Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Steering kickback

I suspect it might be the castor angle. The more angle, the straighter it will run hands off, but the steering will be slightly heavier. Lighter steering will give more kickback.
If you know what the spec should be - (from memory 2-4 degrees is common, but don't take that as gospel) - measure the backward lean of your kingpins. Yoy may be able to do this without fancy tackle - just by measuring the triangle and using schoolboy geometry.

That's a good point Dave. It looks to me though, as if the castor is non adjustable, though, in truth everything can be made to adjust. I see that the recomended toe is 2mm OUT on both sides, which, if mine is set up correctly, would explain why it is eager to turn in, whether this affect the kickback though, I'm not sure?

I would check the 'toe out' out. Toe out can be very twitchy, and it's unusual to have undriven front wheels toed out. I would try it on 2mm toe in. You can do that yourself with some wood and a tape measure.
A friend of mine with no car sense had a Ford Anglia van in the seventies. He fitted some track rod ends (4) but didn't think about the tracking, so he tightened them up all the way. The toe out must have been incredible as he drove to the tyre workshop to get the tracking set. It was five miles away, and they must have p*ssed themselves when he got there. The front tyres (crossplies) had worn to a sawtooth edge across the tyre in five miles. Apparently it was hellish twitchy on that journey and changed direction without even thinking......

Seconded.

Toe out is most unusual for non driven front wheels. The vintage trikes are toed in, but as the suspension and steering systems are quite different - not much point in me looking the amount up.

I have driven the 4/4 toed out - somewhere I have a longer trackrod and to be honest - it's a dreadful thing toed out. Darts this way and that as each wheel determines where the car is going, then it swaps to the other wheel!

No idea of facts and figures, but as 2mm in would seem a sensible figure, I'd double check your information.

Wheel alignment of mine was corrected by my dealer

I know that toe out would get the car turning into the corner quicker, but would it affect either the bump steer characteristics or the kickback through the steering wheel? It says toe OUT in the manual, so there must be a reason.

Indeed - but it's odd.

If you get told what the dealer eventually does and the cause of the problem, several of us here would love to know as it all helps one's general knowledge.

Simmo has also asked his dealer, Allon White, to find out what the cure is, so between us we may get an answer, and be sure, it will be posted here for general knowledge.

I drove my new 3W today (375 miles), and also noticed that there was a lot of kickback in the steering, especially when 2 or more bumps came together.

I even had the steering wheel knocked out of my hands on one occasion. Scary!!

Toe out was adjusted according to factory specs yesterday. It was delivered with a slight toe in !?
I also did some testing on gravel roads but there I did not find any problems, probably because the car "floats" on the gravel surface.

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Stig

Congrats. on getting your new car on the road Stig, but it's a shame you are also suffering. I've had the wheel knocked out of my hands on several occasions now, and it rather takes the gloss off the drive experience.

I contacted Simmo's dealer the other day, and he suggested getting the tracking/toe checked first of all [I haven't had a chance to get the car to my dealer to PDI it yet, having collected it directly from the factory], then checking other things after that. I believe Simmo's car is due back into the dealer this week, so it will be interesting to see if they have sorted the problem, and if so, what the fix is?