Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Centa fix

I'm wondering how many people have had their Centa drive replaced. From what I read it's just a matter of time before I have to have it done. I've got 7,000 miles on a 2012 so I'm probably driving on borrowed time. I'd hate to get stranded somewhere.

Consider the Phil Beazley centra upgrade...

Has your M3W been upgraded to the Centa drive? If it's a 2012, it did not leave the factory with the Centa drive.

Dutch, the rollers wear but it seems like earlier rollers are of a better spec material than the later ones - 17,000 miles to date on original first fit Centa rollers. The cars done 23,700 miles to date

Others have had Phil Bleasley’s mod done which is the better engineered solution

Over 30,000 miles on the non-stock Centa unit. H-D unit bit it after 22,000 miles. Checked and replaced rollers after about 19,000 miles. I have the originals and they still look good and solid. Honestly I fell that the life of the rollers in the Centa unit will be determined more by the driver than by the design. If the motor is lugged all the time then it will eat the rollers. Not much can stand up to those forces. Anything above 3,000 rpm is a relief to the drive train. Anything under that is a killer. The manual says to keep revs above 2,700 rpm. That is also what S&S says. Bear in mind that they are referring to motorcycles which weigh far less than the M3W loaded with people in it. Most of the X-Wedges I've seen on the road are on chopped bikes with the bare minimum on them like a double seat and a sissy bar! As an added bit of information, I had the chassis replaced due to cracking in three separate places where the motor is mounted. This was also the time when the rollers were replaced since it was all in pieces and we had access. All of the cracks were due to the starting cycle where you hit 100 ft/lbs of torque instantly from zero. This is a torque monster.

Dutch - You may have the original HD cush drive on your 2012 or you may not - hard to tell...although a magnet on a stick helps..Any receipts with car mentioning Centa upgrade?

If HD cush drive, we have one here that had issues at 8000 miles and took the crankshaft with it - expensive!

We recently upgraded a client car (with Centa) to the PB Centa. It had 28000 miles showing and was on original rollers - although we found only a single roller was still in one piece...and he tours a lot so timely intervention!
Just had another enquiry from an owner with 4000 miles - rubber on floor of garage.

If it is the HD cush drive thats fitted then take into account that you also need to budget for a new complete Centa unit from Morgan as well as the PB upgrade. So allow another $2000?

So as you can see, its very hit and miss with when failures may occur... eventually yes but when, who knows.

No as far as I know there were no modifications done to the drive

Are all centa Compensators in question, or are the majority of failures on the very early cars? I have a 2019 that had the compensators replaced at 1,000 miles, but the factory told the dealer there was a bad batch that went into some cars around that time.

Did Morgan pick up the bill for that? I suspect not ("they are a consumable sir, except it requires the engine to be taken out...").

Yes in this case it was replaced under warranty