Morris Minor Owners Club

Nikki's just rung me and said the pulley on the front of her engine has disintegrated (again). She and Andrew fitted a (brand new) pulley when they redid the clutch a while back, but the new one has gone in the same way as the previous one...

Is there anything that is likely to be causing this?
Is it just really bad luck?
Can we get the new pulley on without taking the radiator/front of car off?

Cheers!

I have just got a new whitworth spanner from Harry Mango which is the right size, so we could remove the pulley using it and starter power, I'd have thought. If i'm allowed anywhere near the car again, of course...

You can probably get at it with the rad removed, but I would remove the front as it's MUCH easier to work on. Why does Nikki not try a crank damper like you have on your 1275? They are MUCH stronger.

What has disintegrated about the old one? Have the two halves seperated?

I have just got a new whitworth spanner from Harry Mango which is the right size, so we could remove the pulley using it and starter power, I'd have thought. If i'm allowed anywhere near the car again, of course...

Well, if you're free later this afternoon I'm sure we'd be glad of a hand (especially me, 'cos I'm meant to be going out tonight; made plans and everything, but I can't leave Nikki stranded).

You can probably get at it with the rad removed, but I would remove the front as it's MUCH easier to work on. Why does Nikki not try a crank damper like you have on your 1275? They are MUCH stronger.

Um, ask Nikki? ;)

Feh, I thought that'd be the answer; I'm just a bit... well, want to get it done quickly, 'cos I'm meant to be going out (I've mentioned that already haven't I!) but she needs her car for work; so I don't want to leave her stranded! Guess I'll just have to work fast.

What has disintegrated about the old one? Have the two halves seperated?

This I am unsure about; the old one cracked horribly then shattered, this one... I dunno yet, she's still in Wales, teaching, and then she's got to be AA'd home.

I can't this PM , sorry no transport...

Looks like it's going to be done at the weekend instead....

Aha - shout if you need tools/what I very loosely define as 'help'...

I should think help would be appreciated; I've got a large pile of things car related to do this weekend too so it's going to be 'a bit packed' really.

"I've got a large pile of things car related to do this weekend" - you and me both, I promise.. What day?

You can see why an original pulley would suffer metal fatigue after 40 years but not after a few months. If it's a brand new pulley it must be a case of faulty manufacturing? I can't see how it can simply break as a result of anything being fitted wrongly.

Hard to see how it COULD have been fitted wrongly too - if I could think of a way I'd got it wrong, I'd be happily owning up to it, but...

Hi guys...

Well, with 'MeriKate religated to the Train for a few days (which she's really going to 'love' as a car-loving American) I'm going to drive the Honda for a few days.

The Alternator pully looks slightly out of line compared to the water pump pulley and the now broken one. Could the tightening of the fan belt we did on Monday have caused the belt to cause too much strain on the pully?

We're going to tackle it on Saturday. Hopefully it'll be just a case of taking out the radiator (best advised eh?) and nipping the broken pully off. We have a spare sitting on a spare 1098 in the garage.

Oh, and it's got nothing to do with my 'thrashing' of the engine yesterday has it?

Nikki

Hard to see how a slightly tight fanbelt (made of flexible fabric & rubber) could so quickly cause a terminal stress fracture in a pulley made correctly from solid steel. If the pulley has fractured so quickly it's got to be a manufacturing fault. Another case of very poor quality new parts I guess - has anyone else heard of this problem with a new pulley?

Can we get the new pulley on without taking the radiator/front of car off?

Radiator out should be a 5 minute job, but will save LOTS of time and hassle with the pulley!
The first thing I thought when you said you had broken a new pulley after 4 months was 'I wonder if she has an alternator'. The extra tension required on the fanbelt will have made it fail quicker, but even with a dynamo it probably wouldn't have laster forever (they should be impossible to break within 4 months!)
The alternator being out of line is not a good thing - if it is further forward it will add more stress to the front side of the pulley, however the additional stress shouldn't be that large in comparision to the stress it would get just from a tight fanbelt.

Nikki, I'd get the alternator in the correct place (lined up with the waterpump and crank pulleys)... I'd say the fault is proabably due to the following:

1. Poor quality replacement (weak) pully.
2. Side loading of the weak pulley due to the alternator being out of line.
3. Fan belt too tight aggrivating 1 & 2.

So, with the alternator lined up properly, a new (2nd hand) pulley and a correctly tensioned fan belt you should be OK.

The usual cause is that the fan belt was too tight.

Having looked at the bit that Nikki brought round, it looks like the welds were of 'insufficent quality'.

Indeed, it looks like someone's got it a bit warm with a spot welder, but not actually gone the whole hog and really welded it....

John's going to try and get some shots with his (substantially nicer than my) digital camera, later today.

Talking of which, kate, do you want me to head on over to your place with the 'patient'?

Well folks, I took the broken pully off, and have replaced it with the one which used to be on Kate's 1098 engine before it expired.

The broken one had fractures all around it - there's going to be a photo when our friend has taken them!

Nikki