Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Remote Greasing of Front Suspension

Folks,
After 6 years scrabbling around on the garage floor every time I wanted to grease the front suspension, I decided that enough was enough. I had heard from my dealer, Newtown Motors Cwmbran, that a customer had moved to remote greasing, and was put in touch with Haydn Croll who very kindly sent me some photos and a list of parts he had obtained from a shop in Wales. Unfortunately the parts he used were from a supplier I could not use here in Ireland so I went in search of alternatives.

A further issue was that I wasn't certain of the thread sizes of the grease nipples on my car and Haydn(Who obviously has more real skills than I) had altered bits to fit the parts he got. So I phoned the factory and after some head scratching they said the sizes were 1/8BSP at the top and 1/8BSF at the bottom.

After some searching on the net, I found that the aptly named "The Nipple Shop" had kits for remote bearing greasing and that M6x1 would fit 1/8BSF. The kits had some parts I wouldn't need, but I purchased them nonetheless.

Fitting was pretty simple once I realised that the lower shock absorber needed to be loosened off so that the elbow fitting could be screwed in to the bottom grease point.

It is pretty simple to remove the grease nipples at both the top of the suspension and from the stub axel. Then you insert the "Elbow" fittings in their place and attach the semi-rigid piping -- not too tight at this juncture as you will later need to undo it at the "Elbow to check the pipe is full of grease. I fitted the "Anchor Block" to the inside of the inner wing and threaded the piping in to mate up.

The Straight connector is screwed into the bottom of the "Anchor Block" and the 45Deg grease nipple into the top with the nipple angled out from the inner wing. I used one of the unused holes in the inner wing for one of the cap bolts and drilled the wing for the other. Bolt tight with a flat washer and a spring washer and M6 nut.

Now remove the pipe from the Elbow fittings and attach the grease gun to the nipples on the top of the "Anchor Block". Pump until Grease is seen at the end of the pipe. Now attach the pipe firmly to the elbow fitting and "Bob's your Uncle"

Following this I have arranged with "The Nipple Shop" that they will sell kits of parts specifically for the Morgan - these will cater for all post 2002 trads(At least the factory said that all such cars have the same threads for the grease points!!) at reduced cost from the original kits with the part no.s
NS 9000Mog(Stub Axel) and NS9024Mog (Top of suspension)

These kits comprise all you will need to complete the job and are detailed in the attached Document.

Photos of the fittings and where located on my car are at

http://www.pbase.com/rsyme/remote_greasing_front_suspension

It is a worthwhile modification in my opinion and not difficult to do (Well, I managed it!!!!!!!!) The Nipple Shop are really good to deal with and the parts are very good quality.

Go for it

Cheers!

sorry folks --couldn't manage to attach the kit list -- here it is

Remote Greasing for Morgan Front Suspension
Parts available from

The NippleShop
Harrison Lubrication
Engineering Limited
Lynstock Way
Lostock
Bolton BL6 4SA
United Kingdom

t. 01204 691352 Web Site www.thenippleshop.co.uk

For the Top of the Suspension (Both Sides)
kit no 9024Mog - £20 plus Vat & Carriage

Description Part No. Number required
Anchor Block AB2 1
M6x1 cap head screws 30mm long M6CS-30 2
45 deg Grease nipple H2-2BP 2
Plastic Cover for nipples RED H/P/C-R 2
Semi- Rigid Tubing HPP6-1.5 2M
Male Stud Elbow 6mm odx1/8bspt ECM6-LLR1/8 2
Male Stud Connector 6mm odx1/8bsp SCM6-LLR1/8 2

For the Bottom of the Suspension (Both Sides)
kit no 9000Mog - £20 plus Vat & Carriage

Description Part No. Number required
Anchor Block AB2 1
M6x1 cap head screws 30mm long M6CS-30 2
45 deg Grease nipple H2-2BP 2
Plastic Cover for nipples BLUE H/P/C-B 2
Semi- Rigid Tubing HPP6-1.5 2M
Male Stud Elbow 6mm odxM6x1 ECM6-LLM6x1 2
Male Stud Connector 6mm odx1/8bsp SCM6-LLR1/8 2

NOTE
You’ll also need 2 of M6 Nuts plus flat and spring washers to use with the M6 Capscrew to fix the anchor Block to the inner wing These are NOT in the kit

Cheers!

Last attempt!!!!!

The kit list doesn't come out too well above -- if someone wants a list, PM me and I'll e-mail it to you

Cheers!!

That looks excellent Robbie, Thanks for sharing. Well Done!

neat installation and very useful mod, thanks!

Thanks very much Robbie looks a very useful mod, which I will seriously consider doing. My '01 does not have the top nipple, also on mine the bottom nipple is 1/8th BSP rather than BSF (At least I'm pretty sure it is) I can't think why it would be different as I believe our stub axles are the same - anyone know?

Can I clarify, for each kit, 1 AB2 is specified, in practise, if fitting only the lower kit 2 AB1's would be better?

Brian

Thank you Robbie for the useful post on greasing front steering.
Great pictures too.

I noticed that you have a tube connected to the top of the steering and wonder if you steering is different to mine on my 1973 4/4?
I renewed and documented the event on here last year and after fitting new kingpins, bushes and damper blades was told not to grease the top hole on the kingpin because it went no-ware and just clogged up and attracted dirt to the shaft!
I fitted a grease nipple to the top hole in the kingpin to fill the hole only.
I only now grease the lower nipples.
Before the conversion it was the oiling system and the oil used to find it way onto the disk brake rotor, hence the urgent need to convert as soon as I became the new carer of "Ruby".

Don't forget though that you'll still need to grovel on the garage floor to wipe off the excess grease pushed out of the king pins (preferably before it ends up on the brake discs ). At the same time take a couple of spanners to check that all nuts and bolts are tight - takes an extra 5 minutes but worth it in the long run...

Cheers,

Brian V,
If only doing the bottom of the suspension I would suggest you use one AB2 and pipe one side across to the other, if you get what I mean. There is plenty of pipe in the kit to so do and this would keep you efforts to one side!! As to the thread size, I was assured by the factory that all post 2002 cars are the same. I can't speak for earlier ones. 1/8BSP is quite a big thread so I would take out a nipple and check. If it is a 1/8 BSP then the kit for the top will do you as it is for 1/8BSP.

RubyMorgan,
The post 2002 cars have a different kingpin with a longer channel suited for greasing. I doubt it would be useful to do this mod for the top of the suspension for a car such as yours.

Graham
I agree that it is always necessary to get underneath to see that what should be tight is just so. I will, however need to be underneath the car on fewer occasions given this mod. I expect I'll quickly get to know how many pumps of the grease gun is sufficient without covering everywhere with grease.

Cheers!

The stub axles changed in 2006/7 when the track rods were 'levelled'. That's no reason to alter the thread of the grease nipples though. I don't know what the original kingpins look like (yet) but my new hard chrome pins which are sitting on the bench have a single groove (like a narrow piston ring groove)fed by a tiny bore hole (no more than 1mm) which is drilled into the gallery which is down the centre of the pin from the top.I might use oil to lubricate the top bush when these are eventually fitted. Pictures will follow when the job starts. I've one big concern about the bushes. The way British Leyland did it on MG's was to provide split bushes - imagine a 'brass' tube with a slot down the length. When this is pressed into the stub axle, the tight fit compresses the circumference, which closes the slot. This makes the internal diameter smaller than the external diameter of the kingpin, which is why the bushes must be reamered out (using a reamer which is essentially a coarse hand held drill which cuts to a very fine tolerance).
The Morgan bushes are full tubes (no slot), and I was surprised to discover that they are a perfect fit over the pins. In theory then, they will press into the stub axle, and the pin will simply slot through...........
In reality if both bushes are not exactly in line, the pin will only go through the first and either not enter the second, or bind inside it. The solution therefore is to keep the lower bush unreamered, because that takes most of the thrust/wear, and reamer the top bush to take the kingpin. Reamers can be fitted with a pilot tube to ensure exact alignment, so that's the way to do it. This will introduce extra clearance in the top bush, but that may be the only way to make it fit if the stub axle shaft is not exactly in line.
I now believe that the reason I have play in my lower nearside bush after such a low mileage is that whoever reamered the bushes, did the lower one instead of the upper one. The truth will emerge in November......