Here i was just plodding away putting the engine in one of my clubbies when i find that the passengers side driveshaft wont fit in the pot joint. The drivers side is fine. Are there different sized pots out there?
When i had a closer look it seems like the cage for the ball bearings is too big, it will not fit even without the bearings.

What gives? or isn't?
And yes the pot was cleaned out & greased before attempted assembly.

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Weird Are you sure the shaft is off a Mini? Try measuring the diameter of the cage and compare & contrast with the driver's side. As far as I know, there's only one sized pot joint for the Mini, but i could be wrong.
Working on cars at 1.49am is not good for you!

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

It looks like any other mini shaft i've seen.
The motor that was in this car went into another car no problems.
I'll check the pot for roundness later. Right now i'm really over it.

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yup, there are different sizes. not sure when/where it happens, but there are different sizes. good luck

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

Hmm very interesting. My guess is it's the pots.
Time to yank the motor again.

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Yea, or you can change the pot in situ if your lazy like me! whats the engine out of? i think morris/austin(ado16) 1000's and metros have smaller pots....
somones put the wrong type in one side

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

I'll measure it up before i go chasing the person i bought it off. I'm sure he'd have a spare.

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Just beware if you pull the pot off with a full sump, it won't be full for long!

100% there are at least two sizes for the pots and cages, I think the balls are a different size too! The bigger cage won't even fit in the pot, even without the balls if I recall correctly.

Already had that covered



Exactly the problem i have. Either i have odd sized driveshafts or pots.

Time to get greasy again.

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The drive shafts are the same (pot joint dirve shafts), just the pot, the cage and I'll call it the inner cage that goes on the end of the driveshaft.

Don't forget you can use some gladwrap to hold the balls in the cage when fitting them, it breaks down safely. (someone had this in another post).

Check the other side for movement to ensure you don't have mixed sizes - the small cage in the big pot and vice versa.

Ok heres the scoop. When the shafts get re-conditioned they put a larger cage on with and bore the pot out and re-harden it.
So i had a reconditioned driveshaft that came with the car and original pot that came on an engine i bought elswhere.
I went and visited Matt Read who had a suitable pot to replace mine.

All info courtesy of Matt Read. Champion bloke.

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