Morris Minor Owners Club

I also had similar (Mini damper-based) telescopic kits fitted F&R on my 1970 Traveller, and experienced a harsh ride on the very pot-holed local roads (although the handling was nice and stable on motorways).

In the end, I resorted to removing the front telescopics (leaving the brackets in place) and reverting to the standard lever arms, which gave a much better ride.

I still have the rear telescopics, but they cause alot of harshness/choppiness, particularly when going over sharp speed humps, so I may well remove those also and go back to the original lever arms...

You can always stiffen up the ride with lever arms if you want by filling them with a thicker grade oil.

8

i may well do that myself

Whats the best way to jack up/support the car to remove the u bolts on the leaf springs ?

Whats the best way to jack up/support the car to remove the u bolts on the leaf springs ?

Do one side at a time.

Chock the wheel on the side not being done.

Jack and support under the spring as near to the bottom axle spring plate as possible with a axle stand.

Remove the wheel.

Slacken off and remove the 'U' bolt nuts, knock the 'U' Bolts upwards free of the bottom spring plate, remove the bottom spring plate, remove the 'U' bolts.

Jack under the axle and lift the axle off the axle seat pad and slip out the spacer. Let the axle back down onto the spring pad making sure that the metal and rubber/poly bush spring pads are in place top and bottom of the spring. Fit the shorter 'U' bolts, bottom plate and nuts. Tighten but not fully the 'U' bolt nuts - making sure that bottom plate is square in both planes to the spring.

Refit the wheel let the car back down to the ground.

Now do the other side the same way.

Fully tighten all of the qty 8 'U' Bolt nuts when the car is settled on the ground, give the car a couple of bounces to settle everything down before final tightening.

See link below for details of the orientation of parts

Note: There are two styles of bump rubber - flat topped and pointed top dependent upon axle casing.

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-m ... minor.html

regarding the different type of bump stop
is the number identified on the axle ?

The axle number is stamped on the axle casing - for location see diagram below:-

alawrence10360 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 8:29 pm regarding the different type of bump stop
is the number identified on the axle ?

thanks for this
unfortunately paint has obscured my ident
I have ordered the more elliptical looming bump stop
hope its right

I would guess that a previous owner cut down the bump stops to improve the ride after he first lowered the car. New replacement bump stops seem to made of a much harder material than the originals and when they contact the body you will indeed experience a "crashing". A year or two ago one of the bump stops on my car broke and I fitted a new pair. The ride was terrible particularly with any weight/passengers and I had to cut an inch or so off the new bump stops to improve matters. The springs have probably settled a bit on my car over the years but it has not been lowered in any other way.

looking at the rear /front spring shackle Allthough not very clear looks like its been m odified,normally the front shackle sits inside the chassis bracket, seems to be held a bit lower,wonder if its been altered to compensate for flattened springs But could just be me looking at it wrongly. photo of rear shackle may show something.

kennatt

I have enlarged the picture and all seems to be as it should be as regards the O/S front mount of the rear spring.

The bucket seen in front of the car gives a distorted view of the spring mount.

Phil

I have now removed the lowering kit.
Tightening the u bolts by feel more than anything as the rubber seats are being compressed.
Does it look ok ?

Looks good to me.

Whether it is a trick of the photograph or not - just make sure that the bottom spring plate is aligned with the bottom face of the bottom spring leaf.

As regards the tightness of the 'U' Bolt nuts just tighten them so that everything is secure and movement eliminated and the spring rubbers are not excessively squashed.

Once you have a few miles check everything for tightness.

You now appear to have plenty of travel between the bump rubber and the chassis bump stop plate.

Ive done rhe other side but unfortunately i got some wd40 on the rubber seat and even though I havent over tightened the rubber has splayed out
Removed them and cleaned off the lubricant but still they splay out when tightened
I may have to refit the old ones which are polyurethane. i didnt want to do this as they must have contributed to the harsh ride

All back together and everything is as it should be
No banging or crashing
Many thanks to all

The poly spring seats will not do anything untoward as regards a harsh ride. All they do is locate the axle. Personally I would have left the poly spring seats in place.

Ok
I can say that when tightening up there is no give whosoever in the poly pads
The ride is great now however I might give the poly ones another try now the rest is standard

To positively locate the axle you do not need any give in the axle spring pads.

Commercial Minor vehicles do away with the pads completely and have steel spring pads.

yes ive seen that on alot of 4wd s

philthehill wrote: ↑Sun Feb 24, 2019 5:23 pm The poly spring seats will not do anything untoward as regards a harsh ride. All they do is locate the axle. Personally I would have left the poly spring seats in place.

Re fitted the poly spring seats and you were right they are fine
Much easier to fit and tighten also as the do not compress