Morris Minor Owners Club

An easy one for Willie this I am sure....

Just every now & again I get a jump out of 2nd on overrun or if I've changed down to come into a roundabout or something.

My girlfriend says it never happens to her but I am assuming this is either because:

a: She doesn't drive as enthusiastically as me

or

b: Like most women she drives in the wrong gear most of the time...

Anyway, is it terminal? Is there an easy cure or something I can do to alleviate it (it's only occasionally anyway, like once in a 20 mile drive & not every time) or is it a case of leave it till it's unbearable & replace??

It tends to get worse, and can be a bit hairy in change of mind situations as you slow down then need to accelerate, but the car doesn't go...
I dont think it's an easy fix (someone will know for sure) so might be best leaving it until it's intolerable.

Worn gearboxes tend to leap out of second. Sometimes they'll do it out of reverse or first, too...

Phyllis jumped out of 2nd once, but I probably drive like your gf - a mix of a and b generally . I'm a get into Fourth and stay there, kinda guy...

I got the jumpting-out-of-gear thing sorted... new gearbox... I didn't like the idea of having to use what little power the old girl has, only to find that I wasn't in gear any more. The possibility of getting 'lunched' by a lorry was all to close to the front of my mind, so the box had to go. There's probably a cheaper way of doing it, if that's your only problem, but first and reverse used to clank rather a lot, and what with the lever bouncing about (springs, and o-ring) I thought best to call it a day, and had a recon four speeder put in. Job done. ;)

Just every now & again I get a jump out of 2nd on overrun or if I've changed down to come into a roundabout or something.

A recon or replacement is the long term answer, but it just depends how long you can put up with the problem or it gets to bad to cope with as others have said.

Other than that the box & change seems pretty sweet... Doesn't jump out of other gears or clank or anything. Aside from the afore mention G/F trying to strip the teeth on 1st whilst aiming for 3rd every now and again nothing else to report...

I had exactly the same on Riley - the box seemed sweet as a nut but would always jump out of second on over-run. Wierd?!
I then swapped it for a noisy leaky box but I got a good one in there in the end
A sweet gearbox makes the car seem so much more pleasant

when i got a recon box because 1st made a whur whur whur noise one of the threads was stripped (the one that has the steady cable taking the load) so we wern't happy. oh and the box finally died the weekend after we got the recon box (i think there was a bang and there were no gears) - which was kind of fortunate. (having the new box, not killing the old one :?)

I suspect that the selector fork is worn.
As a result the second gear is not being engaged properly.

Jumping out of 2nd on overrun is usually due to the bronze washer/shim between 2nd & 3rd gears worn &/or broken up. When 2nd gear is under load, the helical cut of the teeth pushes the gear tighter into mesh, but when backing off the accelerator, the load reverses & pushes the gear the other way. If the shim is worn/missing, then this movement will be enough to disengage the hub off the gear, so popping out of gear. The only fix is a full gearbox strip, so a replacement box is usually the better option.
It's been a while since I repaired one of these, but it seems a fairly common problem.
If the selectors/energiser springs are worn, this isn't going to help the problem also.

oh and the box finally died the weekend after we got the recon box

Yeah, just when I needed the car to get to my first job for an agency - typical!!!! Oh, and the selector stuck in reverse

If the selectors/energiser springs are worn, this isn't going to help the problem also

Can you access these from the outside??

I had the same problem and dismantling the gearbox resulted in:

Jumping out of 2nd on overrun is usually due to the bronze washer/shim between 2nd & 3rd gears worn &/or broken up.

Mine was broken.

Replaced the complete gearbox because several other spots showed wear.

Salty,
I think it's possible to access a couple of the selector rod springs - they're inside the 2 bolts (bungs) you can see under the gearbox (bottom, close together). The only way to remove all of them though is to strip the gearbox down.
Hub energiser springs are only accessible when fully stripped too.

Presumably there's no point in just changing a couple??

no point in just changing a couple??

Correct, but feel free to try it if you want

If the gear change feels "loose/weak", then changing a couple might make a slight difference. If there a gear popping out, then this will not help.

Simplified gearbox dismantling.

1. Remove rear extension and side cover.

2. Remove selector rods and forks together with associated springs, plungers and ball-bearings.

3. Take off front cover and remove gears.

N.B. It is not necessary to do 3 in order to do 2.

However it is inadvisable to do anything to a gearbox without the manual. Taking it apart is easy but reassembling it is not. Failure to get springs, plungers and ball-bearings back in the right place can have very unfortunate consequences.

Newage,
That must be from the Readers Digest workshop manual - the condensed version .