Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms 4/4 steering advice please.

I was driving my mother's '58 Vauxhall Velox when the steering box came completely loose. It could turn left because it blocked at some point but could not turn right. Fortunately I had just turned left on a slow corner when it happened and was able to stop without mishap.
Funny how this turned out to be all my fault (according to Mum).

That car could really go. We lived on the outskirts of Sydney, 5 miles from the nearest town, I remember sitting in the passenger seat and watching the speedo hit 90 mph on several occasions(this was before Australia went metric. In later life Mum always denied she drove so fast. Once she had a "let off" from a "nice policeman" when she told him she was still getting used to the car and it was so difficult to keep it under 30 in top gear, I think she had only been doing about 50 on that occasion. At that time 50 mph was the speed limit for the open highway and 30 mph was the speed limit in built up areas. How things have changed. In that same stretch of road there are probably now 5 differnt speed limits and about 15 changes of speed limit. One never knows what speed one should be doing!

I would get the car in the air on axle stands and check for play. Main areas to suspect would be:
- Make sure the wheels are secure
- Check Tie rod/ cross-head security (especially the bolts at bottom of king pis)
- King pin play
- Loose or damaged joints in the steering column

I had the same feeling with my new 4/4 sport (2nd morgan)
the first week i went back to the garage to look if all was normal.The right front spring of the suspension was blocked.
Now it is ok and the direction is very precise.

If yopu have a friendly local MoT station, I would take it there. Their test system would specifically check for play in the steering. The ones I have driven have all bee dealer demo cars but they all have had quite good steering. Not in the class of a Lotus but not vague either.

Need to bear in mind that with the older style of construction, the front end will skitter a bit across the road on bumpy corners, or at least the cars I have driven have done so.

Many thanks for all your valuable replies.

I am going to take it into my local garage which is an MOT station and very well established with a good reputation. If they can't sort it then its off to Life's.

I intend to point the garage to this thread as there has been great input from you all so if there are any other tips then please post them.

Thanks again!

Keep us updated with your progress. It'll be useful to know what the problem is.

Good luck!

Well the car went into the local garage and the mechanic had a good look at this thread which he found very helpful. He checked everything over and tightened whatever needed tightening, sorted the tracking after getting the settings from Morgan but could not find anything wrong. It does feel a bit tighter now but a trip to lifes is in order. My mechanic suggested that although the car is safe it does feel that something in the steering column may be rubbing at times (not unlike the old Ford fiesta/focus ones apparently) and could do with checking over by Lifes as they will know exactly how it should be.

On another note, I tried to take the hood down today for the first time. It has two bolts in the back of the hood under the window that go into the back of the car. The driver's manual suggests pulling the lever on the inside of the car behind the driver's door to release them but when I do, nothing happens as if the lever has nothing to pull. The previous owner said that it can be stiff but this feels that if I pull it any harder the handle(lever) could break. No doubt another one for Lifes but am I just doing something wrong? I released the Tenex fastners and the rail straps first.

Thanks

Press the rear rail down as you pull the lever, that should do it.

Thanks DaveW.

If by that you mean the rail that the bolts are on at the base of the hood I tried that but no joy.

Sometimes the cable sticks. Somebody has posted recently about this. You may need to take the spare wheel off and go in through the hole.