Morris Minor Owners Club

OK, front end all stripped down. I was very pleased I managed to remove the swivel pins leaving the brake backplate in place, so no need to re-bleed the brakes



On inspection have found that, as suspected, the Eyebolt rubbers are perished, so new Poly bushes will be fitted (Or metalstic if I can find them). Trunnions were giving a moderate amount of play when rocked, especially top trunnions. Outer Track End Ball Joints worn, and missing their locknuts!



I think my swivel pins are OK - The new Trunnions screw in well - bottom ones are quite tight to turn in a couple of places and once wound fully tight and backed off again they are very firm, in fact a bit stiff but no lateral movement. Top ones have a tiny amount of lateral movement, perhaps a millimtre if I grip them hard and try and rock them. Is this acceptable? By the way, my pins being older MM style have the "waist" recess for the Pivot Pin, but the modern Trunnions do not have a pin that needs a "waist". So is it OK to screw them up tight, then back just enough so that they have enough clearance to turn lock to lock? (Manual reccomends one and a half turns but I think this is due to the need to have the pivot pins centered in the "waist")

If I grip the track rods and push and pull heavily the RH one has no movement whatsoever, the LH one I can detect a very tiny amount of movement, again a mm or less. Is this acceptable?

Next weekend is the rebuild with all new bushes, track rod ends and trunnions!

any advice would be welcome!

the best test of swivels is to look at the tips of the treads they should be flat, if they are sharp like threads on a screw or getting near to that ,then they should be replaced,new trunnions sometimes take up any wear but will quickly wear out with worn pins.In England any movement in a track rod end is an mot failure,there should be no play felt in the joint,don't know about down there .When I did my series two I screwed the trunnion right up then took it back one turn don't know if this is the right way but has been ok for 10 years or so ,Good luck

Any amount of play in a trunnion David is a risk. I got my legs re-threaded and used undersized trunnions, club spares did this more me as I wanted to keep the old type legs for originality (cost £60 sterling plus the postage to send the leg to Norwich). I'm not sure if this service is available the other side of the world though. If you bite the bullet and go for new legs, keep the axle from your old legs (they press out), when the new legs arrive press out the new axle and get the axle from the old legs pressed in (a local garage can do this for a beer). It is important as to the naked eye the axles look the same diameter.... but you'll find after fitting the new leg the bearings in the drum won't slide on. Doing it this way means you don't have to machine out your drums and fit larger diameter bearings.

Any amount of play in a trunnion David is a risk

Some play must be acceptable, do you propose rebuilding the suspension every 2 or 5000 miles or as soon as any play is detected?

MarkyB wrote:

Any amount of play in a trunnion David is a risk

Some play must be acceptable, do you propose rebuilding the suspension every 2 or 5000 miles or as soon as any play is detected?

If you don't grease them properly and regularly then yes you should. I certainly wouldn't strip it down like David has, put it back together, paying £55 for my MOT to possibly have it fail on the play and then have to rush to get the job done in ten days for the free re-test. Seems a bit silly to me, but maybe not to everyone... you take your choice.

Thanks for the tips Dean. I think the amount of play I have is OK. The original manual states that "in service a small amount of play is acceptable". I think I will reassemble and maybe in the meantime look for a new or reconditioned set of MM pins.

Cheers

Thought you might like to see a coupole of pictures of the progress. RH side now all done. Note that I have also decided to remove all the old underseal from the wheel arch while I'm at it. Should I recoat? Nice original green paint underneath



Both trunnions were nice and firm after packing with grease, no play at all. The side to side turning is very firm. Here's a close up of the nicely repainted components



Next weekend the LH side

Looks like you have fitted the suspension from the other side unless my memory is playing tricks the damper should be on the other side.

Umm really? This is definitely the RH side pin and trunnions. I didn't touch the damper arm - pivot pin was nice and round so left it attached to the damper arm. Are you saying the trunnion should be in front (ie: towards front of car) of the damper arm? According to pics in "Original Morris Minor" the damper arm is in front of the trunnion, so the way I have is correct. My car is early Series II with MM suspension setup, maybe it was different on later cars?

Looks OK to me. It will only fit one way round. Not sure about the orange hose, is that a flexible brake hose?

Hi Mike. No, it's a copper brake pipe between the two cylinders. It does look very orange in the pic, maybe the flash reflecting. Glad to hear setup is OK, I thought it was.

That'll be my memory then, the angles look a bit odd, but that may be due to where the picture was taken from.

I would have fitted the steering arm first! And - no washers behind the eyebolt ?? That's not the usual run for the brake pipe - and I DO hope it's not 'copper' - kunifer hopefully! Does the pipe clear the suspension arm at all positions of lock - and suspension movement ?
I'm sure that T bar looks to be from the LH side..........

Yes the pipe clears on all locks. If I have it wrong where should it run? It's from a brake pipe kit purchased from ESM, I assumed it was copper?

Copper work hardens - and breaks off. I had one of mine come away in my hand - shortly after I purchased the car. Kunifer is corrosion free - and doesn't work harden. It is the best choice.

OK, so mine would be copper? Where do I get the Kunifer ones from?

Steering Arm was taken off to allow the pin to be withdrawn from the backplate and clear the pipe in question as I wanted to avoid having to re-bleed the brakes.

Normally the pipe would run below. Check with ESM - these may in fact be kunifer.

Cheers, thanks for that. so they should be run underneath the suspension arm? Will check with ESM. Thanks.

These are Wolseley brakes, but you can just make out here how the brake pipes should be (best photo I could get, hope it helps)

Ahhh I see. That makes a lot more sense! Guess all my efforts at keeping the braking system intact will have to go by the wayside. I'll re-route the pipes under the Trunnion and re-bleed. Thanks for the pic