Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing AVO Shocks

Hi

I am checking out my AVO shocks and cannot detect any difference in feel by hand when they are off the car. The amount of resistance is the same at either end of the adjustment.

Is this correct and testing by hand is just not powerful enough ??.


Also can folks advise me on what settings they use on their AVO shocks.

Thanks

Chris

zero at the rear and zero at the front on a 4/4 sport.

Sounds odd to me Chris, I have Konis, which are almost impossible to move by hand when set to their hardest. Gerry.

I think the job they are supposed to do is on the rebound not the downward pressure so you should be checking the resistance to pull back out again not the pressure down. (I think)

Unless they are double acting...

Chris,

Regarding AVO settings there is another interesting thread on GAZ shock settings started by Peter (Gambalunga) in this area of TM. What you set them to is down to personal preference, I'm currently using 2 clicks at the front and 1 click at the rear on AVOs fitted to a 2005 Plus 4.

There is also some information on the GoMog site. They recommend, for the so called "Rutherford AVOs", zero clicks front and rear. But, for me, this begs the question why bother with adjustables?

Regarding the condition of your shocks, I have not had the AVOs off my Morgan, and can only speak from experience with some Spax adjustable coil over dampers. I had a pair of "tired" dampers I took off the car. I could open and close them very easily by hand through the initial part of the operating range, virtually no effort needed. Beyond this they needed quite considerable effort by hand, but would move steadily. Replacing them made an incredible difference to the cars handling.

Re your question as to whether the adjusters make any difference to hand operation. The shock absorber "valves" are designed to control the damper fluid movement between the internal chambers to control the change of the position of the damper piston. The external adjuster on the AVOs alters the "valves" relative resistance to internal damper fluid movement between the chambers thus adjusting the rate of change of the shocker piston to a particular load. The higher the number of clicks on the adjuster, the "tighter" the "valves" setting, and the greater the shock resistance to movement. So, I would expect that there should be some discernible difference to the effort needed by hand, particularly at the high click settings.

Finally, most non-adjustable shock absorbers are built by the manufacturers with a fixed ratio for the "valves" resistance between bump (compression) and rebound (extension). This is also true for the single adjuster shocks such as the AVO and GAZ dampers popularly fitted to Morgans. These ratios vary, typically where the bump resistance is equal to rebound resistance (1:1) through to bump resistance being a quarter the bump resistance (1:4) depending on intended use (e.g. road or track). I don't know what the AVOs are built to, but they are probably a typical road set up of 1:2 or similar. If you alter the clicks setting you are adjusting the resistance to both the bump and rebound rates. So, when you make adjustments it will always be a compromise between the bump rate you want and the rebound rate you want, and between comfort and control. The exception to this is for the far more expensive race shockers that have separate bump and rebound rate adjustment screws.

Hope this is useful, MZ

For me the konis are softer at the rear than the avos set on zero.
Now i run with konis at the rear and avo at the front (set at zero).I find it is still too hard.I still dont have the answer what happend when the lowering block at the rear is removed.My dealer
is going to the factory in november and will ask the question.

Hi Chris

I started with 0 clicks front and rear when I purchased my 2009 4/4 in August and found that the front bottomed out alarmingly. Then set to 4 front and 0 rear, much better but have just set to 6 front and 2 rear (pass side only at mo as I cant get to driver side due to exhaust pipe - will try again tomorrow for drivers side as I have a bit more time for arm contortions tomorrow). Probably will go back to 4 on front, but it's interesting seeing how the car tackles the same road-repair bumps with the various setting.

Cheers

Jezza / Jeremy

Should I feel guilty about 12/10 front/rear on my 4 seater? The fillings (in my teeth) are still there. cheers, Colin

Based on mine it all seems to be personal preference. General advice I was given was softest setting at rear and whatever suits at the front. I am currently on the softest on the front and find them fine.