presto, unpleasant scraping noise. Then on raising the car, the hub had way too much play in the bearings and this has happened again and again. On reflection and looking at the replies, I reckon it has to be the hubs which will be my next point of investigation.
Very grateful for your responses.

Cheers,

CLIPPER

You mention in your last post that you torqued the nut. did you as the marina hubs have taper roller bearings which will only need to be nipped up just enough to remove any slack and no further, as opposed to the original minor angular contact type bearings+spacer that have a torque figure. if they were torqued the bearings/sub axle will be damaged if driven

I'm going by memory here but the marina setup I have has a sleeve on the inner bearing then from the outer bearing has one larger washer, then the original washer, then the nut with the castellations cut off and a splitpin retainer instead. is yours the same?

I'm used to working with Mini taper roller bearings - where there is a hardened steel spacer between the inner and outer bearings - and the bearings are torqued up against the spacer - the thickness of which determines the running clearance. Is this not the case with these disc kits ?

Slightly different to the mini setup there is no spacer & the nut is used to adjust

if memory serves correctly your TR7 will have a similar setup to this on the front

Not sure -haven't felt the need to fiddle with them so far. If it's not broken, I try NOT to fix it!