Morris Minor Owners Club

This subject has come up a few times before with the favorite removal tool being a claw hammer with a piece of cloth behind it.
Well here is a fact I had not heard before from the depths of Essex
Did you know there is a standard hubcap removal tool on the Moggie that is not actually part of the original toolkit
So after removing the splinters from much head scratching I gave up
The answer is the spare wheel clamp is there anyone else who new this or has even tried it.
I even asked our branch commitee and no-one had heard of it before either.

im sure I saw the hub cap removal tool in the drivers hand book but can't quite remember The spare wheel clamp, hmmm bit big isnt it?

no wonder there's some badly scratched wheels around - can't see it working myself
I might tryi it though, if nobody else does.

What about the proper tool?? The one that isn't the starting handle with the wheel nut socket on the end. It has a flat bit that I assumed was for removing hub caps??

i thought the spare wheel clamp was the removal tool. there was a lever tool with wheel brace on the end but i thought it was only supplied with earlyer cars. i only seem to have 1 of those, but loads of clamps. the wider end fits so well. good point about the chips though Ray, its almost impossible without chips anyway. i have always thought that that was the tool for hob cap for the 1098

I find the spare wheel clamp and a rubber mallet work wonders, haven't chipped the paint at all, but I might just have been lucky!

What I assumed to be the correct tool is in the back of my Traveller, came together with starting handle/wheelbrace and jack in the same "wallet". It's just a length of purpose made flat bar bent at a right angle meant to "twist" off the hubcap, not lever it off.

The benifit I find of using the wheel clamp and a rubber hammer is that a light tap with the rubber hammer pops the hub cap back on quite nicely!

Normally I remove them by hand, but for the very stubborn ones the claw hammer gets them off without touching the paint at all (levers from the tyre to under the cap)

To remove by hand, - note where the 3 lugs are. Push very hard opposite one lug and use the other hand to prise it over the lug. Most hubcaps will move about a quarter of an inch when you push the side so it doesn't take much to get them over the lug - if theyre a bit stubborn then push with both hands to get it distorted, then keep the pressure on whilst popping it off.

Ray some owners will think that you have got very strong hands

or maybe I have soft hubcaps!

Cant answer that as I havent met you

I use my wheel brace, its got a hubcap remover bit on the end.....

It was my article that you're all talking about. I guess it proves what I wrote that not all owners know everything about their cars. This purpose designed tool fits perfectly, and doesn't chip the paint. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's how one uses the tool:-

Brilliant!! That's what we need! Someone who knows what they are talking about!!

Page 23 in the drivers' handbook. The manufacturers supplied tool, mentioned in my earlier post.

Obviously they didn't know their car either!

Just spoken to our branch chairman who says that on checking up 57`s diagram is correct, but to be fair the Essex version looks more efficient, so we have 2 manufactured version`s plus the claw hammer back-up, and in an emergency RAY`s hands, so thats 4 tried and tested methods.

or the wheel brace........ mine has a hubcap remover on the end, similar to the one in the diagram

Must say I like that sparewheel clamp idea, it's there in the car already and fixed to the body. Definitely be giving it a go next time a hubcap is removed. I have found the purpose built tool shown in my scan a bit flimsy, some hubcaps seem to be a tighter fit than others.

you mean the spare wheel isn't just loose, it is on mine, but its a tight fit