Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Reference - Steering Damper Blades.

I've just got round to cleaning up the damper blades which I removed over winter to fit steering bearings. I thought it might help the understanding of those who don't DIY to post some pictures.

First the nearside as fitted - looking forward.
Right to left (ignoring the jar!) first is the thrust collar which is "bronze"...ish. Then comes the alloy drop link - these are very nicely made and clean up to look like new.
Finally is the blade itself. This is spring steel, and since there is little corrosion may even be stainless. The inner end is roughly finished and there are two distinct wear marks where it locates inside the sandwich plate on the chassis.


Now the offside, with much less wear evident. The bolts are 7/16"AF - UNF thread with a shank length of 2.5".


This is the top side of the collars where the bottom of the spring sits.


This is the underside. You can see the witness marks where the drop spacers were located. The stub axle assembly tube fits through the hole, and rotates against the collar. The rotational wear is very clear.


And this shot shows the thickness of the collars. They are substantial.


Finally, a close up of the wear......
In each photo the nearside blade is on the right.




The ends of the blades locate on the chassis and are held by two rectangular plates.........which allow the blade to slide in and out to accommodate suspension movement.
Ignore the piece of neoprene, that's what I used to seal the slot on the car when I removed the blades. Note that the two odd shaped washers have an enlarged hole. This allows them to be adjusted tight up against the blade, and you should periodically do this adjustment if your Morgan has damper blades. Replacing the blades with new is simply a matter of removing the two bolts through the alloy spacer, then slackening the adjusting nuts on the chassis brackets. The blade will then pull out. Fit the new blade, tighten the spacer bolts first, then the adjuster nuts. It is much easier with the weight of the car on the wheels. Beware that on older cars, there is a distinct possibility that the bolts may have corroded inside the alloy spacers, so you may need new bolts and spacers, and may have a degree of trouble removing the old ones. This is nothing that a competent DIYer can't handle!

From right to left? You post the photo from the wrong side?

Good shots - shows how wear can affect the stability of the steering.

Cheers

Trust you to notice the lack of logic.......

Dave I was intrigued by your well detailed (as usual) article on steering damper blades, because I thought your roadster like mine is a more recent production example and therefore has the blue race bearing. What year did Morgan change. I have included a picture of Kieth a couple of weeks ago at BHM illustrating how to lubricate either version of king pin.

David

Mine is a 2005, so with damper blades originally. The changeover came probably at 2007, but with Morgan it's never that clear cut......
The first owner of my car was so concerned about the steering that he had later stub axles fitted after an exchange with the Factory - he had to pay by the way. Later stubs level the track rods and eliminate bump steer. But he kept the damper blades.
When changing the kingpins on a car of my vintage it makes sense to fit steering bearings, so that's what I did.

Dave very interesting thanks. I have looked up my roadsters registration date(with the changes installed) and its 24/10/06----so its possible I suppose that autumn 2006 was the start date of change over. I remember Kieth saying the same as you that at Morgan nothing is that definite (or did he say simple?starightforward )---change happens only when the old stock is used up ( which from a business view point is totally correct) but it does make documentation "interesting" lets say

Is it only the Roadster that has the race bearings? My 4/4 hasn't.

My 2009 Plus4 has!!

I'm off out to crawl under my car!

Well I've come out from under the car.....! There are no damper blades and what looks like a race bearing. I was looking for a blue one originally which threw me...mine is black.