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Showing the intended use of the screw stands for crosshead support when the car is on a lift.

So just to finish things off! And perhaps clarify some misconceptions.

I hope these pictures show my intended use of these screw jack stands, They are not intended to lift or support a car unaided. Rather they were made to add support when your classic is held on an hydraulic car lift. If you look at the pictures you will see that the lifting points on the Morgan chassis are by way of the cross members and the front crossmember is at the bulkhead behind the engine where the chassis has triangular web's fitted. This leaves the whole of the chassis froward of that point hanging in mid air where the majority of the total weight of the car is mounted i.e. the engine and gearbox along with the front suspension and steering elements inc. the wheels and tyre's (when not removed for the work). Now this made certain parts of my anatomy twitch greatly! Most of us know about the cracked chassis problem at around the engine mounts area yet no one has come up with a solution or as to what causes this. So, in trying to reduce the risk of this happening to my chassis I thought that if I was able to support the front cross head in a neutral plane, i.e.. when on the lift this would alleviate any stresses to the chassis caused by this overhang. By neutral I mean by not applying upward force neither allowing it to sag downward onto the support, just carrying the weight! Often A job with the vehicle raised on the lift will require it to stay in the raised position for some time and I'm not sure that is a desirable situation. I first saw this in a main dealers workshop. A car was left on a lift one evening at close of play ready for either the next days work or it might have been ,if memory serves me correctly, a Saturday and that would have been until the following Monday morning!

This might just be paranoia on my part but frankly I did not want to chance it.

I have also discovered a few other uses for them as well in that they can support or move elements of the car when working on them , things like the rear axle or rear springs. Help support the rear axle when fitting a Panhard rod and support the position of the front steering pins from below when the oiler bolts are removed to fit crosshead top support arms. So as not to lose the pin position when removing/refitting the oiler bolts.

Someone has questioned their support capability in strength, Well they are rated to a vertical load of 4 tonne, as by nature I am extremely risk adverse and if used for what I had designed them to do are perfectly safe, any tool can be misused and prove to be a danger when misappropriated in the wrong way. That would be either a choice by the operative or by way of ignorance in which case that person should not be undertaking this sort of work.

I hope that will clarify why I set too in finding a solution to a structurally strong screw support and at a price point that is not much more than pennies. All the elements are easily obtained for somewhere between £50-£60. and if you dan change a spark plug you can easily assemble them for your own use.

One last thought for you to ponder! Morgan supply you with a simple scissor jack for wheel changing. It is totally useless in that it wont jack the car up safely in a place where you wont risk damaging the chassis, Yet you are told not to raise only one corner of the car as it might cause damage to said chassis. I'm not saying it cant be done but it would require perfect conditions at the jack extension height needed.Think about it and go make sure you can do it!

I wonder if those neat stands are actually needed sewin . The majority of weight on the front part of chassis is from the engine/gearbox so a scissor lift that supports at reinforced part of chassis adjacent to engine mounts should be fine as below. The recommended lower cross member as a jacking point for the front is fine if you haven't a lift however even though this will put greater upward force on the chassis than the downward force on same from the cantilever effect whilst on a ramp.



Having stripped the front suspension recently to bare cross frame I'm aware it's not that heavy.

Well John I think and hope you are probably correct and were I doing a quick job, or on and off the lift in a day say I probably wouldn't feel I needed them. I wonder though, if you need to change the gearbox rear mount and when you removed the fastening what would happen? After all you would in effect be removing the cantilevered anchor which is spreading the load to a point way behind the bulkhead to a mid chassis point. As this is probably something I need to address on my car soon I'll see what happens movement wise when I relieve the support from under the crosshead in this situation. I'll keep you posted as to whether any movement is noticed but feel I wont be testing it to its maximum outcome. I rather hope that I will need to actually lift the gearbox at the rear as the engine/gearbox unit will want to pivot down at the rear with the greater weight/leverage occurring behind the engine mounts, in which case I can use one stand centrally under the crosshead and the other to lift the output end of the gearbox to allow me access to the rear mount. When the weather warms which hopefully is soon I'll get on with this and the other outstanding jobs needed for the better weather!

It's interesting that your Roadster clears your lift with just the aid of two scaffold boards. My plus 4 needs a fair bit more than that to get onto my lift ramps which are 110mm fully down and I believe that is about the same as yours too. I have made access ramps and drive off platforms in order to not rip the CAT off!

TBH I have added some thick rubber underneath boards since that photo was taken as clearance was marginal, whilst adding a non-slip effect. Also stainless plates for the wheeled part of scissor to run on during operation.

FWIW I cannot see how any work inboard of engine mounts would benefit from front cross frame support. I agree with your thoughts that gearbox will need support with it's mount removed. I recall Ed China using one of those dedicated, read expensive, tall screw jack supports. Good luck with work.

Belle with a slightly heaver pilot AKA me only just made it on Richard's first design. It was tight but a lift like that makes a lot of difference.

Richard V6, where did you get your rolled edge side exit pipes from? I have been looking for ages (on the internet) for them.

David Byrne

They are a Morgan Aero Racing option David, for the 3.7 V6 at least. A spin off is the improved rear ground clearance. Available from Wolf Performance - click below.



Being shorter than standard fitment, when the option was chosen from new the factory fitted the L shaped exhaust hanger brackets just in front of seat cross member on chassis rather than behind. As this would have required a lot of difficult trim dismantling as an after market change, I made the extenders below from stainless plates.



These have worked fine for many years.

Oh absolutely!

If I had known just how good these lifts were I would have bought one years ago. It beats crawling around in the muck and allows you to undertake jobs that previously you just couldn't do. take the Haldex service or change on tin T's. The car really has to be at a reasonable height but more importantly dead level. Garages would charge £250 for a service and they don't even clean the filters and you're in for twice that if the pump is changed! Yet you can quickly do it your self for under £200.00 and a service for about £75 for the full kit!

But the MOG even with 6 ton axle stands is only just about accessible ! nose catching on the underside every time you turn your head!
Just about everything is helped by raising the car to a comfortable working height.

When I bought mine I really did struggle to chose between the two types available, the ,with platforms or the adjustable post type lifting arms like Richards. They both have advantages and short comings but in the end I went for the drive on platform as it was more flexible for the tin monocoque family cars to which there a growing number owned by me driven by those who think fixing them is just a matter of moments! However the type you see Richards roadster on has a height advantage of about 18" at full height and that I would love. The last thing not to forget though is that HFS designed the Morgan to be fully accessible to work on for the home mechanic
( that was everyone back in the day!)