Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Battery change - Plus 8

Battery has been dead for a while and I finally have a chance to go and get another one.

Loosened it from the cradle and lifted it up only to find it can't be removed upwards! There isn't enough clearance between the axle or rear bulkhead or the axle and Panhard Rod. What are my options here? The only thing I can think of is to jack up the car and pull it out from underneath but it's parked in an underground car park and this would be really difficult.

Am I missing something obvious???

My understanding is that the battery has to come out from underneath ever since Morgan adopted telescopic dampers on the rear which introduced the additional tubular "hoop".

Thanks for confirming... the longer I have sat here, the more obvious that has become. Time to try and find my jack, and the jacking points!!

What a very, very silly design!

Buy an (old?) four-seater - they are under the bonnet!

Good luck - but don't go under the car on just the jack please...use axle stands.

I only have a jack, but don't need to go under it, just need to raise it a couple of inches so the battery clears it and I can either push it out from above or pull it out from the side. Easy-peasy as long as I can find the jacking point...

Jacking points info on this link

Jacking Points

Jacked it up and pulled it out from underneath without incident. Halfords do not stock that particular type so it's now on order and I'll probably collect midweek. Shame I didn't sort this out earlier, what a cracking day of sunshine and dry roads I have missed

Thanks for the pics, I used one of the chassis 'rails' to do it with some padding. It only needed to go up for a minute and then took the stress straight off it.

What a faff!

For posterity, do not jack any Morgan on a plain Z section rail. The strong parts are the crosshead and where the box section cross members meet the Z section.

Thanks - obviously I'll have to jack it again when the new battery arrives; hope I can still sneak it under...

Never understood why anyone would put a battery in that location, exposed to all that water and road dirt. Crazy IMO. Newer Morgans with the battery by the rear axle have an opening in the ply panel behind the seat, for somewhat easier access. Perhaps you could cut an access panel to make it easier in future?

I'm so glad mine has the battery under the bonnet (2005 4/4 Zetec 2-seater), so changing it recently was a clean, 10 minute job.