Happy? Birthday

[Doug G]

To celebrate an entire year that my Mini Moke have been off the road 'under repair'.

Problem : The gear kept slipping out of second and the clutch felt like it was slipping.

In this time the Earth has managed to travel some 580,000,000 miles in it's orbit around the sun.

In all that time, distance and speed, sadly the mechanics here have been unable to sort out the problem.

The latest is :

'Oh the there is a clanging noise from in the engine."
Now finally (after I glean advice from various forums):

The following is discovered.
The remains of the bolt and locking washer. Apparently one or more 'mechanic(s)' tightened it with a hammer and a chisel.

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"Oh it needs two new CV joints."

"Oh it needs an engine top mount, and an engine bottom mount and a transmission mount."

Please note that these parts are requested one at a time several months apart.

Yet people criticise me for critiquing these 'mechanics'.

Some friends say I should do it all myself.
Yeah right.
If I were to follow that advice fully, I should therefore study medicine, become a doctor then a surgeon and then operate on my self for an inflamed appendix, etc.

[Doug G]

Please don't laugh.

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

Not laughing Doug….just shaking my head at the competence of the “mechanics”. It looks like you have to stand behind them all the time the mokes being worked on monitoring their actions.

[Doug G]

The A series Mini Moke engine is one of the simplest engines to work on . . . . . apart from the requirement of space and small hands, and I have large hands.

It seems that I have to stand there and ask them to explain why they are doing each operation.

Yes, I have watched numerous and various YouTube clips and visited forums on various Mini Moke issues.

I am beginning to suspect that they haven't a clue and/or swap parts for friends(I hope I am totally wrong).

[Doug G]

I now ask for a quotation before each operation, after one chap charged me (after the fact) about £300.00 to remove and replace the engine so another chap could replace the tie rods.

[Tim]

Oh for goodness sake Doug stop complaining and learn to do it yourself!

Tim

[Doug G]

Point acknowledged. I have taken to researching on how to do it, and other things, by looking at some very informative YouTube vids.

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

I feel the problem could be that when Tim and I were in our learning years a trip down the local scrapyard would provide plenty of cheap things to practice on, also the local small ads would be a source of a seemingly infinite supply of shed like minis to do likewise with. Those days are long gone….just try looking for anything that remotely resembles an A series engine on fleabay and you’ll feel the life draining form your wallet.

[Tim]

Sure, but I know from experience that when you live in an isolated backwater, not all of the services that are available in bigger populaces are available. It means that you tend to have to be able to do some of the stuff yourself, or pay stupid money to send it somewhere else to be done.

Tim

[Tim]

Doug, pulling an engine out isn't anywhere near as scary as you would think. One of the trickiest bits is the driveshaft couplings, but yours should have the universal joint style and they are the easiest. The rest is just about being systematic. Its worth investing in some lifting gear, either an endless chain or an engine crane.

Tim