Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 How many pre 2014 without chassis cracks?

I've had 9 Harleys both with engine bolted directly to the frame (Softail) and via engine mounts (Electra glides, Dyna's etc). in which you see the engine rocking when stationary and I've never heard of a frame cracking. The engine is bolted facing a different direction in the Harley frame, with the resultant problem with the air cooled engines in that the rear cylinder doesn't get enough cooling air. Some of the later engines had a reciprocating mass to counterbalance the engine vibrations as the capacity grew in size over the years.

The bikes with the engines bolted directly to the frame, you could feel the vibrations thru the foot pegs and even the handlebars which gave it a more built from granite/solid/direct type of feel compared with the more loose/isolated/ softer/smoother feel of an eg Electra glide drive train as the engine mountings isolated more of the vibrations away from the rider.

Perhaps this is the engine that theyshould have chosen:

With a Guzzi engine it would certainly be more reliable, the interest for me of the S&S is that it has more engine torque and is more brutal as soon as the improved engine, the 132 modified transsexual version is beastly.

Mine was unit 900 and something. No crack in my chassis. 3,000 miles but did loose a timing belt.

Thank you! That takes us to 3, and also back on topic 😁

Howdy,

I have chassis 273 – no cracks (yet). It shares the garage with several vehicles, so I admit that I don’t use the trike as much as some.

I’ve fitted the obligatory brace bar. Hilariously, the factory remedy didn’t actually fit the chassis (around 2mm out).

Our 2013 cars got a cracked chassis in the lower tubes with appr. 20.000 miles.
After contact with MMC, they offered to repair (welded) them both FOC.
For that, we needed to transport them from Switzerland to Malvern and back.

Ten thousand miles later, one of the cars got cracks in the upper tube, which is much more challenging to repair.
MMC asked to bring the cracked car once more to Malvern, where they installed a completely new chassis FOC.
Besides the lengthy transport, we were happy with the service from MMC.

Currently, the car with the old 2013 chassis still looks OK on the upper tubes, but how long will it last?
These cracks are like a sword of Damocles for ALL owners of a pre-2014 car.
It’s not whether it will crack but more of when.
And believe me, that always happens during the touring season and not in wintertime when the car stands in the garage.

I’ve contacted M3W Service France and talked about this lingering problem. They offered me a good and clever solution to strengthen the old chassis to something much more robust.
As that looks like a wise idea, it would be best to get this done before the touring season starts.
It’s not a cheap preventative upgrade, but there are no worries about a cracked chassis anymore.

But as always, with an M3W, we still need to keep our fingers crossed for a trouble-free touring season.

I recall one of the continental M3Ws had some seriously upgraded engine mounts to solve the vibration issue. Whether that increases or decreases chassis stress is a question though...

My 2013 car had a replacement chassis after the bolt in brace was fitted that took 11 weeks. In the M3W register some owners have recorded chassis changes. For some reason from 2015 owners have recorded only colour & trim but then thats after the crack saga.

my 2013 build Nr. 767 (30.000 km) has no cracks as far as I know ( ), all upgrades were made.

Achim alias Waldemar