Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Grease for the sliding pillars

Put it this way, if you leave a pot of it on the shelf for any length of time it tends to separate out into an oily layer and a grease layer and much stirring is required to get it back into a grease like state.

Having said that, when I use it in the vintage motorcycles, I heat it until liquid in an old saucepan and then pour it into the gear box

Arwyn

Wanner grease guns...? I am not foolish enough to argue against Arwyn`s hands-on experience re Morgans or anything mechanical... BUT.. (-:

I bought my Wanner in my teens, and at the time I bought it on tick via my sisters Freeman`s (?) catalogue. now into my 70`s, I still use my Wanner today.

I guess admitting to being a Luddite, and that circa 22 years ago I chose a Morgan to follow on from my air cooled 911 ownership as the closest thing I could afford to replicate the driving involvement I witnessed following a Vintage open top Bentley on the road that runs down the side of Loch Tay, which perhaps hints that there may be aspects of old tec which I may find more attractive on occasion than whatever might be more modern and convenient....? (-:

As best I can remember at the time of purchase, my old wanner was reported to be capable of up to 200, or was it 2000 psi to force grease into places that might otherwise be resistant to it`s passage..? I guess the main thing may be that having provided over 50 years of service, it still has no problem keeping my old Mog greased...though things do get rather messy when refilling it... (-: On the other hand while touring the ability to unscrew the nozzle from it to reduce it`s size was found to be handy when trying to find a place for it in the Mog once Mrs L had packed all her little necessities while touring... (-: Though one thing I learned, was to pull back on the spring pressure when touring in hot climates, as under the spring pressure the hot and now much thinner grease will try to find a way out... Messy, lucky I had wrapped it in a couple of rags, a plastic bag would have been a better option.

Finding replacement grease in Pisa was not as simple as one might imagine, adding to the complication was that my only language is English, and with a Scottish accent... But if you ever find yourself looking for Grease in Italy, the word is GRASSO.. As for exact spec suitable for Morgan sliding pillar suspension or not.... I cared not a jot, the main thing was that it stopped the old thing steering like a boat... (-:

Sorry Arwyn.. (-:

Must admit, I bought a Wanner on recommendation here when I first bought my Morgan. Has had reasonable use on the Morgan and now the MG and it's worked perfectly every time. I wonder if TaffMog has been using it wrong - you know how a poor workman blames his tools (comment meant in jest).

Couple of years ago, I was going through Dad's shed (he's 89 and has Alzeimhers, so his tinkering days are over). I found a small Wanner (like in the photo) that he used on his Morgan in the 50's. Still worked perfectly and now sits in my tool tray in case I need it when in holiday (although never have - I do grease reasonably regularly,but I know Arwyn has said that it doesn't need doing as obsessively as some might suggest).



Quite like the look of the battery powered cartridge type. It's my birthday soon, so may ask for some cash towards one of those.

Thumbs up for the Wanner. I resurrected my Dad's when I bought the Morgan back in 2008 - it must have been over 50 years since it had been used last. A quick clean out of the old grease, refill and it's been working fine ever since.

I have a pneumatic gun. It makes greasing easier by simple trigger operation. For the kingpins I was advised to lever up the bronze plate and watch for grease emerging out of the gap. I used bearing grease. Hard chrome kingpins greased regularly at 1000 miles max intervals. No problems after doing 50k miles. Car sold with 74k on the clock and no play. I considered the remote greasing but didn’t change to it. When greasing underneath it is an opportunity to check other things at the same time.

I grease once a year and always have done, still get 40k out of a set of mild steel kingpins and bushes.

Danger is if you pump grease in to the extent it goes everywhere like the proverbial mad woman's breakfast it mixes with road grit and becomes a very effective abrasive compound.

Kind regards

Arwyn

Hello

Finally you must have to grease the kingpins each 1000 miles? Or also depending the climate situation if I use the car during spring and summer...

I have two grease guns; an old pneumatic full size gun and a smaller (probably Chinese ) pistol. Both load with cartridges as I certainly couldn't be bothered mucking about (literally ) with tubs of grease. Both function perfectly well and if the pistol gun starts giving trouble I will replace it with something similar. Surely the most important thing is that the grease gets into the kingpins, not what brand of tool does the job.

I genarally grease the kingpins before and after any long trip. During our trip, Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, last spring I pulled into a workshop in a village in the Lakes Distrct and asked the mechanic if he could grease the kingpins for me. He was so bemused and interested by the Italian reg Morgan that he flatly refused any payment.

Despite regular greasing the original kingpins did not last. I think we have now done about 50K kilometres on the replacement hard chrome kingpins. I think the original Morgan kingpins were made out of hardened cheddar cheese.