8 replies to this topic

[mk=john]

Hi
I have just replaced the engine into my 1960 mini mnor, it is an early 848cc engine. Anyway, the car has the rubber drive couplings, and the U-bolts which holds it all together.
At the moment, the ball joint tapered shanks on both upper suspension arms are released, as are the drive shafts from the engine. (The couplings are attatched to the driveshafts, but not the engine)

I am finding it very difficult to centre the inner side of each rubber coupling on the differential output shafts, and it seems near impossible to do this and insert the upper ball joint shanks in place at the same time.

Does anyone have any suggestions which can make things easier...what is the most proven method?

Thanks
John

[minimender]

Sometimes the couplings have swelled with oil contamination and are very difficult to get back on.

[mk1leg]

Hi..have you refitted old coupings or are they new if new clamp to g/box end first than with an aid of a trolley jack jack up under hub and locate drive shaft into coupling and atach uclamps....................good luck.................

[mk=john]

Hi
They are the old ones which i want to reattatch, but I dont know how old they are. Should I get new ones? If not, whats the best advice to re-attatch the old ones?

Thanks

[dklawson]

Follow Mk1leg's advice for the assembly order. Attach the coupling to the gearbox output yokes first, then use a jack to lift the driveshaft/arm up as he suggested.

You may be able to find the rubber inner joints still. Both they and the QH-5000 replacements are very rare over here these days. Were I you and I was considering buying anything, I'd be watching eBay for new-old-stock QH-5000s. If they don't show up, check with junk yards for used QH-5000 joints. All you want is for the QH-5000 nylon cups to be intact. You can buy driveshaft u-joints for a Triumph TR-6 and use them to replace the metal bits in the QH-5000. (The cups simply press in and out). This would give you a serviceable upgrade that you can maintain for years... and one that's immune to leaking engine oil.

[mk=john]

Well, today I decided to purchase new rubber coupling sets, from minispares which i hope to fir today. Anyway, is there any kind of torque setting for the nuts? I guees not as they are nylock nuts, but then do I just tighten as far as the nuts will go?

If I fix the coupling to the gearbox side first, and jacking up the hub to out the other side on, will this cause problems as the upper arm ball joints have been released?

Thanks

[dklawson]

The QL-5000s come with torque setting values. However... I think that's the biggest load of carp.

As you stated, the couplings come with u-bolts and nyloc nuts. The torque value specified is largely consumed by the torque required to overcome the resistance of the nylon inserts in the nuts. FROM MEMORY, the QL-5000s call for 10 ft-lb of torque. (Haynes says 8-12 ft-lb for the u-bolts on rubber joints). IF you fit regular nuts with flatwashers, lockwashers, and Loctite... that value should work. If you fit the nyloc nuts you can try to use the 10 ft-lb value but I've never trusted that and go for "good and snug" with the final torque applied using a box end spanner.

by the way, I keep calling the parts QH-5000s because they were made by Q&H... they are actually "QL-5000s". See this link and you'll have an idea how dear they can be:
http://www.7ent.com/....cfm?pageid=839
Like I said earlier, if the new rubber/metal joints you order wear out, keep your eye open for a set of good used QL-5000s. They can be rebuilt many times and probably for less than you paid for the new rubber/metal joints.

[mk=john]

Hi DK
Thanks for that. Well, I will be on the lookout for the QH-5000 set of rubber inserts, but just to let you know I successfully installed the couplings, bit of a nightmare but I did what was suggested...mounting the gearbox side forst, and then jacking up the hubs so the driveshafts were horizontal. That then gave me room to play with to install the other u-bolts.

Thanks for all the help, but I am going to keep all your advice on this to hand....also thanks everyone else, it was very helpful.

John

[Guess-Works.com]

You want these

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