Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Speed bumps

We are currently tootling about in Gloucester. Today at Durham Park and Malmesbury.
At both, despite very low speed (crawling at 5mph) I had several groundings whilst going over speed bumps. I can’t get under the car unless I call at a garage and get it lifted. There are no operational probs eg oil leaks etc. Oil pressure is ok. Does anyone think I should get it lifted to check before driving home (200+ miles)?

You should be ok, if you kneel down with a torch and look at the front of the gearbox crossmember U section you should see the telltales on it, if you can't it could well be worth getting it up on a hoist. They sound far worse than they are.

If you can't get under try driving 2 wheels of one side up on a steep kerb it gives a lot more room to get under/see.


Ironically in 14 years of Morgan's I never grounded either of my Plus8's but the 4/4 Sport had some big bangs but only ever to the U section.

Good luck.

Get a skid plate from Cain at Wolf Performance, it’s a brilliant piece of kit and piece of mind....

Ken,
The gearbox crossmember on the +4 is one of the lowest points. They always sound bad when grounded. As suggested, if you can get one side up on a tall kerb, you should get a better view underneath, but if you have no signs of leaks I wouldn't panic.

Good to see you last weekend.

Cheers,

Thanks for the advice folks. I will find some tall kerbs in the morning and see, fingers crossed!

Can't disagree with Craig.

I have had the Wolf skid plate fitted and although it may or may not make any difference, the peace of mind is worth it.

Most of the local MOT garages and tyre places will take a £5 to pop it up on the ramp and inspect it for you if you are in a pickle.

Ken A,

Whilst having a look under, do check the brake pipe that runs across on the x member. Last time I grounded it was damaged so I had a local garage make up a new pipe and route it higher along the top of the x member. Fingers crossed for the future.

Ken, if there are no visible leaks/drips then you should be ok until you can do a car-up check. It is probably the chassis cross member that has grounded.
I have had several groundings in my car. Our area seems to be a breeding ground for “traffic calming” devices and more pop up all the time. If I were to be cynical I would think the highways dept were in cahoots with tarmac producers and “speed kills” fanatics. I have changed some routes to avoid the damn things. Also developed techniques to climb ove4 them....at an angle/ one side on/ drive between the square ones/. Cars behind sometimes seem to get very close as I slow down to a crawl too.
I do have a dent in the sump from a large rock that fell off a lorry....LOUD bang but no leaks. on the A40 near Brecon. Luckily it is a Rover V8 with steel sump.

The Plus 4 is the lowest car of the whole series simply because of the tyre profile used. Just because of the tyre profile the car is 16mm lower than the 4/4.

Add to this problem the fact that your car was produced at a time when Morgan had a batch of poor quality springs that sagged before they even left the factory the chances are that you have only about 90mm of ground clearance under the gearbox crossmember. Given that many older speed humps were supposed to be 90mm high (now the standard is supposed to be 80mm) but have a tolerance of 10mm it is not unusual to find speed humps that are close to 100mm high so you are bound to ground out now and then.

There are various solutions including fitting 4 seater springs, which, for me, would give a ride too rigid. This is why I fitted the 5 link rear suspension.

If your car is on the original tyres it is time to consider replacing them (just for the age) and I would recommend that you consider 195/65 R15 tyres. This, of course, only applies if you have the 15" wheels and do not do track days (so want the car as low as possible). Using the 65 profile tyres instead of the standard 60 profile tyres will give you another 10mm of ground clearance.