Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - Roadster rear suspension fail

After recently hearing a knocking from just behind the driver's seat on my Roadster Ser2, I removed the offside rear wheel to investigate. I appear to have suffered a sheared mounting bolt on the anti-tramp bar. There is a useful note on GoMog at https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/roadsterantitrampissue.html and the photo looks the same as mine. So, not uncommon, but how and where do I source and replace the bolt ? I'm guessing I will have to remove the U-bolts to remove the block and tap (as in thread) out the remnants of the bolt where it appears to have sheared ? And it may just be the way it looks, but the bush seems to be internally threaded which can't be right ? This is the first time I have worked on the rear suspension, so in removing the U-bolts, is anything ghastly going to happen like the leaf springs exploding apart ? Help !

Thanks. I couldn't really figure how anything threaded (apart from the saddle) could have worked. The shank and head will be pining somewhere in a ditch in the New Forest I suspect, so I couldn't check the inscription. And nothing available online that matches the high-strength requirement and dimensions (12.8mm clearance hole in the bush, which is 42mm long, and the sheared threaded end which I extracted is 19mm long), so I ordered a factory one. I was surprised how heavy the ATB is.

Just back from a lovely twilight drive through the New Forest, it might be my imagination but the car seems to be going better than ever, without the ATB..... I will give it some time with different driving styles and in different road conditions, but so far I'm very happy ! Thanks everyone for all your helpful suggestions and technical gen.

Well who knows all the facts here as I'm sure it was a case of "oh the car is doing this" so MMC decided it was axle tramp caused by torque winding the rear axle, but if you look carefully at the video's posted there is no judder at the nose of the diff which is usually a good indicator of axle tramp. As Heinze said, there will always be some level of distortion to leaf springs. John, I'm surprised that with the extra load rear springs on the 4 seat version that you could get any wind up at all. Now we know that the BHP of the Roadster's was probably way to high for the chassis on a road going Mog, one of the reasons I chose not to go down that route, living in N.Wales with the slimy roads for ....well, most of the year, the Roadster really was a handful. and on the really narrow tight and winding stuff you were changing down two gears yet going up in singles and your hand never left the gear lever. So you end up screaming the engine in too low a gear just to keep your hands on the wheel. Then when you got a chance to open it up the rear wheels would spin in the first three gears without even trying. So I found I was driving the car not to have fun but to prevent undesirable effects happening.

So what might be the cause, In my humble opinion I think quite a bit of this is down to the tyres skipping as they loose traction, There just isn't enough sophistication or weight in combination to stop these effects happening. If we compare the Roadster to the plus 8, even with the narrow bodies, it lays down the power on the road much better. So perhaps the classic chassis'd cars had just about reached the sweet spot for road use and maximum power delivery on that chassis then. Yes, on the track everything is much more predictable. They have also had chassis and suspension changes to improve handling and wider grippier tyres, neither of which in value for money terms would greatly improve a classic for road enjoyment.

I think as so many have said, we should not lose sight of what a classic is and enjoy it for what it is warts and all. Of course there is now the option of a CX platformed car with its Mclaren like chassis and with used prices now hitting the £50,000 and under mark this would resolve a lot of those seeking a desire to remove these issues. I quickly decided I didn't want to go down that path, mainly because of the BMW association and I have previously gone into that in some depth so won't revisit it again here. However perhaps I hadn't realised fully on what I had fully based my decision. I had from being a boy always loved the Morgan 4's and when at too great an age I was able to make that happen, I was able to enjoy the full ownership experience, a lot of which consists of the maintenance, servicing and repairs to the car as well as driving it! And yes I like its quirks, that old fashioned driving style yet giving you the reliability of a much more youthful car. And when even my plus 4 shows a bit of chassis inadequacy I sort of like it! It's fast enough for me around the roads I drive and its different. I think what I mean is I bought it for exactly what it is and I really didn't want a porsche, ancient or modern. I too have had a period of getting caught up in trying to resolve issues with the classic chassis'd cars, yes you can improve them but not eradicate them. All that happens is you become more attuned to the issue and dwell on resolving it rather than enjoying the car for what it is. That said proper maintenance and servicing and understanding the chassis will make the car perform at its best!