8 replies to this topic

[benspickup2011]

Ive got some drive shafts in my garage. There off a mini but have big UJ's on the gearbox end. What are they, are they better than pot joints and what are they worth? cheers ben

[Cooperman]

They are from the Cooper 'S' and early Mini Automatic.
The UJ's themselves are still available, but the diff output shafts are getting very rare now. Do you have the gearbox and diff assembly?
In actual fact, they are probably not as good as the later pot joints, but anyone with a Mk 1, 2 or 3 Cooper 'S' would be very interested.

Edited by Cooperman, 22 February 2011 - 06:21 PM.

[benspickup2011]

Ive got the old engine that cameout my mk1 mini that they came in and the output shafts match. I was going to keep with pot joints in my pickup and prob will due to the effort and cost of changing whats already been re-builtand powder coated. One day i'd like a 998 cooper mk2. Would they have them? I'm assuming they were a old school upgrade to those rubber cross things like whats on my Wolsey Hornet. I'll prob never use them! Cheers Ben

[Cooperman]

Ive got the old engine that cameout my mk1 mini that they came in and the output shafts match. I was going to keep with pot joints in my pickup and prob will due to the effort and cost of changing whats already been re-builtand powder coated. One day i'd like a 998 cooper mk2. Would they have them? I'm assuming they were a old school upgrade to those rubber cross things like whats on my Wolsey Hornet. I'll prob never use them! Cheers Ben

They were only fitted to the 'S' and Auto from early 1966 onwards. If you have the gearbox it with those outputs it should be the closer ratio Cooper 'S' box and, therefore, worth a bit.
A 998 Cooper always had the rubber cross-type couplings, which, as you know, were not very good, but if you do get a 998, that 'box and couplings would be excellent. UJ re-build kits are easily available.
If you want to sell it........ (PM me)

[Dan]

I'm assuming they were a old school upgrade to those rubber cross things

Depends what you have. Can you post a photo? The Hardy Spicer joints were traditional UJs that were fitted as standard to some models as said above. You might have those, you might however also have joints that were made and sold to replace the rubber couplings and fit to the same rubber coupling members. These were much bigger UJs with Nylon cups at the ends to connect to the original you-bolts.

[Cooperman]

I'm assuming they were a old school upgrade to those rubber cross things

Depends what you have. Can you post a photo? The Hardy Spicer joints were traditional UJs that were fitted as standard to some models as said above. You might have those, you might however also have joints that were made and sold to replace the rubber couplings and fit to the same rubber coupling members. These were much bigger UJs with Nylon cups at the ends to connect to the original you-bolts.

I once tried some of those nylon couplings. I dropped the clutch in at the start of a special stage on concrete, there was a bang, no drive, and bits of nylon and needle rollers all over the start line! Game over!!

[benspickup2011]

LOL. You get what you pay for i guess. These ones have the proper UJ's like on a land rover propshaft. Cheers Ben

[bmcecosse]

The 'better' replacements for the rubber cross couplings had STEEL cups. Never had any problems with them!

[MRA]

I have some with aluminium bearing cups, not sure where they even came from, however they had been fitted to a 997 Cooper I had, 1 or 2 years ago

But the Hardy Spicers, do have an inherent problem.... on a landrover where yo uhave a propshaft with 2 UJ's they are at 90 degrees to each other, ie one yoke is at 0 degree's and the other is at 90 degree's this is a good thing because the natural action of this type of joint (Hooke's joint) means that you get cyclic variations in the driveshaft speed, now when you have 2 as you would on a landrover for instance the 2nd UJ cancels out this variation with the opposite sine wave curve, you get smoothness, on a Mini however you only have the one so as little as it may be you will get some sine wave (velocity) variation in both of the driveshafts, this may not be noticed, however it will be there, a pair of Birfield joints (ie later Pot joint and the outer CV) will give you a much smoother drive.