Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Front suspension

thinking ahead I'm intending to refurbish my front suspension over the worst of the winter months.

Its all very grubby, shocks seem past their best (corrosion) and the ride is very harsh with the 'Morgan bob' at about 60-70mph.

My initial thought was to fit Rutherford AVO dampers and just tidy/replace everything else as needed but I'm wondering about the SSL front kit (which is considerably more expensive). I'd do everything my self an anticipate a budget of approx £350 for front and rear AVOs or £750 for the SSL kit (no AVOs and front only)

Interested to hear from anyone with the SSL front kit fitted as to their thoughts and impressions.

94 plus 8

Gary

I've had the SSL kit on my 4/4 since April 2013, soon after it first came out. It transformed the front end of my car. Wild horses on their bended knees wouldn't persuade me to go back to the original setup.

I assume you have hardchrome king pins fitted? If not, then it's an absolute must in my view, and as you're stripping the front end anyway, it's no extra effort.

is there a way to tell what type of king pins are fitted?

If you change the front damper you may find the rears need doing as well. The nodding dog is caused I was told by the bushes seizing on worn king pins.
I fitted SSL front end to my last car with hard chrome king pins and new shocks.
The nodding dog stopped and the ride was better, but whether it was the SSL or the rest of the changes is hard to tell.

When you remove them, you will easily be able to tell. If they are worn, they are either stainless steel or mild steel. If they are rusty at the bottom, they are mild steel. If they look pristine and just show a slight polish where the bushes have contacted, then they are hard chrome. Hard chrome pins have never been fitted by the factory AFAIK.

Good point.

It's also vital to measure the required stroke and get a set which go shorter than the minimum required and longer than the maximum required. If you don't you'll bottom out the dampers at one end or the other (or both) and bugger them up.

AVO do 3 separate stroke lengths to cater for this, but if you find your range required doesn't match any of these then they will make a custom length for you. I had this on my car, it's a 1986 model which originally had Armstrong lever arm dampers, but I fitted it with a rear hoop conversion from Uncle Melvyn. Tim Ayers sorted me out with a custom set vey promptly, excellent service.

I picked up my ‘new to me’ car a few weeks back. Driving it home was my first chance of a proper drive. A few miles down the road it struck me how smooth the front end felt, almost normal car like in the way that it handled the pot holes and ruts. That evening I just had to go have a poke underneath over the pit and found the SSL front kit installed. I had no idea that it was there when I purchased the car.

PS –If anybody could direct me to where I might find the setup/maintenance instructions for this kit I would be really grateful thanks.

Gary, I've had SSL front kits on an S1 Roadster & on new 3.7, personally I wouldn't go back to std version, you also get the additional benefit of being able to choose a raised / lowered ride height when you fit it, and afterwards you can fine tune the 'kiss' to the rebound spring

+1 for the SSL.

SWMBO noticed the difference immediately.

I also went for new adjustable Spax dampers all round supplied by SSL as a kit. (Through Librands)

Bite the bullet on the cost, It really is worth it but do go for the hard chrome kingpins and new bushes it there is significant wear.

When it's first done you might feel it is a bit stiff until the new bushes settle in. In my case that took around 1000 miles because I set the bush clearance fairly tight as I didn't have an adjustable reamer.

There are a lot of threads on this subject on TM and it might be worth going back over some to make your mind up,

Another vote for the SSL.

Phil