Thank you very much for the very clear description of how to access the BB (Bevel Box). Spurred on by my very successful installation of the UltraCool Oil Cooler to my M3W (it has made a huge difference to the M3W running) and alarmed by all the posts about "problems" with BBs I decided to check my BB out.
I must say it is quite quiet and smooth in my 3000 mile 2014 M3W but I thought I would check.
First thing to say is, unless you have a pit in your garage, it is impossible to get at the BB from the underneath of the car perched on axle stands. By far the best and safest route is through the cockpit.
Remove the boot liner, remove the seats (as above) give everything a good clean and there it is, the BB in all it's glory. Access to the drain plug is tight. I didn't remove the mudguard but in hindsight it would have made life easier. I had to "modify" a size 10 Allen Key to undo the drain plug that had been done up by the same gorilla that did the oil filter up on my car!
I was concerned to catch all the oil that would rush out and so positioned a huge drip tray strategically. What a laugh! When I undid the drain plug absolutely nothing came out! I left it overnight after warming the BB to loosen up all that oil. Next morning I expected the the newspaper lined tray to have a pool of oil in it but all that was there, and I am not exaggerating, was a thimble full of black goo which did not even look like differential oil! The alarming thought is what has been lubricating my BB over the last 3000 miles??
Once again I consulted Morgan Talk about the choice of oils for the BB and was staggered by the range of suggested choice. I went back to Morgan and my nearest Morgan Dealer and the OE choice was Morris Lubricants Golden Film AG 140 Gear Oil Code: AGO (£35.53 for 5Litres incl P&P).
Due to the inaccessibility of the orange filler plug some kind of pump makes the job much easier. I happened to have a Silverline pump for changing the lawn mower oil and this was ideal. The oil is thick and so one quick squirt you see oil flowing back out of the hole. Don't be fooled. There is a sort of channel inside the BB which causes the back flow. The technique is a squirt then quickly remove the tube and replace the plug. Leave it for 10mins and repeat. I did this for at least 4 times before the level appeared to be up to the the drain hole. I then left it overnight for the level to go down and repeated the operation to ensure the BB was full to the level plug.
Overall, not a difficult exercise if a little messy and time consuming. Old towels and a newspaper lined drip tray are essential. (I was told that I had used up a months supply of kitchen roll!).
Road testing. The BB was not really noisier before the top up of oil.. Perhaps I was just lucky with my M3W? But I did fancy it was much smoother on start off and when under load or was that just wishful thinking? At least I now have the peace of mind knowing there is enough oily stuff in my BB!
Don't go for all these fancy thick "climbing oils". My 5 litres of Morris Lubricant should last quite a long time and I intend to check/change the BB oil every 2nd/3rd engine oil change just for peace of mind and to see where the oil goes?
I was a calm, happy M3W driver until I started reading the MT Forum and have been alarmed by what could go wrong!! Hopefully, I might have prevented premature wear in the BB.
Having owned a couple of Moto Guzzi s in my time I wish that Morgan had followed the ACE transmission more closely and gone for a drive shaft. Rather than the Quaife route. When I approached Quaife for info on type and grade of oil I was told to "contact Morgan but my question was very important to them and I shouldn't hesitate to contact them if I had any further questions".
Thank you for reading this please don't hesitate to let me know (I am sure you will!) if I have done anything wrong.
In the meantime how about some happy stories about owning an M3W.....I thoroughly enjoy mine!
