Morris Minor Owners Club

As we're heading off to do the 240 odd mile round trip to Pride on Saturday I thought I'd best check...

After replacing Hebe's clutch I've noticed a shudder (quite prominent in which the whole of the underbody seems to shudder) intermittedly anywhere between 55 and 65 mph.

Now, I know her gear lever used to shudder a bit (and I also know I'm way paranoid when it comes to strange noises) but...

Does anyone thing I've either done something silly (like do up the engine mounts too tight or engine steady too tight - or indeed not enough!) or is it normal for a new clutch to take a while to "bed in" like brakes do?

Please someone, tell me I'm paranoid!

You're paranoid? You think that doesn't worry me... Shout if you need help with it - or get an expert instead

Assuming that you did not have this shudder before changine the clutch
and assuming that you removed the prop shaft in the process it may
now be out of balance?? BUT if it is it would appear at a certain road
speed and would remain at any speed above that until you slowed down?

If the shudder happens when your foot is off the clutch pedal, then it's unlikely to be the clutch itself.
The gearbox and propshaft are the most likely candidates (maybe also the spigot bush but i'm not sure bout that one).
Or maybe one of the balance weights came off a wheel??

The prop was left in place (we took the engine out, not the box), but I believe Nikki was troubled by some judder at low speed(?) which I guessed to be the UJs on it. It was a big struggle getting the engine back in (we couldn't remove one of the engine towers), and I remember worrying about bending the input shaft as the engine was hanging from the crane for a while and left resting on the towers and partially on the box (supported by jack) overnight. If this does turn out to be the case, I do have another box (can't remember if you do, Nikki) which seemed OK on the one occasion I drove it from Torquay to Bristol.

If the UJ's are getting sloppy - replace them ASAP as a broken UJ can cause a lot of subsequent damage as the prop gives HUGE forces when runnning out 15mm at speed.
It's also worth to check for play in the front end of the prop - where it sits in the back of the gearbox. If this bush is worn, the propshaft will run out and get steadily worse.

Hi Nikki the clutch should not really need to bed in, yes you can do the engine steady up too tight and did you re adjust the gearbox steady cable as wel as this can give some strange vibrations if its done up too tight instead of just having the slack taken up.

Hi folks...

I'll try and arrang to do the UJ ASAP - but she'll have to survive London

Everything possible crossed, as listed in Guy's post - but also including the line of decency and the border from Kuwait...