Broken rear damper link

[James k]

Hi,
I've noticed my car has been very bouncy recently. It's always horribly bouncy but I thought it had become even worse. I topped up the front dampers and then decided to try putting SAE40 in the (recently replaced) rears. Whilst I was under the car trying to get one of them off, I noticed that the other one wasn't attached at all. The ball joint on the link has come apart. How hard is this to replace? I almost managed to get the damper on the other side off but I got stuck when the arm wouldn't come free from the bolt on the link. Why is it that it won't come off and is there a way to do it?

Thanks,
James

[samuria]

you might need one of these
and they are a tapered fit http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-Minor- ... wGBAzbkEhw

[mogbob]

James
Breaking the taper joint is the issue. Do you own / can get hold of a bearing puller or ball joint breaker ? These would cause
least damage to get the job done. If not put the nut back on the thread to just cover it , so you can hit it with your hammer.
Try and support / wedge the actual shock absorber arm to minimize doing damage.

Beforehand you might want to soak the joint with Plus gas dismantling fluid or WD40 or heat the joint with a blowtorch ( make sure you don't have petrol leaks first and where you point it !! ). No blowtorch , then try boiling water to induce some heat. Some old newspapers will soak up the water but make sure it cools down before screwing up the soaked newspaper.

You can do it in situ but undoing the two bolts ( holding the shock absorber onto the car ) would allow you the comfort of
working on the garage bench.
Good luck with it.
Bob

[James k]

Thanks for the replies. I've ordered two new links complete with bushes and nuts. I'm going to try removing the link arm from the chassis complete with the shock absorber and then removing the tapered bolt with a hammer. How do I attach the new tapered bolt when I refit the dampers?

[mogbob]

James
Clean up the old metal holes with emery / sand paper so that you have clean metal to accept the taper on the new links.
You can lightly smear some Vaseline to ease it in by hand , if you want. Don't fully tighten up the nuts until the shock absorbers are back on the car and sitting on the ground.
This will let the car settle on it's suspension and you can then nip up the nuts tight.
Apply copper ease to the nuts if you wish , to protect them from salt / dirt / water , etc . It gets everything thrown at it under the car. It will be easier to undo next time.
Don't forget your refill of the oil . keeping it all scrupulously clean. You don't want dirt in your shocks.
Bob

[James k]

The leaf springs and dampers were only replaced a few months ago so hopefully that means they won't be too hard to remove (fingers crossed). The parts should arrive on Wednesday so I'm going to try and remove them after work tomorrow and refill the oil, ready to refit on Wednesday. I'm interested to know what difference the SAE40 will make. I am of course very sceptical that it will make any difference (sorry Roy ).

[panky]

Believe me it does make a difference

[James k]

Believe me it does make a difference

I certainly hope so. The bumpiness at the moment almost makes me want to sell the car!

[bmcecosse]

It works a treat I can assure you - but is the car sitting too low so it is on the bump stops??? Most folks who complain of hard/bumpy ride are actually bouncing along on the stops. There should be a good 2" between the bump stop and the chassis. You can safely cut another one inch off the bump stop (but try to keep the taper effect) for improved suspension travel.

[James k]

I've just finished refilling the dampers with SAE40. All the nuts came off easily except for the fact that there was a wide variety of nut sizes! I can't tell if the dampers feel any stiffer with the heavier oil but I suppose I'll find out when the parts arrive (hopefully tomorrow).

[panky]

Did you give them a good flushing out with new oil before re-filling? you should be able to feel the difference by clamping the damper in a vice (by the fixing lugs) and working the lever up and down

[James k]

I removed the drain plugs and pumped the arms a few times. I then forced the new oil in the top with an oil can until it was flowing out the bottom, pumped the handle and repeated that a few times. I then refitted the drain plug and valve assembly and topped it up, pumped the arm and kept repeating until the oil level didn't change. Hopefully I've flushed them enough. I tried to make sure that the new oil was coming out.

[panky]

Sounds about right

[James k]

Right, I've finally fixed it! The parts got held up in the post for ages so I only got them today. They took me two hours to fit too. The poly bushes I ordered seemed to be too tight a fit for the new links although they fitted the old ones fine. I ended up using the supplied rubber bushes and struggled for ages to get them onto the chassis pins. It's all back together now though I've taken it for a couple of drives this evening and it does seem a bit better. It's certainly cornering better. I've been in modern cars all week though so maybe I'm setting the bar a bit too high! I'll investigate the bump stops at some point, it started raining heavily earlier so I didn't have a chance to.

[bmcecosse]

With the SAE40 oil you should struggle to move the arm by hand when the damper is in the vice -but it will move and should be a steady firm resistance with no 'easy' bits at the end of the stroke.. You did use SAE 40 oil - and not 10W40 - which is hopeless. is the valve assembly present in each damper - with a little spring and washers ?