Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Moving rear axle backwards

I have a problem moving the rear axle of my 4/4 Sport 2014 backwards. I purchased the set required from Mulberry and thought it was an easy job for a Saturday. I have to admit that I did not check up front how the construction looked like on my Morgan. It turned out that my Morgan has the very thick blocks between the leaf spring and the axle. The set from Mulberry contains the thinner blocks. The Mulberry set moves the axle back by 15 mm. On my Morgan that turned out to be impossible, because the dif touches the petrol tank. The space between the dif and the tank is only 10 mm. Mulberry did not have a quick solution for this problem, luckely I could return the set. I also checked if I could move the petrol tank further backwards, but that is not possible because at the back it sits against a transverse chassis bar.

The reason I want to move the axle backwards is, because I have wider tires (Vredestein Classic Sprint 185 in stead of the Conti 165), touching the fenders and damaging the paint. I also think that moving the wheel in the middle of the fender arch looks nicer. I am curious if somebody has solved this "problem", or has an idea for a, not too complicated, solution.

Here is some info
http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/LoweringBlocks.html

Hello Nagrom, Back to your original Tyre size could be an option too Brother :-)

The narrow Plus 4 uses 185/70s. With this size, clearance is tight against the top spring mount at the front, but ok at the rear.

The later cars have a fuel tank which is taller and mounted further forward, so clearance to the diff cover plate is much reduced.

I have over 50 drawings for Morgan fuel tanks
I now think (still not 100% sure) that there are 3 different variants of tank shape and 3 different pumps used on the 4/4 sport

It’s expensive finding out the differences.....

Simon @ Sifab.co.uk

Just my two cents. I can't help you when it comes to aesthetics. If you take T Trac 2 Vredestein tyres in the dimension 165/80/15 you will have a similar performance as with a Classic Sprint 185 and it is even better in the rain and there are no problems with the geometry or the issue of touching the wings. With my 2014 4/4 and these tyres no wishes will be left open. It is only a recommendation that is very cost-conscious and can be realized without much effort.

I wonder if the narrow Plus 4 has the lowering blocks that the Sport has. It may be that simply removing the Sport lowering blocks and fitting shorter U bolts could give the clearance required?

I've just bought 165/80 x 15 T Trac2's after reading reports from Heinz etc. My 2012 4/4 Sport has lowering blocks and I'm 99% certain 185/70 x 15's would have rubbed on the front edge of the rear wing, especially as there is about 5mm less clearance on one side than the other.

An unfortunate example of poor management as far as I am concerned. The axle is believed to have been moved forward at some point in order to combat axle tramp, which was later resolved by fitting tramp rods. Nobody seems to have thought it necessary to alter the position of the wheel arch in the rear mudguards. The end result is something of the order of 20 years production of trad Morgans with the rear wheel offset towards the front of the wheel arch. If you asked someone "why?" they would probably tell you that the mudguards were always done that way.

If you measure the actual width of the rear guards, from the tub out, you will almost definitely find that they are different one side from the other. Likewise there should not be a difference in the fore and aft position of the guards but the fact that there is does not surprise me greatly. The joys of ownership of handbuilt cars, particularly when they are built in a workshop where a good number of components are fitted and placed by eye instead of using accurate jigs.

Neither of my narrow Plus 4s had lowering blocks.

Agree that every car is different because they're handbuilt. You wouldn't even notice that on my car there is a slightly larger gap between tyre and wheelarch with standard 165's if the gap wasn't only about 12mm. I wouldn't consider increasing to 175 width on my car and only have approx 7mm clearance between tyre and wheelarch.