Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing AVO Shock absorbers

Machine Mart are a good source of reasonable price tools, ratchet ring spanners can be very useful on shocker nuts as they don't need to be overtightened (you should just be able to rotate the top rubbers by hand)

Thanks Arwyn, I'll go with Halfords as they are local and have stock.

Thanks Jon, I went with Halfords as they are local. useful tip about the top rubbers, much appreciated.

I have AVO Rutherford adjustable shocks front and rear and dont have a problem with bottoming out. Mine were from Tim Ayers at New Elms and are easy to fit yourself.

Well yesterday I managed to fit new AVO adjustable dampers and Brake Reaction Bars, all by myself. It went well as a result of all the good advice offered up. JohnV6's tip about the folding card to mark where to drill the chassis for the BRB was great as was Simon Hall's advice on supporting the kingpin plate from below and so it all went without incident. My signature foolishness kicked in as I discarded the large washer that holds the lower damper bush in place thinking that the small washer would be sufficient, a test drive showed the bush migrating off it's shaft and so up went the car and on went the large washer. Despite Nigel's note I also managed to fit one of them the wrong way obscuring the grease nipple, but I'm an old hand now and that was swapped around in no time at all.

Another couple of drives were made to decide what settings to adjust the dampers to and I have settled on 2 clicks up from zero for now, Zero was a little soft and 4 clicks up was a little firm. The AVO dampers really work well and demonstrated what the trad Morgan suspension was capable of, the front end seems to be better integrated with the back end, the car is less troubled by potholes and rough surfaces and feels more comfortable - a BIG win.

I would say that fitting the BRBs has made at least the same improvement and perhaps more so. the steering has tightened up and the accuracy improved by a good measure, the car feels more confident over rougher surfaces and under braking, the understeer on lift off and has diminished, the car tracks better and driving is a lot more relaxed. I would say that, for me, this is the single most important modification I have made and would recommend ti to everyone who owns a trad, it really makes a big improvement to the handling.

Agree that BRBs are one of the best modifications for a Trad. The name brake reaction bar is misleading as the main benefit for me was a tightening up of the front suspension so the front end didnt shake about on bad surfaces with the added benefit of more steering feel too.

Nothing in fact to do with braking though Im sure that there is a benefit when braking too, especially as I feel more confident in driving the car faster on less than perfect roads with BRBs fitted.

Yes to all this, I found the tracking benefit was apparent under braking too and especially on rough roads

I can confirm everything, the BRBs are a good measurement. Probably the name comes from the fact that without BRBs the whole frame of the front axle always tilts slightly forward when braking.

I am convinced of the BRB’s advantages but worry about tyre rub on full lock on a 4/4. I am sure my local MoT man would snag them for that.

Had them fitted to our 4/4 12 months ago. No sign of tyre rub on the BRBs. I am running 165/80/15 tyres.