Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Re-adjusting SSL front suspension

I tried that on mine when fitting RS kit. With suspension freshly greased and before fitting shocks I got virtually no bounce. Maybe my old but professional jack was a little slow in releasing. I did repeat the drop several times though and bounced the car by hand a few times as best I could.

BTW agree with Bob's assumptions. Any static gap between rebound spring and stub axle will compromise roll control. Any pre-load will have the noticeable effect of intially increasing compression rate spring rate.

KPI on the stub axles is between 5 and 6 degrees....

Track change is quite substantial with ride height changes

Simon @ SiFab.co.uk

I Stand corrected but according to my handbook it's 2 degrees. Morgan Handbooks Huh

If your figure is correct, It throws out my track rod angle roll steer calculations because my track rods are at about 4 or 5 degrees which I've been comparing with 2 degrees kingpin inclination. I thought I had measured it already but I'll check the KPI again.

Remember the stub axle isnt at 90 degrees to the kingpin...

Simon @ SiFab.co.uk

A pair of these, or similar, would do the trick if mounted with the wheels sideways

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FlowerW-Dollies-Positioning-Bearings-Recovery/dp/B07YXWF494/

I know, in theory it is 91.5 degrees if the camber is 0.5 degrees negative and the kingpin inclination is 2 degrees.

However, it is the kingpin inclination that determines the sideways bump movement and it is this angle relative to the track rod angle that affects bump and roll steer. I will get round to measuring it again but I would have sworn it was about 2 degrees, hence the bump or roll steer tendency with the track rods at about 4 degrees.

And the more it rolls the more pronounced the steering effect which is why I readjusted the spring seat height to minimise it.

Of course I could be wrong so you can explain where my thinking is going awry if you've got nothing better to do at Race Retro.

PS... If you remember, would you take my Panhard Rod to the show. Not sure which day yet.

I would appreciate some advice on adjusting the SSL front end.

Following an accident the kingpins needed replacing on my 2013 4/4 which had SSL fitted last year. I asked for hard chrome pins to be fitted since as they are clearly recommended if the job needs to be done.

After the work was done the car didn't drive the same. There was a noticeable bobbing at certain conditions. Not just a bounce after going over a bump in the road but a resonant (is that the right word) bobbing that peristed. The memorable occasion was driving up the Wellsway, a hill out of Bath, behind a bus so doing a steady 25mph; bob,bob, bob - I felt like Zebedee.

The dealer who did the work said that one of their staff had taken it for a test drive and could find nothing wrong. He then suggested that I drive it for a while and see if it settles down.

It was only after searching again that I found loads on this forum about 'bobbing' including Peter Ballard's comments about setting it up which I have tried three times to follow.

• remove the dampers
• jack the car up with 3-4" clearance
• release the jack quickly

Sometimes the rebound spring is free sometimes not. Yesterday the left side was just clear but the right side had a lot of play so I adjusted just that. Repeating the drop test showed the right side still loose but the left side now tight (without being adjusted). Rocking the car side to side seemed to free things up on one occasion but not consistently.

Berrybrook got it right when they they fitted the SSL kit last year but this year's repair (by another dealer) has left me tearing my hair out.

Advice would be really welcome

Seems like you have the correct procedure already. All I would add is ensure kingpins well greased before starting the setup. I must admit on mine the drop test without shocks didn't produce much bounce. I did it several times though and after adjustments got some consistency.

If the front end is bouncing increasing damping should solve this. I think I'm correct in saying some earlier SSL RS kits offered superior but fixed dampers. If you have these suggest upgrading to the matched Spax adjustable gas shocks they now offer in their kit's. Then just keep winding up from a soft setting (4 clicks at a time on the Spax) until the bobbing stops. You will suddenly find a sweet spot that way where the ride becomes firm but actually more comfortable as well.

Sounds to me like maybe whoever did your king pins has reamed the bushes a little on the snug side and you have a bit of stiction. It took me about 200 miles and three adjustment sessions before I got my SSL setup to settle down, but it's been fine for 7 years now. Remember to do your adjustments ideally with a couple of sacks of spuds on the driver's seat to simulate the driver's weight as much as you can. It's important to make sure the adjustment is the same both sides, I made up a little spacer block to check

On a 4/4 on 165 tyres I would recommend going for the low ride height option with the spacer below the stub axle and with the rebound springs set slightly slack. This gives me a nice compliant ride over bumpy B roads (we have plenty of those in Gloucestershire) and I don't mind the slight additional roll on turn in to fast corners because we don't have many of those.

I hope someone can help with my query regarding my suspension setup. I had SSL suspension fitted by a local garage as soon as I purchased the ca together with upgrading the brakes and changing the carbs to throttle bodies.
My experience shows the car has excessive body roll - much more than is acceptable. I have an appt this week for the car to be serviced ,MOTed and the suspension adjusted to eliminate the body roll with the same garage.
The timing of this post has been most timely and I have looked at SSL's site which shows fitting instructions.
My car is a 1978 4/4 4 seater and the suspension has been fitted with the spacer below the stub axle with the rebound Spring tight. Reading SSL's instructions, the spring should be slackened off - but is the spacer in thr correct place? Should it have benefitted above the main Spring?
Any advice over this would be appreciated.