Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) 4/4 Suspension Install - is this normal?

LONG. For tradsters only.

In my humble opinion, Sewin is spot on, ...again. He seems to make a happy habit of it. That is very good for all of us here. Let me sleuth with him. Forgive me as much of the following was written before his post. I am changing it a bit to reflect Sewin's thoughts.

Sewin's the simplest explanation and the most obvious at a glance. You have been given non-complimentary parts. . Your steering bearings (aka steering races) and spring length do not combine to give you the same front ride height. I can make no comment on comportment and cornering and I would need to know more (confirmed spring rates and lengths for mains and rebound) for conclusions on the latter but you will discover that as soon as you go for a long ride. I think your springs condition looks ok, aside from being a bit tiny bit distorted. As Sewin notes there are now a number manufacturer of such systems and their parts conflict. But why would an innocent dealer/installer buy parts of a system that must be cohesive from different sources?!

N.B. I stopped tracking MMC trad spring rates two decades ago when they began playing musical suspension components front and back after Bill Beck departed. I have noticed the lower rates have the later cars wallow in corners. It was odd to go to weaker springs rates as cars got heavier. I learned early on that we should all ask details of the products we use and keep old parts. Did you? We could measure them. The best quality springs usually have their rates printed on them. I use 140s..which the Works sells as the springs used on the original Plus 4 SS. These became the standard for the Plus 8s. (below)

A too long Main Spring will force the trad front upwards. We can check by you giving us a side view of the entire car. If we are right, it will now cant upwards. Personally, I think it might change its comportment and cornering but I have never experimented with non-matching parts. Everything else yes..but not that.

Peter Mulberry, my very favourite supplier (to me and the MMC when they ran into trouble) used to sell height-matching Main Springs with his system on request after explaining the consequences of keeping the same height Main Springs. Of course one could always have the nearest machine shop cut the existing ones down but I referred new. Incidentally, old or new, a spring rate is not affected by its overall length, only by compression. Peter shipped me my chosen rate in shorter main springs for all my Morgans with his bearing system. I do not know the current Mulfab. Their site shows they have stopped anodizing their bearings. A saving. Rumour also has it that they no longer offer Peter's shorter springs to compensate for ride height. Another saving. This likely makes their bearing system and springs the least expensive for dealers. If they used MMC Main Springs or others of the same length..they will be appr. 1" too long. It would also might explain both your new front end height and your dealer response to your concerns. Another BTW, my goto guy now is Cain Poulton. Very bright. Very honest. Worth waiting for unless you can find his stuff elsewhere. He also designs and fully understands his stuff. He is the best of this generation..though there are still a few of the older generation left.

For those who commented on the large size of the earlier blue covered Peter Mulberry system, which was the professional original of such systems in the UK, it is large because it is extremely strong. It uses and bigger ball bearings. Others use It also holds much more grease. They were/are great. I have never had to worry about them it as the Factory and others did/do theirs. They are as perfect as the day I installed them. I check from time to time. That being said, with graded hard chromes, bronze bushes on two cars and DEVOLs on another, I have not had to do my front ends again, for 26 years, and more than 300,000 kms and counting. Great as I with my mileage I used to have to do the job myself once a year on one car or another a year before that. Doing a trad front end gets much faster (2 leisurely hours rather than a day) with repetition, but there is nothing delightful about it. A good revenue source for the network that hard chromes ended.

In short, ask your guy who he bought his parts from and spring details?

Lorne

P.S. Sewin. Historically, the first conversion to telescopic shocks I know of was TOK. Of course there could be others. As you know, the community was once very hands-on. I was told that TOK mounted such shocks behind the axle (some how....) I have found many such surprises from the old Community. Rutherford products, like Peter's, are/were super ingenious. He helped me understand a lot. Like many of us, he did not always trust new things. He worried that the trad community was becoming prey.