Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Steering Damper. 2004 Roadster

My recently acquired 2004 Roadster ( known to Cooperman) came with a 15” steering wheel and steering damper fitted, when I first drove it after delivery to my home I was astounded by the very heavy low speed steering.

It took a 3ft bar to undo the wheel nuts! Which concerned me somewhat. So lovely stainless steel 7” wire wheels all taken off and cleaned, rears had medium dust on the inside, fronts had
heavy dirt and grease streaks/s(p)lodges.[I cannot write the last word without the brackets around the p].
So the steering damper was taken off today, K.pins greased : thought the lower ones were a little dry.
A very short run around the village left me thinking this is a lot better steering and I will be soon fitting a 14” steering wheel.
Hoping for a dry day tomorrow and a longer run to check all is good and maybe see why a damper was needed.

When I was looking for a roadster of this vintage I wanted one with alloy wheels, however the wire wheels are beautiful;
I must say this is a superb Morgan compared to my previous +4. Sport. Great paint, Metallic Azzuro (Blue).and the Porsch designed with Ford 6cyl engine.

The wheelnut thing is normal. Dampers are often fitted if bearings have replaced damper blades. Does it drive ok now above 55 with no wheel shimmy?

I fitted a steering damper, not because I had shimmy but because my steering was over light and nervous on the road. The damper has made it just right.

Being 2004 you may still have Devol bushes unless they have been changed.

I had a quite different experience. After aprox. 20k km I fitted a damget rid of shimmy, partly to avoid the bump steer that are inherent in cars built around 2004 due to the steering geometry. The bump steer got much better, the shimmy to a certain degree (what really helped was a very meticulous balancing of the wheels). What I did not experience, was a heavier steering after the damper was fitted, contrary to the TS. The steering was and still is very heavy at low speeeds, but that - in my opinion - is because of the wide tyres. So in my case fitting of the damper did not affect the heavy steering significantly.
Your car is most certainly fitted with Devol bushes and mild steel king pins (if they are not changed to bronze/hard chrome by the previous owner). Beware, they can wear out very early, and seriously affect both steering and suspension. The user experiences are confusing, some sat they wear out after 20k km or even earlier, others have reached up to 80k km on the same set. Mine are at 42k km and still in good condition, no MOT problems (and yes, they are properly tested). N I grease the KPs quite often, every 500 km and also some extra shots with the grease gun before each long trip. The manual suggests greasing every 7000 km, which I think is way to seldom.

Reading your post again, I saw that you removed the damper AND greased the KPs. My guess is that when the steering now feels better, it is more because of the greasing than removing the damper. If the damper brackets are still there, it will not take many minutes to put the damper back again and see what it feels like, now that the KPs are properly greased. Would have been my choice.

And a couple of more hints: You write that the lower end of the KP was a little dry. If you have only one grease nipple, at the bottom, then you most likely still have Devol bushes. If there is another nipple at the top, it is changed for bronze/hardchrome.
And beware of the rad. Being such an early Roadster you might have brass tanks at the top and bottom. If so you are lucky, as they are not apt to leak - and if they do they can be fixed. The later models have plastic tanks, most of them will eventually start leaking and must be changed.
Congrats with the car, by the way. I have got the same. Beautiful cruiser, but can be quite wild when you step on it. Good engine with proper power (nothing to do with Porsche, as far as I know?), no rev hang (as for later models), very good german Getrag 221 gearbox (also used by BMW). Enjoy!

I've always thought a steering damper was fitted to hide another steering issue. If it's oversensitivety I would look towards having the tracking checked. My Roadster was found with 2° toe out although not touched from new. The resulting nervous steering became most apparent after fitting the SSL RS kit. It left the car very chuckable with extremely light steering but prone to drifting on a straight road. Correcting to 0.5° toe in (total) had it tracking straight with improved feel although still light. It was further improved by fitting one inch smaller diameter Moto-Lita 13" wheel which actually has nominal diameter of a little over 12" but doesn't look too small IMO.

Richard, my S1 steering at speed was as light as our 3.7l Roadsters but as it didn't have power steering with the wide tyres it was hard work at low speed.

On the Devol bushes my car at 45k miles passed it's MOT with a comment slight wear on the bushes by Krazy Horse. A few months later it was T boned & the front rebuilt by Melvyn Rutter because the cross head was pushed completely out of line. I then sold the car to them & they sold it on this March.
Rutters told me the slightly worn king pin was the worst wear they had seen. I understand that with the wheels off the ground the risk is the bushes are in contact with the less worn area of the king pin. As Devol swells unless the metal bushes this effect is greater in hiding the wear.

I have a steering damper on my Plus 4 (2013) with Suplex front suspension. The reason for putting it on was that the steering was quite light at driving speeds and there was a slight vibration at the steering wheel. This was inherent from new and not affected by the Suplex upgrade. The damper has helped and I find that the steering now has more “feel”. The steering was always heavy at parking speeds and still is.
Bob.

+1 Richard

When I took delivery of my 2009 Roadster I was disappointed to find that it had the dreaded shimmy. I was considering all sorts of solutions but when I spoke to SimonH he suggested checking the tracking first.

I already knew that I had excessive toe in but didn't think that would contribute to the shimmy.

I was wrong. I adjusted the toe in from about 11mm to about 4mm (maybe still slightly too much) and it has transformed the front end feel and the shimmy has all but disappeared.

So don't underestimate the effect that tracking can have on a Morgan