Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Leaf spring lubrication

Thanks folks, glad I asked 😊

I thought I'd firm up the shocks while I had the +8 on the ramp. Turns out the nearside one was shot and had a dent in the top shroud tube so I couldn't compress it to adjust. Prices for Koni replacements are ridiculous, around £140 each! I've just ordered some made to order aluminium ones from Protech, fingers crossed. PS: I can't think how the dent arose, there's no damage to the timber frame adjacent.


https://www.talkmorgan.com/gallery/27/medium/41266.jpg

[quote=CJB]I thought I'd firm up the shocks while I had the +8 on the ramp. Turns out the nearside one was shot and had a dent in the top shroud tube so I couldn't compress it to adjust. PS : I can't think how the dent arose, there's no damage to the timber frame adjacent. [/quote}]

It is a typical dent from a severe bottoming out. They can appear at either end of the damper. It eventually happens to all shocks, even the right ones, when they are old and they no longer offer as much compression protection. See another pic I just downloaded from the internet on a general shock dent query below, next to yours. It is not from a Morgan but it is the same.

[quote=CJB]Prices for KONI replacements are ridiculous, around £140 each! I've just ordered some made to order aluminium ones from Protech, fingers crossed. PS

Pity you already ordered. I like KONI, a fine company. But they do not design their shock specifically for Morgans. After all, adjustable shocks are not made for owner adjustability, they are made to reduce the number of shocks need to be made by manufacturer production and to lower for retailer/manufacturer inventory. In the main, anything else is hype. KONI engineers will inform you that their adjustment feature dis negated the first time you bottom out..like 99% of such shocks. You would need to spend 1500 at each corner to have other than that and even they are better managed with adjustable springs rather than dampers (the better name for shocks) The UK name for these thingies is much smarter than North American "shocks".

Your smarter choice, in an odd case for the Morgan aftermarket, is the new Rutherford/AVO dampers sold by New Elms. They have internal stops for bottoming out and the rehabilitated staff of the old AVO co. are a better choice. David Rutherford used KONI dampening specifications at their softest (aka Morgan) settings to have AVO make a just-for-Morgan specs and sizes. Tim, the owner of New Elms, has always been an honest guy. He bought the Rutherford exclusivity rights with AVO from dear David on the latter's retirement. The new AVO respects that agreement so buying from them or other generic suppliers is unwise. Frankly, the standard "Morgan" shocks AVO sold directly to the public are...an unwise choice. You can get these Rutherford AVOs from New Elms or Cain Poulton at Wolf Performance..another community asset I trust. So you can get better dampers than the KONIs and save, apparently, 80 quid a set. My priority has always been best first, and price second, like you apparently. Sometimes the best is cheaper! Good luck! My suspicion and experience is that the new dampers, whether KONI or AVO, will make you happy this all happened.

L.

P.S. BTW, the dent should not have changed anything significant. The adjustment feature, no matter how much you rotate a used KONI body, was negated within a week of you first installing them. Always remember that a company's engineers are more regularly honest than their salesmen. Different training and no commission is my guess. In fact, AVO adjustment has the same fate, according to Rutherford to me many years ago. He is.was the type of guy who will contact gomog merely to warn people. The AVOs' adjustment does last a bit longer than KONI, but not much. Rutherford AVOs, front and back, come in the correct Morgan setting. No need to chnage anything and if you have to (normally in front) there is a method to that.

P.S.S. Once again, I do not have and have never had any benefit from those I publicly or privately recommend (30 ish years). I have been offered such incentives many times, from the MMC on down. But I am an owner, not a retailer. I like it that way. I would feel decided odd if I profited off any advice to other owners. But that is me only. I did not retire 33 yeas ago or buy Morgans merely to open another profit making business. (yuk) I do accept a pint.

CJB you might find This thread interesting. See my post 754068 on shock absorber length.

Thanks both, unfortunately the forum didn't throw up these posts when I searched. More to this than I realised. I have specced the Protech dampers with the same length and stroke as the Koni's, I'll let you know how it goes........

Gomog, AVO UK the shock absorber manufacturer went into liquidation in Novermber 2023. I am sure New Elms and Wolf Performance will have an alternative in hand.

CJB, unfortunately the TM search facility is next to useless bringing up only very recent posts with the slightest relevance to the search criteria. You get far better results by doing a Morgan specific Google search. There are usually some results linking to historic TM posts on whatever subject enquired.

Sorry to see you damper damage CJB. Is that a scuff to the paint on the body if you look really closely? Perhaps just an unlucky external clout.

Unfortunately selecting new rear dampers for a trad is not necessarily straight forward. There is so little suspension movement to start with and each car will have build differences, even from side to side. Also the attachment points have moved over time so very unlikely that one size could ever fit all. When I was doing my Morgan damper investigations I saw several of the popular brands offered with less than ideal lengths for my car. Regardless of which manufacture is chosen, its critical to have the right open/closed lengths to suit the car to avoid constraining the suspension movement, damage avoidance and comfort.

Just for the record, when I removed the ‘budget’ factory fitted dampers from the my previous car I recorded their lengths. Whilst the quality was not the best , the open and closed lengths were really quite good and hard to find a match. Open at around 11.75” and closed around 8”.

Thank you. But your now dated information is why I responded here. I know Cain and Tim well. I like savvy honest suppliers and try to support them, as we all should.

Here isTim's latest to me over a month ago.

"Hi Lorne,
Just a quick catch-up and report on developments regarding Rutherford twin tube shocks for Morgan. Good news! Neil Pennock, who used to be Number 2 at AVO, has managed to revive the brand. He is now operating under the umbrella of a long established (1982) company called TurboTechnics, whose premises are just round the corner from the old AVO factory, about 40 miles east of Malvern. There is plenty of space there, and they have managed to acquire from the administrators all the AVO machinery. They are again producing Rutherford designed shocks, and have improved the quality control. We are just now shipping some to Linda Eckler in the USA. Tim @ New Elms February 8, 2024."

P.S. We all should report component and sales service failures just as we do good experiences. However, too many fail to do that publicly out of a sense of embarrassment or fear that it is "just them". Ergo, uninformed people keep make large and small buying errors.

Turbo Technics have taken on the AVO production - new company called AVO-Technics. https://turbotechnics.com/avo-technics/