Lever Arm Damper Valves

[Chipper]

Does anyone happen to know if the lever arm damper valves can be swapped front to rear?

I happen to have a spare set of front & rears, but only one front has a valve. Today, I removed a valve from one rear damper and the front and they appear identical, but can anyone confirm this to be the case?

TIA,

[Trickydicky]

As far as I am aware and after trawling the web on previous occasions the valves are the same. The damping can be adjusted two ways, by the type of oil used and the valves are actually adjustable by adding washers to the assembly.
As the front and rear dampers are filled with the same oil this also suggests that the valves are the same.
Hope this helps.

[Chipper]

Thanks for the reply. I shall give the valves from the rear a go on my car's front lever arms at some point, and maybe experiment with some heavier grade oil...

[Trickydicky]

After repairing my rear dampers and replacing the oil with SAE40 oil, I would highly recommend a heavier oil than the manual states. The difference with the handling on the rear is very noticeable.

[bmcecosse]

If they look identical -I guess they are! And yes - mine have some little washers added - however I suspect the difference this makes is minimal - the spring is there to open when the damping force becomes too great - as oil squirts through the little holes. The tiny extra pre-load is only going to delay the valve opening by a tiny (probably insignificant) amount. The real answer I suspect is valves with smaller holes - but really the rear dampers are quite small and I guess the improvements possible are quite limited. MGB rear dampers are significantly larger, and I have obtained an uprated pair, but not yet got round to fitting them - they are NOT by any means a 'direct swap' unfortunately. And yes - I can confirm that more viscous oil makes a huge difference - front and rear.

[Chipper]

Good to hear that - thanks. I currently have Mini front telescopics fitted on my Traveller, which I gather aren't ideally suited to it, so I'll have a go at reinstating the original lever arms at some point...

[bmcecosse]

I'm amazed the Mini teles are long enough - Mini front suspension movement is very limited. I did at one time fit additional teledampers to the front - very long / fat ones from the rear of a Viva I believe. These with the lever arms (and sae 40) gave magnificent damping. However I had to take them off every year for the MOT (first year they said they were non-standard and failed the car..) and eventually I didn't bother to refit them a couple of years ago - and frankly haven't missed them since. The sae 40 oil works well - but I do have a can of sae 50 which I hope to install this year - the sae 40 having done a few years service, and is probably past it's best now.

[Chipper]

Interesting. I fitted a cheap telescopic kit front and rear back in the early 1990s (removing the lever arm damper valves to deactivate them, of course), and the original front dampers were American-made Gabriel Red Ryder ones, which I have noticed have exactly the same lengths when extended and compressed as a set of NOS Boge Mini dampers I got with a job-lot of spares.

Looking up the part number of these Gabriel dampers, I notice some of the Mini boys have fitted them, so I'm guessing they were originally intended for that application.

So, when one of the front Gabriels got damaged, I fitted the Boge ones instead, and they seem to work fairly well, but then my front suspension is, I think, 1 spline lower than standard, so I guess the travel is correspondingly less - perhaps they wouldn't work properly if it was standard ride height...

[philthehill]

The valves can be adjusted a third way and that is by unsoldering the slotted nut, adjusting it as to preference and re-soldering.
I have tried all three ways on the Minor OE front and rear dampers and there is a benefit in trying each one and seeing how it works out.
I have a set of valves from a pair of 1970s Minor front rally dampers and a normal front damper valve in front of me as I write.
There are three things that are different and they are:
1. The slotted/soldered nuts are screwed further down on the rally damper valves than the standard valve.
2. On the rally valves there are 3 washers, each approximately twice the thickness of the single standard washer fitted to the standard damper valve.
3. The spring under the slotted soldered nut is wound the other way on the rally valves (significance not known as the coils appear to be the same OD).

The holes in the vale appear to be the same.
All other measurements appear to be the same.

[bmcecosse]

Yes - I think I did wind up the little nuts too -it was many years ago now!

[M25VAN]

I have a set of valves from a pair of 1970s Minor front rally dampers and a normal front damper valve in front of me as I write.

We need a webcam in your workshop! There always seems to be something interesting going on in there.

I wonder what the insides of the new uprated rear dampers are like that ESM sell.

[Trickydicky]

The ESM dampers are exactly the same as the standard ones except the rebound and damper pistons are a bigger diameter.
I don't think that they were specifically designed for the minor but are for an MGB. I have a set but as I repaired my std minor ones, I decided to stick with them as they are performing well with the SAE 40 oil.
I did ponder the idea that if I fitted the 25% updated dampers with a more viscous oil, It may show up any "weak" spots in the axle mountings. It may not be the case but with the state of the roads I didn't think it was worth it

[philthehill]

Interestingly ESM only advertise L/H (N/S) rear dampers and only show SUS701U L/H upgraded damper. Where are the R/H rear ones?

[M25VAN]

They show as SUS700U, sometimes on the ESM site you have to do a bit of searching for a part as it doesn't always show under the relevant sections.

[philthehill]

Many thanks for that.
Found the RH dampers.
Never knew there were other delights to discover!!!!!!!!!!

Phil

[bmcecosse]

MGB rear dampers are larger overall than Minor ones. I suggest the 'uprated' dampers have probably just had the valves tweaked and perhaps more viscous oil installed.

[M25VAN]

Many thanks for that.
Found the RH dampers.
Never knew there were other delights to discover!!!!!!!!!!

Phil

Only found it myself while looking for van bits that didn't show when scrolling through.