Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Rear Spring Shackle Access?

Hi all,

I'm looking to check the tightness of my rear spring bolts and inspect the shackles on my 2012 Plus 4, the lower bolt head is visible but that's it.

To me it looks like to gain access to the nuts, upper bolt and shackles themselves, the rear overriders and rear valance need to be removed.

Please can someone confirm I'm on the right track?

Thanks, Dave.

If your car has a spare wheel, then access to the bolts is possible from above with the spare wheel removed.

If you don’t have a spare wheel, then your analysis is most likely correct although I have not worked on a car without a spare.

My 4/4 has a spare wheel and I was able to change the rear springs by accessing the bolts from above.

Without a spare wheel, it may be possible to access the nuts if the storage bin in the rear panel is removed inside the car. But it won't be easy.

Thanks for the photos, they help to confirm the rear valance needs to come off as I first suspected

This approach will give me all the access I need and allow me to check the security of all the bolts and Nylock nuts. In my experience Nylocks work fine where there's no movement, but on something like a damper or spring shackle where the bolt is subject to rotational forces, a Nylock will often unwind itself down the thread, Nylocks of course work on friction so they should also never be used on a lubricated thread.

For example, I found my damper bolts had been greased when my Bilsteins were fitted last year, inevitably some grease gets on the threads rendering the friction locking effect of the Nylock nut completely ineffective. After suffering constant loosening of the Nylocks on my new dampers, I replaced them with Aerotight nuts, these use undersize threaded sections on the top portion of the nut so when tightened into position the undersize section is forced outward creating high friction and a more secure 'locked' fitment.



Yes Aerotight nuts work on friction too, but I've found they work way better than Nylocks where rotational forces are present and the thread they are locking to has been greased, in addition there was enough exposed thread remaining on my damper bolts to allow me to use half nuts too, sometimes referred to as 'Jam' nuts these thinner fasteners are crammed up against my Aerotights for extra security, this combination has completely solved my issue.



My dreadful quality original MMC springs that had gone soft in just 10,000 miles were replaced with the excellent performing BCC Ant-Tramp springs at the same time the Bilsteins were fitted, so I suspect the spring bolts were also greased on assembly and Nylocks used to secure them. I've recently started to get a slight rattle from the N/S rear shackle area, so with my damper bolt experience fresh in my mind I will be removing my rear vallance this weekend to inspect and replace the Nylocks with superior Aerotights.

Can someone confirm the spring shackle bolt threads so I can source my Aerotight nuts in advance of the weekend?

Many thanks, Dave.

Hi chaps,

Just to conclude this one, as it turns out the rattle was the pesky high level brake light



Yesterday I noticed it was almost falling off!!

The positive being it should be an easy fix

Yep, remove spare wheel, usually a couple of woodscrews into the frame behind, if they've gone a bit shaky because the ash has dried out, pop the new ones in with some contact adhesive, acts like loctite (but can be removed)

Mine has 4 screws, all at different angles. Good job the cobra has long slotted holes.

Yes. The MMC leaf springs have been of uncertain and dubious quality for almost 20 years. The MMC has tried many times to rectify the problem..constantly finding new suppliers who were great for a while and then not as the suppliers tried to lower costs with cheaper metal. I had a period of 3 years with my UK Morgan when I went through 5 sets of leaf springs..each sagging like hell within 3 months. Yet my old 5 leafers on my cdn Morgan (2002) have not sagged more than 4 mm in 21 years! That being said, I take care of my suspension like a fretting grandmother.BTW, leaf springs, scientifically and in fact are actually much better for the Morgan trad. They can be infinitely designed and deal much better with a flexing frame than any other system.

Sadly, stiffening leaf springs too much, which is characteristic of all leaf springs used for "antitramp" issues, exacts a brutal price on the suspension the rear suspension, the area which governs comfort and comportment. I had a UK mate who used such a "anti-tramp" feature whose wife (who had a bad back) refused to ride in his Morgan thereafter, until he returned to the MMC fare, which required as many replacements as mine did until I rectified it. .With a 50-50 suspension, your rear spring rate should be the same as your front coil springs. What are using in front?

Good to know about the Biltsteins. But dampers are related to leaf spring rate. I am a famous (infamous?) fan of the Rutherford AVOs, different from the Morgan dampers marketed directly by AVO since David first spec'ed them. He is specifically Morgan savvy.


Right again. (unfortunately) Nylocks (aka Nylocs), are used by the MMC in many key stress areas for decades though they make no sense in that usage. Nylocks cannot be torqued and they are too high profile. I use graded Stoffer nuts, which are PIA but are steadfast, very low profile and eliminate the need for much of the constant maintenance and retightening this area demands. https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/stover.html I also changed my ubolts to thicker graded metal with stronger graded saddle plates. This stops the characteristic stretching of the MMC bolts which also can be the source of your issues.

"Can someone confirm the spring shackle bolt threads so I can source my Aerotight nuts in advance of the weekend?"

Depends on the size/strength of the ubolts you are using. Are you going to stick with the less-than-robust Factory fare? The best Morgan suppliers will offer you the stuff I describe, though only dear John Worrall and the racing community use Stoffers.

L.

P.S. MMC ubolts should be tightened and/or regularly changed. That being said, between myself, dear Peter Mulberry and Jw, I have not needed to address this area in 20 years.
P.S. Peter Morgan would often remark that he gave his buyers a start. It was for the buyers to finish the car. It is good to see that you and DaveW are doing so

Should be 7/16" UNF Dave.

Posters seem to be referencing shackle bolts and U-bolts..... to me, the shackles are the plates that join the rear of the spring to the chassis.

K