Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Rear springs

Heinz and others.
Important that when the car is jacked up that the reduced height of the rebound rubbers does not allow the ends of the U bolts to touch the chassis. If you look back through the photos you will see that the thread exposed on Heinz's U bolts is shorter on the side near the chassis (I am sure Heinz has checked this).

Regarding the apparently shorter dampers when on full compression: it may be that these dampers have an internal conical rubber bump stop. I don't know about the AVO but many dampers of this type include internal bump stops.

Peter, the photo of my post from last night shows the U bolts on the lifting platform at maximum rebound deflection...with the wheels in the air. So it is safe that the u-bolts do not touch the inner edge of the chassis under all conditions. MMC has even drilled a hole at this point in the inner edge for safety. But I will not need it.
The longer U-bolts are free to move because they are placed next to this metal sheet of the chassis. They do not bump anywhere.

Yes my apologies. I meant rebound stops!

Advice in German for Heinz:

Das Material wird als Powerband" oder als "Selbst vulkanisierendes Isolierband" angeboten.

Viel Erfolg!

Heinz, good write up. I noticed you mentioned your existing dampers are leaking (despite not looking old)

A watchpoint with AVO's is that they are not fitted with a top bumpstop on the ram, so if they become over compressed, it breaks the internal valving and they leak, I'm not sure if they do the same if extended too far, but it wouldn't surprise me

So, to others using AVO's be very careful to have a little reserve in the compressed length

The idea that a shocker fitted to a Trad might also act as a bump stop seems far less than ideal. I can understand that there may have been quality issues relative to leaf springs ageing "prematurely" and thus exacerbating the already minimal suspension travel in a Trad, perhaps even more so in Trads with tubular shockers than the original design concept that utilised lever arms..? If the aforementioned might be the case, that would cause me to wonder if lever arms ever suffered the similar situation of them becoming involuntary bump stops...?

By the time I arrived at Morgan ownership I had passed through the natural stage of having an overwhelming desire to modify machinery, having modified much to destruction while ignoring the advice of engineers...! Fortunately I survived the process while the machines may have unduly suffered, and by the time of acquiring my Morgan I had lost that mad for modifying gene along with many of my other youthful persuits...

While typing modifications, I wonder was the tubular shocker hoop on the rear of trads, a Morgan creation or another of those that was born out of owner based ideas of improvement, just as others of the same may have ended up as accepted by the Morgan community or even ended up being adopted by the MMC..?

I think the damper rod bump stop is fairly common practice - Bump Stop

With the traditional 6 and 7 leaf springs of the older Morgans, there was no need for a bump stop as there wasn't enough travel to warrant one. Once you fit the lighter 4 leaf springs, then there is more need for one. PJB sketched up a design for me using Alfa105 progressive bumpstops and they were really easy to knock up and fit.

Thanks for the heads up TBM, but that like many of the suggestions for the Trad is an aftermarket option. My thinking was directly related to any tubular shocker fitted to a trad.

As for the hoop mounted mod on the pic you sent, from a dull memory my 1955 TR2 had a hoop just like that to limit upward axle travel, and given the dimensions of the "stop" rubber in the pic it seems almost large enough to be considered as a spring assistor, the likes of which were marketed many years ago as a "modification" as a quick and cheaper fix for sagging springs, the down side was that it transferred the bump/suspension forces to a location perhaps not designed to take that degree of loading..?

Spax shocks definitely have a bump stop fitted - I was led to believe that AVO don't but someone recently said they had them as well. Not sure what OEM shocks Morgan used on their later trads, but they may also have built in bump stops on their damper rods.

There is about a 25mm gap between the axle and bump stop when the Mog is fully loaded. As I said, they were recommend/designed by Peter Ballard whose knowledge on suspension matters far outweighs mine

Thanks for taking the time to reply TBM. Not for a second do I doubt Peter`s knowledge of suspension design.

I understand that many tubular damper suspension designs have bump stops built in. Trying not to come across as pedantic, I was enquiring if any tubular shocker fitted by MMC in a Trad was designed to also perform as a bump stop..?

My question can be taken a stage further to ask if any shocker manufacturer (AVO ?) has intended their shocker design to be used in a Trad Morgan to also perform a bump stop function...?