Traveller wood rear post

[warb21]

The very top centimetre or so of the offside rear post on my car is looking dodgy. It's been filled before but that now has cracks. The rest of the post, and all other wood, is in great condition.
What's the best course of action?
e.g. Do nothing, leave it to get worse gradually and wait for more wood to go, then get the whole side done?
Replace just the rear post (is that practical if nothing else needs replacing)?
Something else?
I wouldn't do it myself so have to factor in labour costs.
All constructive advice gratefully received!

[John Naylor]

I am similarly looking at a partial replacement (top of wheel arch plus vertical 'stub') and am using "The Morris Minor Traveller -The Complete Companion". In Chapter 11, Steve Foreman lists partial replacements and describes how to do a rear pillar without removing guttering/ roof. It is very helpful and encourages non-experts to tackle the woodwork....
Just removed and stripped rear doors which apart from a few broken screws was a success in about 2.5 hours.
Good Luck
John

[millerman]

I desperately need to replace off side rear post on my traveller
John could you summarise the chapter in Ray's book or is there another Trav owner that would like to post how they carried out this job with out removing roof/guttering/

Thanks for reading

[John Naylor]

PM sent..

[warb21]

My issue, as I posted, is that only the very top of the post is dodgy - the rest is solid. Seems a lot of work and expense to replace the full post, but is that the inevitable outcome?

[John Naylor]

It is structural and part of the MOT so depends how bad it is. Some have spliced in repair sections but I would find that more difficult than replacing a full length but I am no expert (as I am about to prove with a wheel arch...).
Regards
John

[panky]

My travellers rear posts are going the same way I recently did a repair where the waist rail meets the rear pillar and stripped and treated all the wood while I was at it. The top of the pillars were a little soft but by drying the wood out and treating with several application of Cuprinol 5 then Osmo oil the integrity of the wood seems to have improved in that area somewhat - and the car lives outside all year round. Eventually it will need a bit more attention but what I plan to do is to chisel the wood away carefully where it meets the roof and let in wedges of ash, then treat as I did previously. I know I'm delaying the inevitable but if I get another few years for the sake of a couple of days tinkering then I'll happily do it

[warb21]

Thanks John and Panky
In my case the top of the post is certainly not terrible and it flew through its MOT two months ago with no mention being made of it. I'd describe mine as 'just a bit soft'. I've not (yet) owned a Traveller long enough to know how quickly it might deteriorate.

[panky]

Sounds about the same as mine, just the top centimetre. If you can get it in a dry garage and strip the varnish off and leave it to dry out for as long as you can then treat with Cuprinol and seal. I found the coating that had been applied by the previous owner actually held the moisture in and made things a damn site worse I really can recommend Osmo oil for a top finish.

[tysonn]

I thought we'd already established from an MOT tester forum user that traveller wood isn't looked at at MOT time?
Mick