Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Trad Shock Absorbers

I have just finished fitting an SSL front suspension kit together with the recommended SPAX shock absorbers front & rear.
When I took the old AVO adjustables (Supplied by John Worrall @ Heart of England Morgans) off the rear, I noticed that they were a lot easier to move by hand than the new SPAX items (set on softest setting as recommended by SSL for an initial setting).

Makes me think that I have more than had my money's worth out of the AVOs.

The AVOs have been on the car for 8 years and around 30k miles. How does this compare with what others see in terms of Shock absorber lifespan?

Have I left them on far too long?

If the rear dampers bottom out Paul, it can damage the internals and affect performance. Way back before Rog's assists, my Roadster would bottom out hard occasionally, and one side started leaking eventually. AVO's get a mixed review, but I do actually like how they perform. No longer in business as I recall.

That's true Dave - thanks for the reminder. Roger's spring assisters do a wonderful job. The witness marks on the rear springs show how much work they do - the marks are probably 25mm diameter, which given the shape of the ruler cones, equates to a substantial intervention. The crashing bottoming out vanished when the spring assisters were fitted. I wonder what difference that will make to the lifespan of the shiny new SPAX items! Perhaps they will see me out.

Paul.

Have you fitted the SSL front suspension because your kingpins needed rebuilding? I've had them on my Roadster and other than the additional ride height, I wasn't too impressed, maybe it's something that the potential extra weight and power overwhelms.

What are you going to potentially replace the rears shocks with? I'll be interested to hear your comments on the improvements over the standard setup on a lighter 4/4. I have found in the past on a 4/4 just rebuilding the front kingpins on a tired setup, makes for a considerable improvement. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts once you have had a chance to try the new SSL setup out.

Hi John,

KingPins were done last year and showed no wear when removed. The OE front springs on my 2014 4/4 were under strength and the front end crashed over bumps. I hope the SSL kit will solve this once and for all without making the ride too stiff.

I have replaced all 4 shocks with the SPAX that are recommended alongside the SSL kit.

Test drive is tomorrow's job - ran out of time today with other pressing matters - including feeding our horses.

I'm thinking of going down the same route - look forward to your test drive result !

The thing about AVOs on trad Morgans is that they were available in a range of extension lengths, and it was important to ensure you got a set that matched the minimum/maximum movements available in your suspension system, you really didn't want them to top or bottom out. My '86 4/4 originally came with Armstrong shocks and I fitted an aftermarket rear hoop from Melvyn Rutter so I could use telescopic dampers (and also to stiffen up the rear end). This kit came with Spax shocks and they were fine for many years.

When I fitted my SSL Front kit in April 2013 it came with Bilsteins, and I decided to replace the rear shocks at the same time, AVOs were the obvious choice at the time. When Kevin Vernon and I came to measure up the suspension movement we realised that the stock AVO lengths weren't right - the short ones would bottom out and the long ones would top out. Fortunately at that time you could still get custom ranges and Tim Ayers (who was the main source) was able to get me a set of custom AVOs at no extra cost and they've been perfect ever since

I sometime wonder whether some of the reported issues with AVOs have been because people haven't been careful to get a set with the appropriate movement range for the particular car. I guess it's all irrelevant now if AVO are no longer in business.

I recently changed my AVO's probably done 20k fitted by Cain. You could push them in and out with ease, completely knackered. Replaced by Cains new shocks, transformed the ride.

Possible - I certainly didn’t check movement range before fitting the AVO’s.

The new SPAX seem to have a sufficient range of movement.

Yes, they're a good shock. I fitted a set in 2003 and they were still ok when I put the SSL on in 2013.