You guys rock!

The discs were there. Just replaced the rotors and pads. 

Sound about right?

Seems like your alignment is way out with the tire wear you have noticed which will make the car drive really weird.
Yes the washer gets pushed in when torqued and 150 lbs should not affect it but i would jack the car up and check for looseness and re check the settings.
Yes the rear track of all Mini's is less than the front.
Is this a conversion from drums to discs or just a re build of the already installed disc front end?

If you have stock (non-vented) 8.4" disks on the front, you should have drums with built-in spacers on the back. Read the blurb in the link. You should have drums something like those in the image.

Spacered drums

There is also some chop on the new tires (rub one way and its slick, rub the other way and its grippy).

ALSO

Is it common for the rear wheels of a mini to be closer together than the front tires...like 2"

Soooo....I torqued the castle nuts down last night. On a test drive, the car seemed to "walk" all over the place at 60mph and had a wheel shake at 30mph. I did also find that the tires are toed in too much. 

Two questions:
1) can it being toed in too much cause a shake? What can it cause. (new ball joints, bearings, cones, trumpets, tires, and knuckles)
2) Does that tapered crush washer get pushed in a little when the castle gets torqued? I just get nervous with 150lb of torque. 

And that is a perfect example of why the 188 lbs-ft figure is wrong.

My friend stepped on the brake pedal and I torqued mine to about 154lbs then did the rotating to get the pin and holes to line up.  Wasn't too bad.  But to get the driver's side off I had to use a 7ft fence pole as the breaker bar and even it was tough.

I was lucky to get mine to 150 lbs. (arm strength)  . maybe I needed a 4 ft extension on my wrench 

150lbs for both styles of disc CV joint !!

Torquing the single hole CV to 188 lbs-ft is a really really bad idea and was suspected of being the primary cause of several failures once the nut was turned to the next hole to get the split pin in.
With two holes, the most the nut needs to be turned to get the split pin in is 30° but with a single hole it is 60° - the difference in applied torque is massive.

nkerr,

Also thanks for the write-up and right on for the minis.

But for clarification None of the type of American car bearings you are referring to ever crushed the bearings under any kind of nut torque other than to seat the components if you're doing it that way you're doing it wrong, however, I have seen many people set them up and do just that.

To the contrary properly set up they have less drag than any of the preloaded systems in use in modern cars with a spacer like the mini but you can't really use the old system with a FWD axle that needs held in so were stuck with a higher drag system.
The old style should never ever be more than finger tight and some call for backing off even more. The problem is people only read the manual to the part about the torque to seat the bearings and don't back them off.

They are still in use on the front end of many RWD foreign and American cars/trucks and almost all semi trucks, trailers , heavy vehicles of any origin, on all the axles and last for many 100s of thousands of miles if not for  a million on the big stuff. Bottom line anyone applying any large amount of torque and leaving it on a no spacer wheel bearing system is doing it wrong and it will ruin the bearings, cause excess drag, heat, force out the grease. Why anyone would do this is beyond me but we see it a few times a year at the shop often done by so called mechanics of all people. 

//www.timken.com/EN-US/solutions/automotive/aftermarket/lightduty/TechTips/Documents/Vol2Iss1_Proper_Tapered_Bearing_Settings_English.pdf

Keep in mind the above has no place on a mini just posted for info on other cars.

Jeff

This should be underneath the castellated nut
//www.minimania.com/part/FAM9270/Austin-Mini-Outer-Tapered-Collar-For-Disc-Brakes

and nkerr, thanks for such a thorough write up. You rock.

Ignore my last post...got it!

I just replaced the bearings. What you're saying is that the castle nut is not putting a load on the bearings?

I think i'm missing something. I don't know what the cone is. There is nothing in front of the castle nut...just the threads for the hub.

Also, when I google information about castle nuts, many people say tighten it lightly with a socket, then back it off a quarter turn, then insert the cotter pin. Is the process different on minis?

oops, forgot to add: there is a steel column between the bearings so this huge torque will NOT introduce side load into them.

The torque is necessary to put the stub axle into tension. The complete assembly greatly increases the strength of the system.

This is completely opposite of typical American iron, where the bearings are simply "crushed" by the castle nut, and as a result those require regular cleaning, re-greasing and re-torqueing, as they wear from the load, and also have a lot of mpg wasting drag.

The BMC "free turning" bearing design is longer lasting and more efficient. Also, most modern cars (all makers) have hub bearings like the mini's, though they usually come in a rather expensive hub bearing assembly so all of the tolerances can be controlled by the maker more easily.

N

OK, 8.4 discs use the third value: Later disc drive shaft with single hole 188 foot pounds

Note that this torque is applied without the cone installed (a large, thick washer must be used in its place), then carefully remove the nut, the washer and put the cone in and re-torque to the same value, then install the cotter pin.

The process is described in the Haynes manual.

N

My bad. I have 8.4" discs in the front, drums in the rear.

Yes, very odd and dangerous.
An 86 is later and I do not know enough about the different models and time frames to say if you have drums or discs.
And someone could have changed to discs as well.

A picture will help.

Hey, sorry, not enough info.

1986 Chelsea. I don't know what that is MK1 or Mk2?

Sorry for my ignorance. 

A mechanic I spoke to said he would only hand tighten the castles so they didn't destroy the bearings....seemed odd.

Believe there are three values
Drums are 60 foot pounds
Early disc drive shaft  with two holes for pins 150 foot pounds
Later disc drive shaft with single hole 188 foot pounds

from Blue Haynes