Morris Minor Owners Club

I’ve made some progress on the pickup this week. I installed the Sprite 3.9 differential with a new pinion seal. The original 4.55 was gushing oil just sitting in the driveway. Cleaned the hubs and put in new seals. Waiting on new bearings today. While crawling around on my back I pulled out the shocks/dampers as they were covered in oil and grime. One had full range of resistance the other not so much.
Does anyone know of a direct replacement or cross reference to something available in North America? I searched the site and found references to mini shocks which appear to be too short? And Volvo shocks but the links have expired. Im not looking for coil overs, gas filled, or racing shocks. The original is marked “Woodhead Monroe Made in England. Eyes at both ends. 17-1/2”(444mm) extended, 11” (280mm) compressed. What I’ve found in this length are mostly motorcycle shocks?
Thanks,
Bill B

Have you tried contacting Monroe directly.

https://www.monroe.com/en-eu/

Bill, I sent you a PM. regards Keith

Keith wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2026 4:16 pm Bill, I sent you a PM. regards Keith

Hi Keith, did you mean me or the OP, not received any message

Bill in the USA .

Keith wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2026 4:30 pm Bill in the USA .

Sorry Keith. Haha too many Bills in this post

The details i.e part number/type of the damper are usually stamped on the damper. With that information you should be able to find the correct Woodhead Monroe damper or equivalent.
Here is a Minor commercial rear damper for sale on 'e' bay which has manufactures details stamped on it.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157854477030 ... R8jC-MnXZw
On the sellers site there are a multitude of dampers for sale and some with open/closed dimensions.

Thanks gentlemen,
I found a number of manufacturers’ charts with of shocks with similar dimensions but haven’t found a US site that sells them by part number. They all want a year, make, and model of car.
Keith the vehicles you suggested were not imported here so don’t show up on the charts.
I cleaned and painted the originals and will reinstall them with new bushings for now.
In the good old days the parts stores had product catalogs hanging on shelves full of shocks. I could look up potential matches for my worn out Elva parts and compare side by side.

Try a search for GSA 155
good luck with the search.

An early issue of the newsletter for the Morris Minor Registry had a list of shocks that work. As I recall there were common US vehicles. Let me know if you want me to find the issue.

Jaek,
I noticed you are not far away in neighbouring PA so must be experiencing similar challenges. If you think that you can find that cross reference info without a lot of effort I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Bill B

If you search this site for Volvo + shock you will find that dampers for a lot of Volvo models will suit. One caution is that you will need to grind down the Morris rubber bushes to fit the upper eyes.
Don

I paged through the first five years of issues to the time my van was back on the road and didn't see the list. The ride is very stiff in the rear. I assumed that was due to the truck springs. Perhaps the the Ford truck shocks I used are too stiff. Although, a cargo box full of Girl Scout cookies resulted in a much softer ride. There are cross references available to view for oil filters and brake rotors. Surely there's one for shocks once you have the dimensions of these short shocks.