Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Rear Suspension Bottoming

Had the same issue on both the 08 +4's II have owned/own. Finally tracked down that the MMC had issues with rear springs around this era and have changed suppliers in recent years, basically the springs from around 06-2010 were too soft, this is the case on 2 and 4 seat cars (I have had both types).

There is a very good fix to fit new rear springs, however, after talking it through with Peter Mulberry and him advising me that several owners had him supply 4 seat srings for a 2 seat car (this was done as they normally drive 2 up and often carry luggage) I went this route and never looked back on my current 2 seat car.

I worried it may be too bouncy or harsh but it's not at all, initially the ride height was raised to about 15mm above a standard brand new car measured at a dealership, and this has settled and dropped 10mm from that over the first few months where it has stayed ever since. I run Koni Classic adjustables on the lowest setting on the rear and 2 clicks up from softest on the front.

Are you sure it's bottoming out and not topping out?

Nothing quite like a firm rear end.

Totally correct, a panhard rod stops the springs moving sideways. Can stop the propshaft rubbing on corners when laden or driving fast.

Quite common for a Morgan in a long fast corner to wind up the axle and if you hit a bump, adhesion may be momentarily lost and the rear will 'jump'. Bunny hopping is a term I'd never heard of, but describes the process admirably.


Seconded - it's your springs. New shock absorbers may help, but are unlikely to totally remove the problem.

Make that 06-2012 Colin. My 2012 car was terrible and Morgan replaced the springs under warranty with the older 5 leaf springs.

Thanks for the responses, I'm pretty sure it is the springs that are too weak, either by design, quality or degradation.

So I think I will follow up Colin's mulberry suggestion.

My 2011 4/4 sounds like it bottoms out but it is just the abnormally long seat bolts hitting the deck on certain types of road undulation, and yes in a straight line too.
I have fitted shorter bolts and painted the tip of every bolt under there with bright orange paint so I can tell what bit decks if it happens again. It has not done it since fitting the short bolts though.

I'm no expert but will nevertheless add my consumers experiences. First of all, better resp. adjustable dampers could be the way to start, because better dampers can effectivly "help" the leaf springs not to bottom out, and it is a good solutions for two reasons. 1. it is a comparable cheap change and 2. you benefit of better dampers any way significantly in terms of ride quality even if you change the springs afterwards as well..
Now i come to the point why I say, good dampers "better" the behave. It's the spring itself which is the major cause.
On my 2014 4/4 it is a threshold situation, the springs are bottoming out on the straight, but only with two passaengers and a full tank So I kept them and the AVOs really help.
(I will go for asymmetrical leaf springs in the future for another reason: anti torque behave, and hopefully the new springs are at least as stiff as my current ones).

A word re Panhard rods. As a layman I can only say the Panhard rod which was installed into the P4SS by the factory worked excellent. Why excellent? It did what it should do, avoiding lateral movement, but it did not add this certain hardness and delivered a quit smooth ride without those nasty bumps linked to your back. I had added Panhard rods on two roadsters but the drive was very unpleasent even if the rod did his main work propperly. I removed it very soon again and added a second anti tramp bar instead which "helped" against lateral movement.
As has been said a Panhard rod generally does not helpt directly against bottoming out. But it could "help" to make the ride less comfortable.

My 4/4 should keep simple and lightweight. I don't see the the need of a Panhard re the way I drive her but the AVO shocks help a lot.
If your springs are way to soft I also would start changing them but as I said the AVOs are an additional improvement anyway.

Hi Peter, that's not good is it, was 'assured' that the factory had resolved it (after 3 sets failed on my 08 4 seat and on the last set I was about to give them the car back and a court order of rejection) I was assured they had changed supplier and requested to try one more set. All the work was being done by Allon Whites and for the last set the car was with them for over 6 months waiting for it to be sorted, that was in March 2010 and the revised ones totally and instantly changed things, we both know they would have carried on fitting what they had though until stock ran out.......no wonder you went Houdini Link