Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Greasing front suspension - Again !

Dear all.
I know this must be an old chestnut, but here goes. As a trained aeronautical engineer, I would like to think that greasing our simple suspension system should be easy ?
I have owned 3 Morgans and they have all been pre 2000 with damper blades. Every 500 miles I simply jack up the car, remove the wheels and purge the top and bottom grease nipples with my trusty Wanner grease gun, then wipe off any excess and Bob's your uncle, UNTIL I found this the other day - https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/Greasing1950to2000.html
I had no idea about this advice to lift the damper plate but tried it yesterday. Having managed to partially lift the plate, it certainly looked pretty dry and it took 10 or 12 pumps to get some grease to exude from between the plate and stub axle. It has certainly improved things as the slow speed steering is definitely lighter. So unless I'm missing something, why don't we all know about this, or perhaps you do ??
Take care and cheers, John.

1999 Plus8

When I bought my first Morgan from Allon White I asked Phil Benning for tips on what and how to do things. His tip for greasing was to use a lever to pry up the damper blade plate and watch for grease exiting. This was before it appeared on gomog. I have a pneumatic grease gun so it is easier to manage with a simple trigger press than a lever version. A push action gun should be ok as well. I use a pry bar to raise the plate. It only needs a small gap.
Gomog is a good reference for many things and add to that the tips here in TM mean you will be ok.

Chaps, on the subject of greasing. Does anyone have an idea where I can buy one of those quick release attachments for a standard lever gun? I have looked at the Sealy site and they want £32 for one which is a lot more than I paid for the gun. Any suggestions please, thank you.

Never used one so sorry no idea, I have always used a Wanner gun with the 2 bleed screws, as you may know the lower is used to bleed the guns pump chamber and the upper is used to bleed off the ‘line’ pressure so that the hydraulic collets in the end adapter simply disconnect from the nipple. In effect that’s what the Sealey rapid connector does. Same result bit without the additional part.

Second hand Wanners always available on eBay, look for the ones with twin bleed screws!

As in EBay item number 373061128602

BR
Colin

You will find quick release attachments on ebay from £10 up to £30 .

John, as a skilled and well practised engineer I guess you may be well aware of the need for a bit of lube.. (-:

GoMoG is to my limited knowledge, quite the best on line source of Morgan information freely available to help Morganeers keep their Morgans on the road. I do wonder what will happen if/when it may no longer be available...hmm..?

I have read of the St Malvern`s dance where like some old Landrovers the front wheels would almost become uncontrollable at certain speeds as they danced of their own accord from left to right, and I suspect the damper was incorporated to reduce the tendency to dance....?

Of course it would seem that the damper may induce a degree of resistance to driver input to steering, and greasing it would seem to undermine it`s damping ability...? Thus it seems we risk entering the age old conundrum of the mad Morgan modifiers, who think they can improve on aspects of the Morgans primitive design...but then as it is a Vintage car by design, how hard is it to improve on that, given automotive technology and EXPECTATIONS have moved on considerably...?

Sorry got off on a rant there... Apparently there may be no need of any aspect of the damper design in the more modern cars with their tyres having more of a footprint in contact with the road, thus perhaps reducing the need for damping, but I leave it to experts to make any such determination.. I think the tendency to dance has been put down to the degree of castor and camber or rake and trail if you prefer, and whatever else one might be inclined to blame or modify....?

I think Button ran around in his Morgan with no front shock absorbers for some time and declared he felt no real worthwhile advantage in their fitment....(-:

While touring a few years back in a very HOT Italy I ran out of grease, with an increased degree of stiffness felt in the steering to the stage that it amplified the slightest bit of play in the steering linkages, requiring constant correction to maintain course, as the normal expectations related to the old Mog of following the road to some degree decreased considerably.... Fortunately I was able to buy some grease in Pisa, eventually...

The quick release head on the grease gun works really well. I got mine from ebay for I think £12

Exactly right. Or use a small bottle jack while the wheel is on the ground. That is why I have not fitted these remote greasing kits.

search ebay for a “grease gun g-coupler”, lots available £10. - £20.

Exactly right. Or use a small bottle jack while the wheel is on the ground. That is why I have not fitted these remote greasing kits.