can people define the following terms:

CV:
Pot Joint (thats two strikes in a row haha):
Wheel Bearings:
Boot Kit:
Wheel spacers:

terms like "the thing that goes on the... under the..." is a good start

thanks

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Your drive shafts have two rotating motion joints.

Coming out of your gearbox housing you will have one of these.

A. a Rubber type Universal Joint
B. a Hookes type Universal Joint(like on most conventional rear wheel driveshafts)
C. Offset Sphere or Pot Joint.

On the outer end of the end drive shaft near the hub are your CV(constant velocity) joints. I believe these are common accross the entire mini range.

Rubber CV boots should cover the outer CV's, and if ya have them, the Pot Joints. This is to keep the grease in, and all the water and crap out.
If you buy new boot kits, most of the time they usually come with a packet of smelly grease in them, and two metal bands. These bands are used to retain the boot on the CV joints(cable ties/zippy ties can be used if needed). If ya find any holes, splits or grease oozing through them, they should be replaced.

If you pull the Big hub nut off, in the middle of your brake drum, you will find more grease, an Outer Wheel Bearing, a bearing spacer, and an Inner wheel bearing. You need to remove the upper and lower ball joints, and steering tie rod end to get the hub off, to get access to them all. I replaced the standard wheel bearings with the later Tapered wheel bearings.

Hope this helps a little bit

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

I would add that once you get the driveshaft out of the car, you need to get the CV off it. To do this you hold the driveshaft in one hand, CV at bottom, then give the CV a BIG whack with a BFH or copper hammer. Watch yer toes....

Stripping it is the dirty part- whilst you can soak the assembly in degreaser it doesn't really clean it out. To strip it, the ball cage inside is tilted around to drop all the balls out in turn, then it is turned 90* in the CV housing and lifted out. Clean, reassemble, lubricate, enjoy..

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

i can kind of see things now
thanks

BFH: Big Fcuking Hammer?

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That's the one! I've also got a VBFH and a SFH...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Okay well yeah. But then again. I didnt even take the pot joint out of the car. I split it, and left the housing on the gear box, and just cleaned it from underneath.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

I guess I will just have to take it to a pro since I don't own a BFH

I might do the whole cooper S disc / CV conversion in one go... what do you think?

In keeping with my normal tight-arsed & free-time sparse lifestyle I pose the following questions :

I have a bit of clunking action when I go around corners and also a bit of a high pitched squeeking that is independent of engine speed when rolling above 10mph. I've also ruled the brakes by stomping on them at speed and it doesn't change the sound.

So I was thinking this evening that its most likely my wheel bearings or CV joints then I came home and found this thread.... somebody else with similar issues -- Joy. I know my shockies are totally FUBAR but I don't think they could be the cause of either noise.

So for the meantime, since I haven't got a lot of cash to spare and I don't have time to scratch myself... whats the long term damage that can result from not changing your CV's and wheel bearings in a timely manner?

dewey

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dwightgunning.com

i think you'll find that the wheels will fall off mate might be worth finding some time to get it done (i need to do the same)

I'd be at least attending to the wheel bearings if they're past it - it isn't that difficult and if you don't do it you may find it wearing out tyres or worse. A while back I was having problems with my disc brakes - sometimes (randomly) it would pull sharply to the left and then correct. It turned out that the wheel bearings on the right were knackered so bad that the wheel could move up to an inch in free play, meaning that the right side disc had to self adjust all the time (resulting in LHS brake bias). And that came close to me 'braking' into the poor bloke in the left lane....

As for the CVs, if they're just clunking you can usually get away with it (I have so far) but when they start grinding maybe it's time for some TLC.....

Just remember, the more you leave it the harder/more expensive the problem becomes!

Anto.

More modern cars have nylon inserts in the CV's which are used as sacrificial parts before the CV itself starts to wear. If the CV's in a new car are clunking they should be fixed immediately, so no damage to the major components is caused.

Since the mini's dont have em, they are wearing right from the start. It all depends how far you want to go on them. Unless the clunking is really bad, I dont expect they will fail unexpectedly.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."