Morris Minor Owners Club

This has been partly discussed elsewhere but no real answer, so thought I would get some input here.

We all know the lower trunnion can be a weak spot on the moggy suspension, and the idea of a wheel collapse bothers me, even though I grease the trunnions very 1,000 miles and check for play at the same time.

My car has Gas shock absorbers all round, and the front ones are fixed at the top, to a thick plate that goes through the inner wing, and is bolted to the Armstrong damper mounting botls, the bottom of the Gas shock absorber bolts to two plates that fit around the outer portion of the wishbone assembly.

With the car jacked up and the suspension unloaded onto the bottom bumb stop, the Gas shock absorber only has 1/4 inch upward travel left (I checked this by disconnecting it at the top plate).

Since the kingpin would have to pull about 2 inches out of the trunnion if it failed, then I am assuming, the Gas shock absorber would act like a brace link, and stop the KP from pulling right out.

So the question is, if you have the modified shock absorbers kit fitted, does this improve the safety of the front suspension?

Absolutely - my front dampers do exactly this (but I have an inch of travel to spare) and they will NOT allow the link to pull off the kingpin. This was proved a year ago - car flew through MOT test - but 'clunk' from front needed looking at - I removed the tele damper, jacked the car up - and the lower link fell off the kingpin!!!
So yes - these are an excellent safety device - same thing could be achieved with a restraining strap if tele-dampers are not being fitted.

Thanks BMC, it is very nice to know the car is a bit safer with this mod.