Morris Minor Owners Club

Inspired by this thread, I decided to replace my driver's side eyebolt bushes. The front one fell out when I jacked up the car a while ago, but I hadn't got round to replacing it until now (the car even managed to pass an MOT without it ).

I jacked the car up under the chassis leg, removed the little front wishbone and loosened off the lower trunnion bolt, but that's as far as I've managed to get. The larger rear wishbone won't budge backwards at all, even after double-handed persuasion with a mallet. I haven't touched the rear end of the torsion bar. Is my problem just that the wishbone is stuck incredibly fast to the splines, or am I doing something wrong?

This is the current state of play:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Hmmmm. In theory, I believe you are supposed to disconnect the lower trunnion to allow all the tension to release from the torsion bar. If it's still pulling against the swivel pin and the lower suspension stop you're probably fortunate you couldn't move it. That's what I understand from the book but I will be watching progress on this because I have the same job to do on my car.

Darrell

Yes Darrell, I agree.
Jack the front of the chassis as high as safely possible and support on axle stands. Position a jack under the swivel pin end of the lower arm and raise the swivel pin until the top arm is clear of the rubber stop.
You can now carefully remove the swivel pin from the suspension arm and carefully lower the arm until the load is taken off it. Mark the position of the lower arm on the splines and you should be able to tap if off the splines

When I did my eyebolts I undid the nut on the rear end of the torsion bar,after releasing the tension, removed the U shaped washer and moved the whole torsion bar backward through the hole in the chassis. But then I ended up dismantling it all to clean and paint it. When it is all clean and oiled and free moving it is so much simpler to put back together.

All done now! I freed the lower arm from the bottom trunnion and the arm would then move backwards. Thanks everybody!

Glad to hear you got it sorted!, By the way, there is a very good proceedure for replacing the eyebolt bushes in the club technical manual.

If I were you, I'd take off the eye bolt while you are there and check it has not been worn oval by metal to metal contact, in which case eye bolt and shackle may need to be replaced as well as the bushes.

Hi John,

I did stick my finger into the eyebolt while it was all apart and couldn't feel any appreciable wear. The pin had a little bit of wear on it but nothing too bad. It all seemed to sit nice and tight so I think it'll be OK, fingers crossed!

If you never want to do the job again, fit metalastic bushes.

I wish someone like JLH would stock the necessary Metalastic bush! Or can you post us a link where to buy ??

The last ones I bought from my local bearing stockist, take the eye bolt and fulcrum pin and get them to measure one to fit.

Glad I provided the inspiration!

My front end is being re-assembled tomorrow after I have cleaned and repainted all the components. Nice shiny black arms and silver torsion bar according to "Original Morris Minor"

Just a note - you really should not be supporting the car on that type of jack while working underneath! Those scissor action jacks are very dangerous and unstable, especially when supporting the chassis leg while you tug and pull at suspension components. Do yourself a favour and invest in a pair of axle stands and a decent quality hydraulic jack - we'd hate to see you involved in an accident!

Very true, scissor action jacks are only suitable for changing flat tyres.

Ask Father Christmas for a trolley jack, they aren't dear.

Hi, there were also two axle stands supporting the car - on the second photo one is just visible between the bottom trunnion and brake drum, the other was underneath the front crossmember. I've had a car fall off a scissor jack (onto the axle stands) before now so am well aware of the danger! A trolley/bottle jack is on the Christmas list though.