I finally have a functioning spare wheel so now let's look into my wonky springs.
January 26th 2020
January has almost flown by without much work being done on the Morris, although it has been used most weekends to keep things ticking over nicely. My new spare tyre did arrive a while back and the helpful chaps at the local garage fitted it onto my refurbished rim. Considering the poor state it was in originally I think it has come out very nicely!
I have decided to make a start on the rear suspension as this is a job I've been dreading for quite a while - novice mechanic that I am! Ever since I bought the car it has had a slight lean to the right and my local classic car specialist has confirmed my suspicion that one of my leaf springs is sagging a bit which means a pair of new springs are on the cards. This is probably a good thing as it will give me the opportunity to replace all the perished suspension bushes. They're making the car sound like a creaky old mattress every time I go over a bumpy road! Plus, while I'm at it I will clean up and re-oil both rear dampers as I'm guessing it has been many years since they were done last.
First thing's first, the old springs are wrapped in some kind of tarry old fabric tape which I'll cut away to see what sort of condition they are in...
Well it doesn't look as terrible as I expected but something definitely doesn't look right and I'm hoping a Morris aficionado replies to confirm my suspicion here. Counting the leaves there appear to be seven. Now as far as my research tells me, seven leaf springs are designed for the Morris Traveller because it's a heavier car. The saloon cars should have five leaf springs (as confirmed with an email to East Sussex Minors). So either someone has deliberately fitted stiffer springs as a preference or they simply fitted the wrong ones through ignorance. Either way I'll be replacing them with the correct five leaf ones.
While I happened to be under the car I decided to remove one of the dampers to check on the overall condition. Sure enough, the top linkage bushes are perished so will have to be replaced but after removing a few bolts it was out and on my garage floor.
Disconnecting the linkage arm from the damper lever is proving very difficult and I don't want to do any damage by hitting it with a hammer so I have ordered a small puller set to help me to break the taper fit. Then my intention is to clean the casing in white spirits before opening it up and draining out all the old oil. More white spirits should help to flush any remaining residue from the cylinders and valves inside before I refill it with fresh damper oil. I will have to make a new gasket to seal up the cap afterwards but I have gasket paper and sealant at the ready. I also have the correct oil for the job on standby, a 20W viscosity which I believe is close to OEM specification. Should be nice and bouncy!
