Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Cracks in lower front wishbones

Michael H, this is most concerning. I trust it is all fixed now....

OZ 4/4,

Replacing the entire chassis, on Morgan's dime, did the trick. It's a much stronger build. My build date was October of 2012. I suspect that the startup torque spikes are the culprit as one is going from zero to 100 ft-lbs in a very short burst. That motor wants out! I think mine lasted as long as it did as I have always kept the running RPMs at, or above, 3,000. Never let it lug or idle too long. That action also helps to preserve the so-called compensator, which is primarily designed to absorb the spikes and smooth it all out before it hits the transmission. The stock compensator, which was a Harley design lasted until 22,000 miles when it died. For the last 35,000 miles I've had the Centa unit with no problems. When we swapped out the the chassis, the dealer replaced the rubber cushions but they didn't really need it. Keeping the revs up really helps to smooth out the forces trying to destroy the car! Live and learn. This car has been nothing but a collection of learning experiences.

Good to hear it is sorted. An interesting learning exercise as you say.

Update on this ....

We now have new, hopefully stronger, wishbones - @ well north of £500 for the parts. MMC declined to fulfil their 2012 promise in full or even in part.

Once off the car, it is obvious that besides the cracks, the wishbones are significantly bent (as Steve mentioned).

Would urge anyone with an early car (2011/12 production) to check whether their wishbones are at all bent and, if so, get them properly checked (not least because the level of bending we found will affect steering geometry).

We are now feeling better about our 2026 plans for Northern Spain & Grindelwald with supposedly stronger wishbones....

Happy M3W travels for 2026!

Have you still got the "old" lower wishbones JMD? It may be worth finding out how much they weigh for a comparison with "new" wishbones, so early car owners can confirm what standard they have fitted. I assume that there is no visible difference between the two standards other than material thickness? At least you should not have any future wishbone problems 🤞.

As a matter of interest, another early M3W owner (Jim Lloyd) recently had the same problem and got two new lower wishbones for £130 each from Rutters. It seems the price has been reduced as they are now considered to be "Heritage Parts", maybe worth questioning the price?

We'll weigh the old ones and report back ... checking for bending will still be a useful initial indicator for the potentially affected cars as getting the wishbones off for a weight check while straightforward in principle is not trivial.

Would be even better if Morgan would identify and communicate the VIN range for the relevant early cars as it was a full switchover in production. I wonder if the MTWC might apply some pressure on this... Better than getting the DVSA involved!

Morgan have never been good at releasing any numbers related to M3W production, they won't even confirm how many were made. Agreed that it would be nice to be able to say that from VIN number XXXX the stronger wishbones were fitted but I don't think they will supply that information. The Autocar article about the M3W is dated October 2012, so I would say anything up to then would certainly be worth checking but probably Calums guess at mid 2012 is about right, any VIN under 0350'ish?

The weight of the wishbone will be handy for checking just what is fitted if you have an early car, as you really don't know what you have otherwise. A bit of a fiddle to check but worth doing. That is unless anyone knows of another certain way of identifying them? Even Morgan cannot easily identify what wishbones are fitted as your car, JMD, has had a new chassis fitted by them and they obviously sent it back out with the "old" wishbones fitted.

Actually for the record I only obtained one ( nearside) wishbone at the Heritage part price from M Rutter!
Having given further scrutiny the shape of both my lower wishbones with the straight edge of a steel ruler I have determined that they are both banana shaped, the nearside one especially so. The only reason I spotted the crack in the offside one was because it had become highlighted by rust that appeared following a long run on salty wet roads in early December. It looked pretty much like the photo at the start of the thread. Without the rust I definitely would not have noticed the crack so if you have an early car it will be worth checking very carefully. I hadn’t even noticed the bending of the wishbones.

More follow up as promised.

Have just weighed our old wishbones ... one is 1503g and the other 1535g. This includes the inboard rubber bushes. Regret I do not have a weight for the new ones.

The bends are very obvious using a 300mm straight edge, there is a +/- 3mm gap around the mid point of the bent forward tubes. For older cars, this is the simple check for problems

The cracks are both located the rear tubes where the web for the spring damper unit is welded to the tubes and would seem to berated to the quality of the welding process (overheating the thin tube?).

Happy to have new ones on our newly fettled car now back on the road in an exciting new livery for its "second coming".

Thanks for the weight info JMD. I may have the lower arms off my car in the not too distant future as I would like to replace the wishbone bushes, when available again. I will weigh them for comparison to the "old" ones. Before and after photos of the restyled car??? It may be a bit of inspiration for those considering upgrading an early M3W?