Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Softening front suspension

I have a 1998 Rover engined +4 which doe's not appear to have any movement to the front suspension. For example, I can stand on the front bumper, (all 13 stone of me) and not detect any downward movement at all. Is this normal, do I have a problem or can the ride be softened?

Assuming that you keep the front stub axles regularly greased, I bet a bottle of decent Scotch that your rebound springs are under compression at static ride height, preloading the main spring and causing the front suspension to be rock hard.

Fortunately it's an easy fix, just cut the rebound springs down a bit so that the rebound springs are just clear of the stub axles when the car is sitting normally.

If you haven't been greasing the stub axles every 1000 miles or so, then it's possible the king pins have seized, especially if they are mild steel.

You have to be very carefull cutting springs, look at how they a chamferred to be flat

Shortening the rebound springs will raise the front end a bit...

IF the suspension needs a rebuild, then it may be time to go for some updated front springs, shorter, rising rate main springs in particular, with softer rebounds - but it does also depend on how you drive the car and what you want to achieve.

Seems to me your suspension has jammed up; even stiff springs will give a little under your weight. Either lack of lubrication as already mentioned, or possibly due to worn bottom bushes. If there is a lot of side-to-side play in the bottom bush, the king pin can lock up in the top bush due to the misalignment.

Fjemog

Although this is theoretically true, it can be extremely difficult to detect. A rebound spring under compression will preload a stock 120lb spring so that its initial rate is extremely high - something like 400lb/inch, as the standard rebound spring is 275 lb/inch. A 13 stone man is only 183lb, so you're not even going to shift the suspension half an inch, especially as the tyre is going to flex a bit too.

I favour spacing the lower plate, but the ride height may increase slightly even this way.

I took the route of fitting shorter main springs, that way I kept the original ride height and could use standard rebound springs. More expensive than simply cutting down the rebound springs, but avoids having to dick about with the angle grinder getting a decent flat on the cut end.

The disadvantage was that I could only get 140 lb/inch springs in the shorter length, and on a light 4/4 they are a little bit stiff - but a heck of a sight better than running around with rebound springs in compression.

Next step is to wait until I can get a set of the new rising-rate springs that have been developed for the 4/4 Sport. That should be ideal.

Me too.
Though our pal PJB does have a spare shorter softer main spring set I believe.

Cheers,

Yebbut I think they're 117s, too soft for my taste. We'll have to ask him tomorrow