Anyone remember three wheel mini?

A member on here. Friends with Aurilio in Tampa?

Cheers. Peter

So sir Alec when your nuts all fell out and you nearly died, I'm glad there was no photographer at the scene - might have been nasty to see on the Interwebs.  Glad you only forgot one wheel......whew

Also greasing them lets you put on slightly more pressure and you are even safer that way and they don't rust.  I would go around and check them at least once a month from now on.

Nobster, I've had more photographs of me torquing up wheel nuts published, than you have done up wheel nuts...

If you take the time to read your copy of HBOL, you'll ntice that they quote torque figures in Nm as well as lbft.

Here's a tip for you

Alec just use the old torque wrench on it,,, the setting is 45lbft American.  In England I think that is 5kg, I don't know everythnig so could be wrong there, i think you're in England.  I am liking this Haynes manual - torque settings for everything, I need to hit every nut on this thing now.

Without the right torque the studs will back out when the nuts loosen.  Don't feel bad I have had friends lose wheels too. it can happen to anybody not just you but they were teenagers and it was on a John Deere tractor after a 24-pack of Coors.  We are all learning new stuff every day, you give me a tip and i give one back lol.

 

Those of you who were at MME in 2010 will remember the shell-shocked look on our faces as Jim, Suzy and I arrived very late.

Long story short was losing 4 out of 5 wheel studs on the back of the old M-M pickup while coming down the Smokey mountains.
The wheel fell off crossing the gas station forecourt as we stopped to inspect the funny noise...

Could have been worse, back about 1971/72 I was dating a stone fox. My Cooper S broke down at her house. I called dad and he picked me up and we borrowed a trailer. It was night and neither of us noticed the ball size. The safety chain was a open hook type. Going down hill on a 6 lane devided I looked in drivers the side rear view to see trailer had jumped off and pulled into the center lane and was coming around me. I followed it till it jumped the curb climbed a guy wire and flipped unside down. Being a single axle no fenders home built little harm. It was after midnight but several peope came out to see what all the noise was about. As luck would have it we flipped the trailer back over and someone leant us a wrench and larger trailer ball and we went and picked up my mini. I was so glad it happen unloaded. Never again without checking ball size and using closed links on safety chain. Steve (CTR)

Never even once, have I heard an American call that a reef knot... There is a different name for it over here... Methinks you are letting your guard down lol

hey we all do dumb things at 17, at least i knew how to tie a knot try this,,,,a reef knot, works really good, doesn't force your trailer axles to break and you live much longer...take my advice my friend

You obviously didnt read my post Robster? The car stayed on the trailer still strapped on perfectly!! It was the broken stub axle on the trailer that did us in..........Well that and a rusty A60............

Yes the racer did have a cage and did live to race another day...........Just not that day............

And I would add I was only 17 at the time now I know better................................I think...

minimiss there are many good books online to see how to properly strap and tie cars down.  i have seen this before in manila usually with drinking involved and you are sure not the only guy... . you can pm me and i can send some instruction manuals.  you have to take care in life or theese things happen.

Minimans,

That's a horrible story!

I take it there was a cage or roll bar installed in your race Mini, so how did the body hold up?

Towing the race car home one night on a single axle trailer we saw a wheel overtake us on the right side! next thing was a bang as the rust gave way on my austin A60 tow car and watching the race car still strapped to the trailer doing a barrell roll in the rear view mirror...........................The trailer still had the tow bar and rear chassis attachment from the poor A60 still attached, luckily it was a deserted road and we didnt kill anybody....................................

CC so it's not just my imagination that my rear shoes are misadjusted to cause this.  Since the car fishtails to the left, can't tell which wheel would be locking up first to cause it.  But after several adjustment sessions, your post is telling me adjustment is not the cause.

Yes, I think Mr. Hunter has posted before about the 5/8" cylinder and I gotta do that.

6464, your front tie rod story is my worst nightmare and I think somebody here drilled theirs and put a cotter pin through it, gotta do that too.

Tow Dolly with a mini on the back. Bringing it home, kept feeling a shove like I had been bumped when I would pull away or come to a stop. Tightened the straps several times.

At the stop sign in the middle of Windermere I pulled away after stopping and the mini went the other direction. Dolly straps were defective! I changed them regularly as they would wear on the hubs of the minis.

I had to cross a very busy road to get to my town. Had it come off crossing that intersection things could have been very bad.

Peter

Jeremy had two 180's in the wet, in heavy morning traffic going through Port Moody on the way to Simon Fraser University 20 odd years ago...did not touch anyone/anything but was facing the wrong direction.

We quickly installed 5/8"/0.625" diameter rear wheel cylinders to go with the S brakes up front, as the rear cylinders for drum brake setups will see lockup given their larger bore diameter with discs up front.

I've told my "coulda been worse" story before but it is worth repeating as a warning. On two occasions at the same stop light at the bottom of a moderate hill I 'looped' my S while braking hard for an amber light. Both times were early in the morning little traffic but on the 2nd occasion I've often wondered what the guy coming down the hill thought when he saw me facing the wrong way toward him. After the 1st one I changed both rear cylinders and shoes and had a look at the brake bias valve that looked perfectly OK. After the 2nd one I replaced the brake bias valve and it hasn't happened since although I might now be leary about slamming on the barkes. There was nothing obviously wrong with the valve.

Same thing years ago...wifey was really PO'd when I said we were not going to see the tulips in Washington State.  Just before I got to the garage the right front tie-rod backed out of the ear on the subframe.  Fortunatekly I was doing nearly zero mph.  No damage, new double nuts...could have been a lot worse.

The OZ tie-rods on the Van were drilled for snap rings so the nuts could not back off.  Of course I had to replace them with on car HD ajustable ones...with a little Locktitie on the outboard nuts.

September is my work on the mini month. I put in new coil springs (front and rear) and did not have the proper size wrench to tighten the diagonal tie rod nuts. I finished my install and have been using the mini. I'm travelling on a fairly heavy traffic 2 lane road doing about 50 to 55 mph. There is a empty dumpster hauling truck about 100 feet in front of me. No dumpster on truck. I began to hear  something hit the wheel wells. I did think of nuts, but I buried my head in the sand and said it must be  debris coming from the truck. I must have travelled 2 miles, no problems on the curvy road. came to a stop light , reduced speed and then the mini started to pull to the left. I corrected by turning the steering to the right and stepping on the brake. The mini violently turn to the left , I immediately let up on the brake pedal and coasted to the shoulder. Coulda been alot worse.