11 replies to this topic

[mattyMPi]

Hi there,

Got the most annoying squeaking rear drivers side suspension. It started intermittently on bigger bumps now after a lovely bank hol weekend trip to the Lake District with all its undulating roads it's pretty much constant unless the road is ultra smooth. I can only describe it as an ultra loud old-school pram squeak. Tried listening to it whilst bouncing the car but it doesn't really work that well so I can't pip-point where its coming from. Took it to the garage and he said he thought it'd be the arm with the rubber cone on the end - but he also said it was hydrolastic suspension which worried me as I thought that was something on early mini's? I've read through loads of threads and heard lots about nipples, I'd love to grease these nipples but where are they located and can I buy the correct grease from Halfords? I also read about worn nuckles, are these the joints on the opposite end of the rod to the rubber cones?

thanks for any help for someone who isn't very clued up as yet on the technicals

cheers

Matt

[pinch]

could be a few things, radius arm needs greasing, tired damper, exhaust moving about i guess....... best thing to do while you are in halfords looking for grese, is buy a haynes manual and it will tell you where to grease, there's 2 grease nipples on the rear suspension, and 6 on the front.

[pantera2075]

It could be quite a few different things:

Grease point for what I think you are refering to a a knuckle is on the top of the cast rear suspension trailing arm towards the main pivot on the subframe. Any grease is better than nothing! Haynes will tell you the recommended.

I think your Haynes manual will point you in the right direction for the others.

alternatively, it could be your rear tyre catching something - damper etc.

Or it could be the damper itself, just take it off and take a 2 min drive to try this.

Or it could be the rubber donut moving against the end of the trumpet slightly.

[mattyMPi]

Just to add to what I wrote, put the car up on garage ramps so the wheels were for want of a better word dangling, tried pushing up on the good side on the rear and almost immediately it offered resistance, then tried the bad side and could pretty much push the wheel up to the level the wheel is at when the car is sat on the ground. The mechanic thought it was the radius arm but confessed to not being overly familiar with mini's and it's suspension.

Looking at the car from the rear I think the bad side is looking a little odd, almost like the wheel is leaning outwards from bottom to top.

Not sure if that gives any more clues.. obviously something is amiss.

[mattyMPi]

It could be quite a few different things:

Grease point for what I think you are refering to a a knuckle is on the top of the cast rear suspension trailing arm towards the main pivot on the subframe. Any grease is better than nothing! Haynes will tell you the recommended.

I think your Haynes manual will point you in the right direction for the others.

alternatively, it could be your rear tyre catching something - damper etc.

Or it could be the damper itself, just take it off and take a 2 min drive to try this.

Or it could be the rubber donut moving against the end of the trumpet slightly.

Thanks guys, I think my first step is to invest in the haynes and clue myself up a bit, do the greasing and see what happens. Although now I think from my latest findings something needs replacing. Hopefully it is not the radius arm as I see they cost around £100 for a recon one, if its the dampers I don't mind so much as I may look at upgrading at the same time and feel a benefit from my spendings )

[pantera2075]

That sounds like radius arm bearings. Wear is pretty common.

[pantera2075]

For this sort of job, an old Haynes will do the trick. Mine was 99p off ebay and was only a mile away so I picked it up.

[mattyMPi]

It could be quite a few different things:

Grease point for what I think you are refering to a a knuckle is on the top of the cast rear suspension trailing arm towards the main pivot on the subframe. Any grease is better than nothing! Haynes will tell you the recommended.

I think your Haynes manual will point you in the right direction for the others.

alternatively, it could be your rear tyre catching something - damper etc.

Or it could be the damper itself, just take it off and take a 2 min drive to try this.

Or it could be the rubber donut moving against the end of the trumpet slightly.

Thanks guys, I think my first step is to invest in the haynes and clue myself up a bit, do the greasing and see what happens. Although now I think from my latest findings something needs replacing. Hopefully it is not the radius arm as I see they cost around £100 for a recon one, if its the dampers I don't mind so much as I may look at upgrading at the same time and feel a benefit from my spendings )

Would this be a new radius arm jobbie?

[pantera2075]

Catch it quick enough and you can just replace the bushes - but they do need to be reamed at a machine shop after fitting. The pin that it fits onto sounds like it might be a bit bent too.

[nomininolife]

Worn radius arm bushes/pin, would only give sideways movement not vertical movement.

When I have had a squeak at the rear, replacing the knuckle joint has cured it, but the lack of resistance is generally either the cone or the shock absorber that is weak.




David

[Wally]

Hello. Well, just tagging on... I've got the worst (and gradually getting "worser") squeaking noise coming from the front of my 1986 City. The only thing I could come up with was that the front suspension was playing up. So, after resorting to the trusty Haynes, I went out and got me a grease gun and some Lithium-based grease. Then, after reading these posts, I'm quite certain that it is in fact lack of lubrication that has been causing all the noise in the front! So, that's my next-weekend project! Hopefully that will take care of it. I'm also going to check out the radius arms bushes. Cheers, Mates!

[Gyser]

Any updates on this? Got exactly the same problem and wondering what your solution was?