Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello there, My baby fudge has somehow started to play up when going backwards, at first I thought it was some one-off misbehaviour but it seems she has picked up this dreadfull new habbit. Please is there a fellow parent out there who could advise me how to set the old girl straight?

Juddering is usually cause by either the engine steady bar (at the back of the engine and attached to the bottom of the battery box) breaking off or by dosed or damaged engine or gearbox mounts. The rubber mounts can persih and sometimes even break oof the metal attachments. Engine ones are easily changed, gearbox easy to but more time consuming as you have to take out the gear box cover, the engine steady bar would probably have to be welded back in place. A repair kit was available, not sure if it still is to connect this to the shock absorber instead of welding.

Can also be caused by twisting of the rear axle due to the spring mounts (perches) rotting away.

i've never understood how engine mounts or the steady cable could contribute to backwards juddering. i get how the drivetrain is effectively being pushed forwards through the car in reverse, but the prop shaft is on a sliding joint where it meets the gearbox so it doesn't 'push'.

in my experience it's been tired springs, loose U-bolts, and i presume (not had it myself) knackered rubber spring pads.

My Traveller never judders when driving it from cold, but after a few days regular use again, it does judder in reverse and a little in first too.

I've tried all the fixes, it must be the clutch plate itself or a small amount of oil leaking from the rear seal while the car is in use. Car has been like this- a slight judder you can drive around- for over 40,000 miles now. I'm just going to wait till the clutch wears out and starts to slip before replacing it.

I expect that many Minor judder problems are also clutch/ oil leak related and cannot be solved by the commonly repeated engine mount/ steady bar solutions. Only if these rubber parts are REALLY bad would the car judder due to these problems.

I've tried to fix this problem, also on a traveller as it happens, bye replacing the engine, gearbox and engine steady rubber to no avail.

I'll have a look at the back axle locating stuff when I next see the car.

As Chris says, if it is the clutch, it can wait till it wears out.

mines always doen that, i thought they all did it

no idea why, but i know that wit only does it at low revs when reversing?

Both my minors do it, new rear springs and bushes in both cars, new steady bar bushes. New borg and beck clutches fitted about 5 five years / 4,000 miles in both cars and judder came into both cars at about the same time. Only when reversing at tick over speed though, I put it down to the clutch.

why would it be the clutch? it's doing the same job it does when going forwards!

when the gearbox drives the axle wouldnt it apply a rotational force to its mountings that is equal and opposide to the force that the axle applies back through the body. The force wouldnt be massive but enough to overcome rotational stiction and also the load required to move the vehicle.

Presuming that this is the case, all the mounts will be optimised for the engine trying to lean one way (from my thinking the mounts will be made to primerily counter the engine "falling"/rotating onto the filter) this mould imply that it could be reduced by fitting a mirror image mount to the other side

I used to have a judder in reverse that I thought was down to the clutch. However it was still there (albeit slightly improved) after replacing the clutch.

As part of some other work I replaced the (very badly) worn bearings in the prop shaft and that fixed the judder in reverse.

As it seems so difficult to cure I wonder if it is to do with the clutch linkage.
The car I drive that suffers from this, gets a kind of resonance that can be quite violent, almost as if the clutch pedal was being pumped up and down by a maniac.

Could it be that as biting point is reached the gearbox tilts just enough to release it, so you lift you foot a fraction more until it gets to the point where the clutch is grabbing and letting go in quick succession.

Do minors with cable operated clutches suffer from the same thing?

I did hear/ read of an owner who "glaze busted" his flywheel- possibly with emery cloth, and this completely cured the juddering problem. It may be that the clutch is not gripping on the flywheel as it should on the initial moving off, either due to oil or some other material on the flywheel.

surely that'd cause a problem going forwards too.

prop does sound like a good suggestion, i'd get under there and give it a wiggle.

My Traveller judders in forward and reverse. I'm going to sort the problem when the clutch starts to slip, and see if it is indeed due to the flywheel glazing up and needing a clean.

If the clutch is suspected - could try a 'burn in' to see if it helps. Select 4th gear - handbrake firmly ON - nothing in front - rev the engine HARD and lift foot straight off the clutch pedal........ Ideally it should stall the engine almost immediately - but if it slips for a short time - it should burn away any crap/oil on the plate.

I had judder problems on one of my Minors many years ago. It turned out that the clutch plate was glazed. The only sensible solution is to replace the whole clutch....dont bother just replacing the plate. Ive heard others say it can also be caused by a twisted clutch plate.

My 53 split screen convertible has a very slight judder in reverse and its only done 1100 miles since full restoration. In my case this time, I put it down to the propshaft universal joint which was the only part in the car that was not replaced or reconditioned. Thats a job I keep meaning to get around to fixing !!