Knocking from front suspension and damper issues

[nomisthewise]

My van thumps / knocks badly when going over harsh bumps in spite of the fact ive spared no expense with suspension parts

Ive replaced all trunnions swivel pins and all bushes with poly bushes ie its all new kit on the front end except for.....

However today when looking underneath another van at the kenilworth i discovered that my car has no damper lower rebound stops! I think that these were left out by mistake when the inner wings were restored!

I would be interested in any views as to whether this will solve the crashing problem over bumps when i install some stops?

Also ive never changed the oil in the front dampers. Can the oil deteriorate over time to the point that it doesnt damp? Ie is it good practice to change the oil every once in a while?

[bmcecosse]

Yes - the oil deteriorates horribly - drain it and then flush through and fill with SAE 40 (that's not 10W40). And yes - the rebound stops MUST be there, even more importantly - the bump stops must be present. Is the suspension set too low ??

[nomisthewise]

Thanks for the advice. I will change oil and fit stops this weekend.

No i dont think suspension is set too low. It certainly was just after restoration. It seemed to sag after rebuild. However i retrimmed torsion bars last year so have a fair bit of clearance now.

Lets hope this does trick

Best regards

Simon

[nomisthewise]

The damper rebound stops arrived today. The bracket has 3 holes 2 upper 1 lower. I was surprised to see that the plate with the top 2 holes is offset compared to the bottom plate which has only 1 hole. Ihavent looked at the car yet but am intrigued to know the upper and lower plates are offset because of shape of the inner wing or is it because the bracket has to be "sprung" ?

Can anyone who has fitted these before advise!

[bmcecosse]

You can 'just' see it on page K 8 of the Manual. http://theminorsite.co.uk/wp-content/ga ... 4x1200.png and the general suspension assembly on K 2 http://theminorsite.co.uk/wp-content/ga ... 00x878.png

[nomisthewise]

Thanks for the advice looks from the diagram that the lower section of the bracket must be under a bit of tension as it is offer from the upper bit. Fitting them today so will be interesting

[Declan_Burns]

The damper rebound stops arrived today. The bracket has 3 holes 2 upper 1 lower. I was surprised to see that the plate with the top 2 holes is offset compared to the bottom plate which has only 1 hole. Ihavent looked at the car yet but am intrigued to know the upper and lower plates are offset because of shape of the inner wing or is it because the bracket has to be "sprung" ?

Can anyone who has fitted these before advise!

It won't fit! My advice would be to cut the rubber off the new one and glue it to the old one-that's what I did and the rest landed in the bin! These are retro-rubbish parts and are nothing even near the shape or the metal thickness of the original parts-see below-how can you expect to fit that?
Regards
Declan[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

If it's that bad - send it back for a refund........... and just glue a slab of rubber onto the old bracket. The one shown above is certainly ridiculous.

[IslipMinor]

The 4 fixing bolts for the damper need to be tight. If they are even slightly loose you will get a sharp knock over bumps. There should be a tab washer for each pair of bolts, and the easiest way is to ease back one part of the tab at a time, and tighten each bolt. I would also suggest that you actually remove each bolt (one at a time) and grease the thread before re-tabbing them.

If they haven't been removed for some while, they may not either tighten or undo, and can break quite easily as well. Hopefully yours will allow you to thighten them up.

[kennatt]

my new ones were axactly the same had to bend and twist them to make them fit,they did,eventually, just something we are getting used to now,poor quality parts.

[nomisthewise]

Thanks for advice on tightening damper bolts will try that next.pleased to report the following:

New damper stops fitted ok after a struggle. Has made a huge difference to ride.the old ones had witness marks in the bare metal...however....this prob means that ride height is now too low as damper arms are slightly touching rubber stops at rest which could be a real pain because could mean torsion bars need trimming.....again! I hate that job.

Dampers filled with sae 40 again big difference in ride.however still some knocking over harsh bumps. Have re aligned exhaust where it comes out of engine bay as think it was knocking slightly, also have changed front hub for old second hand one no wheel wobble now.

I think I have slight thump from rear suspension too in spite of new poly bushes shocks new...next job......annoying because all rubber etc is new.....

The knocking saga continues

[bmcecosse]

If the top arms are touching the rebound stops 'at rest' - then the suspension is TOO HIGH ! Seriously -it's just a 10 minute job (each side) to reset the T bars.