Morris Minor Owners Club

What ho, chums!
I knew the propshaft couplings were on they're way. There was the usual signs of vibration blurring the view in the rear view mirror and increasing body vibration with increasing road speed. Fortunately I had another shaft and the coupling bearings are only about £6 each so replacing the pair wouldn't be costly. So the old shaft was dug out, soaked in penetrating oil, the retaining clips removed and the shaft set up in the usual way with sockets and a vice to remove the worn bearings like this
http://ollr.createaforum.com/technical- ... pshaft-uj/

BUT the spiders would not move over far enough to push the bearings out. So they had to be cut out. A hacksaw blade wouldn't touch them even when air driven and so after a lot of staring and swearing it had to be the angle grinder with a cutter disc (the thin cheap ones from "Range" stores).

Here's the butchered spiders!
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The new bearings went in easily and after a rub over with emery and a spray over with an old rattle can the shaft was almost as good as new. So my first message is that there're some odd couplings out there that don't play by the rules and need an angle grinder to get them out.

After that the back end of the Trav was up on the ramps and I'm under it with spanner in hand. And then I find that the rear coupling bolts are a bit loose. I do them up and BINGO! (you know what's next, don't you) a run around the streets shows that all the vibration has gone. So the final message is check the blindingly obvious things first.

But you knew that already, didn't you. Regards, MikeN.

Hahahahaha ..... but the original spiders must have gone IN - so they should have been able to come out.....

Ah, but the bare spider can be easily put in the empty yokes (I think) when it was first assembled and then the bearings could be pressed in from outside as you'd expect. In my case, I could only partially press the bearing out with the sockets in usual way but they were still in too far to get a grip on them and pull them out. Perhaps a rod could have been welded on to the end of the bearing cap to give a lever but I didn't fancy putting too much heat into that area.
MikeN.

Ah right I see!

I also had a hell of a job getting my front UJ apart, took me about 2.5 hours and much swearing. Whoever fitted the last bearings had picked up the housing when pressing it in, making subsequent removal very difficult. Didn't help when the circlip ends broke off as well, just added to the mood on a cold January day in the workshop.

I had to remove the burrs with a needle file, polish the housings out with emery to get the new bearings a good fit.

All good now.