Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Leaf Spring Surprise

My 2002 4/4 with 65k miles is sagging on the drivers side so I thought I would replace them with leaf springs obtained from MMC. Both old and new are 5 leaf springs. Much to my surprise when laying them together on the floor, the old springs would appear to be more sprung than the new. I measure approx 10mm difference. This seems wrong and what’s also interesting is there’s no discernible difference between the 2 old springs yet the driver’s side had a considerable droop.
Any advice would be much appreciated thank-you.
Keith

Here are some figures from the car before the work
On the drivers side there is a clearance approx 25mm between the axle and the stop but on the passenger side the axle is basically resting on the stop.
Measuring properly, there are these measurements between the centre wheel nut and the wheel arch
Drivers 37cm
Passenger 39cm
There was also a bang from the rear sometimes when driving over ruts snd speed bumps which was more upsetting than the sagging.

You can't really tell just measuring without any load as a lot of the sagging is caused by poor steel quality and or tempering, if you loaded new and old I bet you would see the old deform much more

squinting at the label it looks like your new ones are Owen, made local to me, excellent quality made in the traditional way by blokes with big hammers and sweat, who care about quality

Well they do tend to corrode between the leaves and that corrosion dries out then starts to jam the movement of the spring. It is important that they are kept clean and lubricated. Soak in penetrating fluid and bounce the car up and down... quite a lot and you will see loads of rusty fluid being pushed out. do this several times and when the exudate starts to show non rusty dry then down. Now new springs are greased, some cars have nylon interleaves, Morgans don't. I have tried greasing between the leaves but the spread wasn't good enough so I reverted to a heavy oil. I have an old spring spreading tool from the times when these springs were commom fitment but there isn't enough room to use it! I tap an old screwdriver in between the leaves just enough to slightly part the leaves and squirt the oil in. You don't need loads its the getting it in that matters. When you remove the screwdriver it spreads the oil along the length for about 6" so repeat along the length.
No back to bouncing an you will notice a big difference. stand back and see if the car is sitting level, it probably will be. when happy an old brush and some oil to paint the outside of the springs is a good way to put an annual hat on them!

2002 was not a year showing as having poor made springs, 2011 -20013 were the dodgy years and yours has OK milage. I can't see your car's stance or the detail of the springs but I wouldn't be surprised if they just need a clean and re-lubricating!

I use Waxoyl between the leaves, it has great creeping qualities and lasts.

When I replaced my Roadster springs, I was advised to strip the new springs, and add Tribo tape, as interleaves. I levelled the surfaces, and the Tribo sticks well. I applied grease between each leaf, reassembled, then added leather gaiters in the old fashioned way. I took the view that this would make them 'maintenance free'.

https://www.igus.co.uk/product/iglidur_T_B160