Front damper different resistance

[Stratman]

Hi all, apologies if this has been discussed, I have had a look but couldn’t find anything. After finding that my front dampers in my 56 series 2 were containing a minimum amount of sludge I have removed them, cleaned them up and refilled with damper oil provided from ESM. They are both vastly improved in their “damping “ however one is noticeably stiffer than the other. One may be a replacement as it has more movement on the arm and the other has writing on (ap09)? I would appreciate any thoughts. Do I need to replace both sides so that they match? Will it be noticeable that one is slightly less stiff?

[svenedin]

They should be the same on both sides in terms of damping. I had an extreme situation for a short time where one damper wasn't damping at all (push down on the front wing and the car bounces without being damped) and the other was working. I replaced both with exchange units from ESM and all was well. Uneven damping is not very safe; the car will be more inclined to roll and bounce when turning in one direction compared to the other. The same applies at the rear both with the dampers and the leaf springs; they should be replaced in pairs.

Stephen

[Stratman]

Many thanks for your swift reply, new dampers it is
Kevin

[svenedin]

You're welcome. I spoke to a well known specialist Minor garage about this. They will replace only one damper if the customer insists because they are not really in a position to refuse but they always advise to replace in pairs. The reason is that if both dampers are old and one seems to be faulty and the other OK in comparison that when a new one is fitted that works perfectly there is again a mismatch compared to the so-called "OK" damper.

Stephen

[philthehill]

If you have differences in the damping qualities of the Armstrong front dampers as fitted to the front of the Minor especially after servicing then the dampers should be replaced like for like or a tele damper kit fitted with the Armstrong damper valves removed/modified so that the damper just becomes the top suspension link.
Both dampers should be replaced at the same time it is false economy to replace one damper as it will upset the handling of the car.
Both Armstrong dampers should have the same arm travel and damping resistance.