Morris Minor Owners Club

just taken primrose for a preliminary mot check and i was informed i need a new suspension top linkage.

wtf is one of those?

at the top of the kingpin, you have the trunion and the damper arm. these are connected with a upper swivel pin. no suspension linkage there according to the book.

so does suspension top linkage = upper swivel pin??

Top trunnion I imagine - or maybe just new poly bushes needed in the link from the top trunnion to the damper arm. You should have asked the garage to point to what exactly they thought was wrong..... Is that the only problem??

i did ask and they said i should know what it was and hung up, rather rude i think.

anyway, its got a new top trunnion on it, new poly bushes and the upper swivel pin was new about 18 months ago, so unless they are being picky i haven't the foggiest what is wrong.

the two other things that where wrong are a leaking rear hub seal and oil soaked brake shoes. easily fixable as i have a spare set of shoes and the seals can be ordered from esm

You should have asked for an explanation when you picked up the car, after all you have paid for this pre-MOT check, so only fair they should explain what they found wrong. You need to go back to the mechanic that did the check and ask him to point out exactly what he finds wrong...

not picked it up yet, i was told to order the bits, bring them in and they will fit them.
not impressed to say the least, i can see the potential barrel i could be bent over. all i wanted to know was what bit i had to order, so i could get it, pick up the car and then take it back in when i had done it all.
starting to get slightly miffed about it all tbh

It's YOUR car - you need to set the deal before you put your car into their hands ! Is this the same 'garage' you had issues with in the past - with an MGF ??????

it maybe the same garage,

ill get it back tomorrow, repair the bits myself and take it for its MOT elsewhere. tbh, i am not a fan of this garage, but its convenient as its only 100yds down the road

if they were expecting to carry out the work themselves, they might have just gone 'ooh a minor, the trunnions are always going on them, he'll believe it if we tell him one needs doing' and then just not do anything and charge you for the pleasure.

the garage i take our cars to knows we'll do any work ourselves, so they don't bother trying to pick up on silly little things to get more work.

if you've not picked the car up yet, when you do, as bmc says, get them to show you exactly what the problem is.

Possibly the mistake was getting a pre-test, as it looks like the garage expect to do the job. Unless you gave them the impression you'd prefer them to do it, all you can do is be up front and tell them you'd like to do it yourself for the learning curve, or something like that.

And NEVER go back there again......

ok, found out what on earth a suspension linkage and low and behold its a trunnion.

so i have the car back, parts ordered and i will be fitting them and the car will be going got an mot at a different garage.

everytime i take any of my cars to this garage they always come back different (feeling that is, it might just be because a stranger has been in it, odd i know but its in my head)

Having ordered a new trunnion, you may find that the wear is in the swivel pin thread

You can never have enough trunnions Mike!

Having recently sorted through many boxes of spares accumulated over the years, I seem to have had some sort of trunnion tourettes syndrome. I must have about 6 sets of tops and bottoms of various conditions - must have ticked the trunnions box every time i've ordered parts! I think I'm cured now though.

cadetchris - Hope it is the trunnion and not the swivel pin that is worn

not sure about the threads on the king pin, the things are less than 2 years old and greased regularly (on average 2-3 weeks), as for the trunnion i am totally unsure how old that is.
It could be that it was never a really good fit in the first place and the mot people last time just didnt pick it up. but it will be changed anyway

You said before it was a new trunnion - and surely, when you fitted new king pins 2 years ago - you fitted new trunnions then?? Madness to fit new king pins and not fit new trunnions at the same time!

tbh, i cannot remember when i out new trunnions on the car. its quite possible that i replaced them when i did the king pins, but many vino fuelled nights have clouded my memory.

ill fit the new one and see what happens. Personally i am starting to think the garage was just fishing for a job to do, but we'll see.

And -the outcome is??

forgot about this post tbh,

and the outcome was a resounding pass on the mot

Great success!