Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Dover Speed Humps

Wife and I are off to Italy tomorrow with our one year old Plus 4. I am concerned that the speed humps at Dover may be a bit high for our ground clearance.
1/ has anyone had experience with Dover
2/ Can I use normal grease for the front suspension
3/ any advice for a first time Morgan driver driving in France/Switzerland/Italy

Welcome to the forum, and have a great trip to Italy.
As far as grease is concerned I use Moly grease. The Comma stuff from halfords.
Others have said any grease is better than no grease.

The Plus 4 is low due to low tyre profile. If you are going to scrape anything it will be the gear box chassis cross member, so go over any humps slowly.

Enjoy the trip and if you can traverse the humps at an angle.

Lower than an Aero?

I had no problems at Dover nor getting on/off ferries - although I went VERY slow and the guys are board were happy to stand/watch/give thumbs up as we dis-/embarked.

I have already managed to scrap the gearbox so I’m now a bit paranoid about it.

Once you hit the alps - drive quickly

I don't know about Dover but I have a recent Plus 4 and have been over many bumps and ramps in the last few weeks fully laden (and I mean FULLY laden) without any scrapes. As previously said the key is to go over at a slight angle and VERY slowly. I've only scraped the cross member once before whilst going over a hotel speed bump but it was my own daft fault as it was quite high and I wasn't going slowly enough.

With our original springs we touched down on everything when fully loaded. Now with springs changed under warranty and Suplex front end we touch down very rarely. Current ride height under the crossmember is 100mm, perhaps a tad less when fully loaded. Last time we passed Dover we did not touch anything.

I find tyre pressure makes a difference and I normally run 1.7 bar or 25 psi. I recommend you buy your own tyre gauge and use it all the time, service station gauges are often faulty. With a full load of touring luggage I sometimes run at 1.8 bar or 26 psi. Some may find that a bit too hard. I think the Morgan recommended pressure is 22 psi but I find the car feels a little squirmy at lower pressures.

If you are going by ferry when you get to the port tell them that you are very low and are worried about the ramps. They will probably put you on a level loading deck with the trucks. It has the advantage of having less idiots risking to scrape their bags on your car and, with a bit of luck, you will be amongst the first off at Calais.

Regarding tyres an option for the Plus 4 is to fit 195/65 R15 tyres instead of the standard 195/60 R15 tyres. They will give you 10mm more ground clearance and aesthetically will fill the wheel arch better.

PS. By the way you will probably miss us if you are coming to our part of Italy. We are headed in the opposite direction Saturday the 4th: from Italy through Switzerland to France then on to Cornwall before the Thrill on the Hill meeting.

I wouldn't worry too much about scraping the gearbox crossmember on speed bumps as long as you are crawling over them. It's a tough part of the chassis and you won't do any damage...well apart from scratching the galvanising, but it won't corrode through!
Just be grateful that you aren't driving a 3.0 Roadster!.....it's then a sequence of sump, bell housing and then crossmember