Morris Minor Owners Club

When driving over humps in the road I have a dry squeak from the near side front. I have checked damper and fluid level, all parts are well greased, bump stops in place and it has had new trunions about a year ago. Cannot seem to find a reason, any ideas welcome.

Possible suggestion shown in another thread nearby is a crack in the front chassis leg...the edges scraping against each other as the suspension moves. http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62639

Have you checked the condition of the inner bushes - the ones within the eyebolt? In my experience these are the most likely to "squeak" when worn.

A good point, if they are rubber the pin can wear right through and make metal to metal contact with the eye bolt itself.

Many thanks for your input, I will take a look tomorrow. Strange there is no noise when I bounce the front of the car as hard as I can, only when driving over something like a road hump.

Try not to get too worried. Sometimes these odd noises just go away. Old cars just need to make noises occasionally,like old people.

Give the rubber bushes a good squirt of WD40. I've got one chap that visits me about every 3 months just to get his bushes WDed. He reckons that is about when the squeaking starts again

Thanks all, will get down to it tomorrow and inspect, WD40 is waiting on the shelf!

Mine did this when I first got it.
The WD will stop it for a short while but some suggest it's not good for the rubber.
I used WD anyway and it was the off side lower trunnion bushes that were the culprit.

They have all been replaced with poly bushes now and the issue didn't return during the summer. Car now in garage until spring but I'm sure the noise is gone for good.

Al

Strange there is no noise when I bounce the front of the car as hard as I can, only when driving over something like a road hump.

That could be because it only squeaks when the suspension unloads after going over a significant road bump. It would be difficult to reproduce this by pushing on a corner of the car.

I agree that the lower eyebolt bushes are strong suspects.

Don

Rather than spray everything just do one joint at a time and test run, that way you should be able to isolate the offending bush.

panky wrote:Rather than spray everything just do one joint at a time and test run, that way you should be able to isolate the offending bush.

This is quality advice, it's how I discovered where my squeak was from
Al

Maybe invest in a can of silicone spray lube as well, it wont damage the bushes and is a proper lubricant rather than a moisture displacer like WD.

Thank you one and all for your great advise. I suspect it is the lower eye bolt bushes, have lubricated and will take him out for a test just as soon as the delivery man has been, 8-1 they say but we all know that never happens!
Everything else looks good underneath will post results when I can.

Just had a short drive around and there is a reduction in the noise for sure. I think it is the bushes on the lower eye bolt causing the problem so that will be a bit of fun in due course. Looking at the history I see that it was poly bushed back in 2009 so not sure if that is an expected life span. I purchased the car in 2011 and only do about 2000 miles per year. I will obtain some silicone as suggested and use as a temp fix.
Thanks again for all your help. Today is the perfect day for a good spin now the roads are dry, hate to leave him standing in a garage for more than a week as things just get clogged up and if you don't use it you loose it as they say!

Poly bushes should last 'for ever'.

bmcecosse wrote:Poly bushes should last 'for ever'.

Indeed they should
I suspect the OP may find the trunnion bushes are poly and the eyebolt bushes are still rubber
Or the other way around

Al

Indeed - since they are not the easiest to renew....

You are quite correct. The eyebolt bushes are still rubber on the inners of the near side although invoice states 4 were supplied. I was always taught to renew both sides of anything when doing a proper job! A job for the spring I think when the garage is a tad warmer!