I have as my other old toy car a '38 Cadillac Series 75 Town Car which
weighs in empty at a little over 6,000 pounds. The rear springs had strips
of woven canvas webbing saturated with paraffin wax for completely silent
action. Seemed to work great with no gaiters. The shocks are probably not
in great shape, but you don't seem to notice in the stately sort of driving
one must do in such a behemoth. When we had to replace the sagging but
still silent springs about twenty-five years ago, we eliminated the webbing
in favor of a little grease. If I ever pull them apart I might go back to
the original.
My Morgan stopped launching me airborne once I oiled the rear leaves.
Jerry Murphy
'67 +4
At 03:02 PM 12/15/98 -0500, Howie wrote:
> Amen to the lubricated leaves. I drove my +4 25 years during which time
>I
>didn't notice the ride stiffening up. When I took it apart, not only were
>the spring leaves rusted together, the right rear shackle was frozen solid
>causing the axle to move to the left which in turn made the left spring
>u-bolts wear groves in the frame rail. I actually took good care of the
>car, I even checked and topped up the lever shocks with the proper oil.
>There was so much friction I could probably have thrown the shocks away. I
>just didn't realize that leaf springs needed maintenance.
> I've since discovered that a lot of vintage cars had spring "gaiters",
>snap on covers that kept the oil in and the dirt out. The rear leaf springs
>on my Cord have a complicated set of interlaced sheet metal covers with
>several lube fittings. I am seriously considering a set of leather gaiters
>for the Morgan. I'm looking forward to a much improved ride in any case.
> I had the great pleasure of driving Malcolm Terry's "+6" which has Koni
>tube shocks, a Panhard bar and traction bars as well as a shortened Pontiac
>rear axle. It rides and handles like what it is, a dream Morgan.
>
>Howard Clark
>
>>The best thing that I have found to do
>>for the rear suspension of any Morgan is to thoroughly lubricate the leaves
>>of the rear springs and to stiffen the rear shocks .. This will have the
>>effect of softening the ride over small bumps and preventing bottoming over
>>large bumps.
>>
>
>
>
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