Been told to change my Uni joints for a roadworthy... i have the manual for the rubber joints on how to remove.... what unijoints are these?



Cheers

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Those are hardy spicers, and they are just fine for roadworthy if they operate fine enough with little backlash.

They can be rebuilt for about 30 bucks per joint. The inner crosses are easily available.
They are taken apart by undoing the 7/16AF nuts with a spanner and then sliding them back and dropping the engine shaft down. They will then slide off.

What was the reasoning behind them needing to be replaced?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

P.S. Whilst driving out the old inner crosses can be done at home, it is nicer to use a press to push them out sometimes, as they can be quite stiff to drive out.

Have a go of course, but if they prove to difficult to move, take them to a mechanic shop to have them pressed out.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

thanks, do i need to remove the drive shaft as it says in the manual to do that?

i found that the all the nuts were loose on one of the Uni joints upon having a look at them after the roadworthy...

i didn't ask.. they told me the uni joints need replacing so thats what i am looking at doing..

yeah it happens that they loosen themselves from time to time. This may have been the source of all the movement and it's also good that you spotted it as it may have completely come away! In fact, that may have been the whole problem.
Might help if you replace the nuts with nyloc nuts or add a little loctite to keep them done up.

After that, test them by rocking the lifted car wheel back and forth with the other wheel on the ground or locked somehow.

If the uni joints have excessive play, the wheel will turn through a decent gap of say a few centimeters and you will see the movement in the inner cross. If it only moves a little bit, and the backlash apears to come from an accumulation of other things between the wheel and the joint, then it may be fine. Check to see if there is a grease nipple on the inner cross while you are there (it may or may not have one), it might be worth a few squirts of grease if you can find one.

No you don't necessarily need to remove the drive shaft, but they can be a bugger at times, a large screw driver can help to pursuade things, as will undoing the engine mount bots to the subframe and moving the engine as you need to.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

The problem is i may not (novice) be able to gauge whether they'er sweet or need replacing, based on the amount of play i see. i have been thinking about this for about a week or so ,, not sure about just tightening the bolts and taking it back to the test centre,, bit pointless if fail again.

I'd tighten all the nuts and check them again, if any slack then they will need the joints replaced.
They are supposed to be nyloc nuts. Really, fitting 8 new ones is a good idea, they are less likely to loosen then.

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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.

K ibeen under the car... i'm going to put the bolts back on and have a go .. i have been turning the drive shaft on the side that is tightened up i cant really feel any play, if there is,.. its a couple of mm where the drive shaft goes into the g/box or engine. this is getting me a bit frustrated... cause it is pretty much nothing at all. might jack my brothers up and see what his is like..


if there is play should the wheel (when rocked back and forth in succession) make a small knock sound before the driveshaft actually turns with the wheel.

cheers

C/V joints develop slack with high mileage, mine are original 1972 Clubby GT ones and have a bit of slack. They should not fail you on this though.

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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.

The knock will probably be the pinion gears in the diff rocking back and forth as you do the same to the wheel. It's probably coming from inside the gearcase right? if so, don't worry about it.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

so far about 20 minutes it took me to slip out the UJ from the left side of the car,,, sortof jacked up the lower control arm and worked the UJ off.. the radiotor side is proving more difficult due to NO ROOM to remove UJ. Will finish this tomrrow may just remove the drive shaft to get at em... some of the rubbers need replacing so it may not hurt to do it.. cheers for all the advice.