Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello, Can anyone help who has had experience with the fault I have?

1/ I have a 1965 Morris 1000 2 door with a slight dip in the rear nearside suspension, as far as I know both sets of leaves have been changed to the 5 leaf system.

2/ If it comes to having to change the rear suspension sets would it be a benefit to upgrade to a 7 leaf as on the woody or even the 8 leaf for the van? I haven't enough experience to answer this question and would be interested to hear what others have experienced when adding extra leaves?

Thanks

What are the spring mounts like? Are they solid?

First off - inspect for rot/rust where the springs attach to the body shell....(lift the back seat and inspect).... and second -check for broken leaf/leaves, and are the bump stops present? Is the front sitting level? If say the RH front has been set too high it will force down the LH rear. Personally I would fit the 7 leaf Trav springs - certainly not the 8 leaf van (not a straight swap anyway) - but there are many views on this. Depends what you use the vehicle for to an extent.

Thank you both for your reply, there is no rust on the whole vehicle and the hangers may have been rewelded at some point (I cannot be sure of this) but they are all sitting as they should to each other and not out of alignment.

I haven't checked for broken leaf springs, but will do this first as it sounds a very probable cause. The bump stops are present and haven't checked the front level.

All in all a few pointers to start with, once checked I will post a reply.

Thank you gentlemen

Changing springs is reasonably straightforward then - let's hope that's all it is.

Glad it's solid for you. Will hopefully just be a spring swap then.

Sometimes if the front suspension is not adjusted right it can throw the back out.

Also if you go for the new 7 leaf springs you might find them a little harsh but all is not lost. Although it's a bit of a pain to do you can remove 1 or maybe 2 leafs from the new springs to soften them a little. I fitted 7 leaf on my 2 door and find them a little too firm. Ironically my car after fitting new rear springs sits skew wiff now !!!!!!!!!! So maybe the front bars had been adjusted to suit the old worn rear springs ?????

Move the heavy toolbox to the other side of the boot?

Marliac,

A 1965 Minor should have 5-leaf springs from new? Before changing rear springs I would check the front heights, and use the adjusters to make it level if necessary.