Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Replacing rear springs

I fitted Mulfab 4-leaf 2 seater a couple of weeks back. I was also interested in the 4 seaters but they steered me away from these. Anybody interested it’s worth discussing first. However I am really pleased with the results and the ride is fine. My rear is over an inch higher now (now lowering blocks fitted) and the spring rate is so much firmer. With the old springs my rear tyres would occasionally kiss the underside of the rear wings, no chance now.

Not a difficult job just but quite physical. I don’t think “ease of maintenance” was high on the a gender when these cars were designed! Anybody who is thinking of changing, a couple of points to be aware of that I discovered on my model.

The springs need to be released from the front and withdrawn with the rear shackle assembly attached as the rear eye bolt cannot be removed in situe. The springs have to then be slid 50% of the way into the cockpit and the shackle assembly removed from underneath before the springs can be slid all the way out through the cockpit (the small rectangular cut out in the plywood behind the seats is the restriction). Alternatively you could jacked the car quite high and then you would be able to extract the springs in one hit by first sliding them 50% of the way into the cockpit, dropping them and then sliding back out from underneath.

Because the 4 leaf springs are thinner than the 5 the panhard rod sits is in a slightly higher position. Unfortunately mine interfered with the diff cover when the car was supported on the rear cross member. Not obvious and could easily be overlooked if the car was jacked via the axle or sat on the ground. My fix is a longer bolt and spacer fitted on the spring clamp to lower the panhard rod a little.


Well worth doing and I hadn’t realised quite how much the old springs had degraded.

My car was low even when we picked it up at the factory in 2012. By the time we got it home, 3,000 km later, we had grounded out on about 100 speed bumps and could not even get it down the ramp to our garage. Ground clearance was less than 9cm even unloaded. Some countries, Australia included, require a minimum ground clearance of 10cm.

Morgan resolved the problem by having Borghi fit a set of the older 5 leaf springs. I'm not entirely happy with this solution as the ride is harder and the rear axle has been moved forward about 2 cm making the rear wheels a little forward in the wheel arch.

After something over 15,000 km since the 5 leafs were fitted the underside of the car again "kisses" the top of the ramp down to my garage.

As mentioned in an old thread I am still thinking of changing tyres to 195/65 R15 instead of the standard 195/60 R15 as this will give me another 1cm of ride height. I think the spare will just fit in the hole with the larger diameter tyre but the fitting of the cobra light will need to be "adjusted". Unfortunately in Italy this is not something to be undertaken lightly as the car has to be taken to have an inspection done and the new tyre sizes added to the car's documents. Cost over €100 for this plus the tyres.

I've ordered the springs today and am going for the 4 seater versions. Peter M thinks that Bumble may have had one of the last sets of the old (sagging)4 leafers. He has the 7/16 U bolts, whereas my Roadster has six leaves and the 3/8 U bolts.

Something else to count!
I must check my S2 Roadster; I wonder how many leaves she has?

I know that Network Rail have too many.

Particularly in the Autumn...

Reminds me of a song.

Given the issues, 195/65 would be a good choice and they would fill the arches a little more. I wonder why the factory never used them or offered them as an option?

From a previous post:


It should also be noted that the Roadster could be fitted with 205/65 R15 tyres which have a radius of 12.75 in or 323.75 mm, about 1mm more than the 4/4 tyres. Effectively this means an increase in ride height of 10mm and that a 4/4 wheel and tyre could be used as a "space saver" spare. Someone has done it but I can't remember who.

PS. Fitting a tyre that has a radius 10mm greater than the standard tyre would make it a fairly tight fit in the spare wheel opening. The opening for the spare is made to suit the tyres and wheels fitted and has only about 15 to 20mm of clearance on the existing tyre.

Peter,

Aldermog has 205/55 R16 Tyres. I think all the S2 Roadsters have 16" wheels.

I tried to use the website but it doesn't seem to list Morgan, so how did you get it to work. I've wondered if I could use 60s to improve the ride: could you add the S2 Roadster to your table with 205/60 R16 and so I can see how much the diameter would increase.

Peter