Cone spring rubber genuine-metric thread only

Genuine rubber cone spring made correctly from the original tooling and drawings fom Dunlop and Rover. “If you are confused on Genuine, see article at bottom”.These were fitted to every mini variant ever produced on the assembly line or supplied as a spare part, despite others claims. (Taken from a general suspension design/invention by Moulton in the 1950’s Dunlop held the patent after making it small enough to fit the mini with the help of Mr Moultons involvement as Moulton Developments Ltd, who was paid for his services by BMC. Neither Moulten or Avon Rubber ever produced any cone springs for any Mini built by Rover from 1959-2000 or sold as spare parts. Genuine cones are precisely manufactured to certain technical specifications to mantain a correct height under a set load, giving a smoothly rising spring rate with the patent number “763432”stamped in the rubber for genuine items. Standard height is 90mm.These are expensive to produce because of the manufacturing process to make them correct with very little profit margin but they are the correct item and were over £60 when Rover went out of business in 2005. These are the only product available machined to give correct ride height under load, with rubber bonded to metal, with a Metric threaded top cup nut and metal ring as original, all made in the UK. Metric thread started in march 1976When Mini Spares supplied Rover Xparts they were checked and found to be correct to the drawings they held which was no surprise. The compact design & durability/quality of the rubber cone helped make the Mini the classic that it is today. Designed in the late 1950’s it was ahead of it’s time. The only problem is that some may still be driving around on cones that could have been built in the early 1960’s with a UNF thread. They are now Metric thread only. The design is good, not ever lasting. The rubber not only heats up in use it also gets very hard loosing its shape and sags loosing it’s ability to hold the car upright. It is not uncommon to have a cone sag so badly that it lowers the car 2 or 3 inches and it handles terribly. Like all rubber products, they only have a certain shelf life and being fitted equates to the same.These might need replacing every 6-8 years depending on use and climate, but are usually good for at least 20,000 miles in the UK. The Original factory Dunlop type only lasted about 40 or so laps racing before they went off because of the heat worked through the rubber known as hysteresis where it stops returning to its original shape and consistency as described on Moultons patent sheets. Anything without “patent number 763432” is not genuine, so check the cones being taken off so the mistake is not made again.Measured at the wheel,the spring rates at the static load position are 118 lb/in at the front and 98 lb/in at the rear. With three passengers and 50 lb of luggage, the loads per wheel at the same position are respectively 468 lb and 355 lb.The loads rise to 1,050 lb and 670 lb at full bump and fall to 240 lb and 100 lb when the rebound check is in operation. Sold singly and we advise fitting them in axle pairs.There is an upgrade available-see C-STR687.You will require a tool to replace this item which is TOOL07 for metric thread only or the dual threaded tool is 660330 and seven full turns of the tool will be enough to compress the FAM3968. Anymore and you risk damaging the rubber cone and pulling the threaded insert out.From the Mini’s onset in 1959 until 2000 every mini and factory aftersales cone spring was only manufactured by Dunlop, under licence to BMC/BL/Rover until 2005 when Rover collapsed.So if you want to keep your car to its original and correct specification your old or new cone spring can be identified by the following characteristics. Originally–The name Dunlop and Moulton was imprinted into the rubber with patent number 763432 and a fixed hexagonal fitting nut on the metal top plate. Currently– with patent number 763432 only plus identification stickers. The Dunlop name was deleted from the original UK Dunlop tooling when the tooling was procured as Dunlop is still a trademarked name and the Moulton name was also deleted to save confusion but now has M Parts Ltd on the rubber in its place. Still uses the original fixed hexagonal nut on the metal top plate for fitting and are still the same correct height of 93mm when new.If it has Alex Moulton or Avon VMS imprinted into the rubber it is not the original or genuine item as fitted to any production mini or factory aftersales unit ever. These aftermarket cones are UK made by Avon VMS owned by South Korean automotive supplier Dongah Tyre and Rubber? This Avon type also has the threaded top plate as designed by Keith Calver and similar to our C-STR687/688 competition Mini Spare