Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Devol bushes

Chaps, my 2004 +4 was/ is fitted with Devol bushes.
I did not get much by way of history with the car as it was the factory prototype ( 1st Duratec engined Morgan ) and was maintained by the technical director Mark Aston.
The car has covered 53k miles, there is a bit of play on the near side K.pin but the off side is fine.
The Devol bushes - and if original have proved very hardy.
Having read with interest Dave W's splendid post on replacement of K.pins and other submissions , I note that the Devol bushes are not preferred and I wonder why?
The Devol bushes I understand do not require reaming and must be easier to replace.
Has any one got a view on this matter?
All the best
Tony

I have no experience of Devol bushes, but someone in the local MSCC tried to replace his kingpins and had very serious trouble getting the stub axles off the kingpins. The bushes seem to have a lot of grab, and if this is the case, it will stiffen both the suspension, and the ease of steering.
I suppose that the key question is why MMC didn't use them for longer.

Take a look here, Gerry.

An interesting article on the Vesconite bushing material. From what I can glean Vesconite is a Thermoplastic Polyester; I am assuming it is either PET (Polyethylene Tetraphthalate) or PEN (Polyethylene Naphthalate) as the melting temperature is 260C, but possibly more likeley to be a filled PET. The standard Vesconite has MoS2 as the solid lubricant while the HiLube product contains PTFE as the solid lubricant hence the manufacturers comments about no requirement to lubricate the bushes although as stated in the article a bit of grease wil do no harm.
One other product which would be a good replacement Thermoplastic bearing material for bushes would be the bearing grade of PEEK (Polyetheretherketone). This is an expensive product compared to most Thermoplastics but is generally considered the Rolls Royce of Thermoplastics.

Hi I also have 2004 +4, built at the same time as yours.
I spent quite some time working with the MMC & bush material. The main problems we found with the blue DEVOL bushes, which are nylon 66 not high molecular weight polyethylene.
being nylon the do absorb water so swell when wet, causing the steering & suspension to stiffen. the 2nd problem was with the design of the bush having a lip machined top & bottom creating a chamber that trapped grit etc and created a grinding paste that wore away the kingpin.

We developed a tested an alternative using Acetel filled with PTFE & silicone lubricants. this has been very successful on my car & also on a Morgan used for MCC trials.

MMC however decided to return to using Bronze bushes.

Very interesting

So the question now is who is going to offer an off the shelf Vesconite Hi Lube bush kit?

A once in a lifetime replacement of bushes and kingpins seems an attractive proposition.

Ianc,
Where did you acquire the Acetel bushes?
Are you able to recommend them and when fitting do they require reaming?
All the best
Tony

Hi Tony,
My company Charlesworth & Son are plastic moulders and we supply Morgan with their plastic parts. I always worry about posting on forums as I don't want to be seen to be advertising & breaking forum rules.

The bushes are designed to be reamed after fitting, to allow for variations in the ID of the tube.

feel free to contact me direct if you want to.

Ian