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

I agree and that's what I and I'm sure Dave were referring to.

To me it is the plate & the u bolt. A quick web check defines a shackle as a metal link, typically U-shaped, closed by a bolt, used to secure a chain or rope to something.

Melvyn agrees with it being the bit that attaches the spring to the chassis

Spring Shackle

Thanks Richard, much appreciated.

Hi John,

I come from French Canada. Automobile terminology justifies the phrase that the British, the Americans, Canadians, Australians are peoples divided by a common language. Does calling a "trunk" a "boot" make the item clearer? The French around the world have very different words for the parts as well. The safest route is to call everything a "thingie" and post a picture.

L.

P.S. I have posted dictionaries, encyclopedias, translations into from UK to US and multiple languages for those who need them.

Sorry Montegue, I was not addressing your rear shackle bolt size question...not heard of someone checking them or changing them except when doing suspension work at the rear and doing the standard advised upgrade to better graded bolts. Not the problem area of the saddle plates, later leaf springs and ubolts. BTW, I also change fittings to metric when I remember to. Not much of future in UNF. Only one country in the world now uses it as a standard. That is analogous to Tsarist Russia having a different railway gauge than that the world used. I hijacked part of the thread.

L.

As above, my rattle was a loose high level brake light not the spring shackle bolts.

In my case, Morgan crudely attached the thing with just two wood screws wound into the ash frame, below we can see if you got really lucky Morgan used four screws



As we can see, given the size of the slotted holes Morgan really should have used more suitable flanged wood screws, or at least fitted washers under the heads of their regular wood screws!

I have some 6x32mm TechFast screws in stock which should prove ideal, they have a causer thread for a better bite into the ash frame so will offer a far more secure fixing. TechFast screws have an integrated rubber washer that is perfect for spreading the clamping load either side of the slotted mounting holes, the rubber will act to limit vibration and will also offer a good friction grip to stop the high level brake ever coming loose again.



Job done, and done way better than Morgan's small headed wood screw effort

Sorted






The issue is the high level brake light is diecast from a lead/zinc alloy which makes it way heavier than you might think, and it carries a lot of that weight at the top due to the bulbous lamp holder, the arm is actually quite long and its mounting holes/slots are at bottom.

With all the weight at the top, Morgan then chose to use four regular small head wood screws at the bottom, given the length of the arm there's just too much leverage acting on those four little screws. Replacing them with four 6.3x32 sheet to timber Techfast screws sorted it, you do need to slightly open up the slots in the arm, and I also drilled four 3mm pilot holes in the ash frame first to help the Techfast screws get started, but my high level brake light is now rock solid and way more secure than when Monty first left Pickersleigh Rd.

Admittedly not the most groundbreaking or exciting fix, but I actually think it's removed the last annoying and tricky to trace rattle on Monty

It helps if the support arm is bent or adjusted downwards to firmly rest on spare as well. A cursing session following opening garage door with car on ramp created need for this

More fun and games today Richard



The high level brake light was almost falling off so definitely needed sorting, but I think I've now found the source of the main rattle

At first I thought the shaft had snapped, but on closer inspection it appears its unwound itstelf from the top mount, an easy fix but if its done it once it'll definitely do it again. I'll try a jam nut on the threaded shaft and nip it up against the top mount, hopefully that'll be enough to stop the shaft rotating and unwinding itself on the thread again?

TBH I've never been impressed with the way Morgan fitted the telescopic dampers, the angles seem all wrong to me, perhaps it's a function of them originally being a lever arm damper upgrade, you definitely wouldnt fit telescopic dampers this way if you started with a clean sheet of paper.

Oh well, you certainly can't accuse Morgan of failing to give their customers that authentic British sports car experience


NB: There's insufficient thread for the jam nut, so it'll get a weld, a tack of MiG weld on both damper rods to hold them to the top mounts will fix the issue for good!