By John Blair

Do you have wire wheels? If so, be very careful when you disassemble both sides of the front or rear
suspension. The previous owner of my car had reversed the two front hubs. Consequently, occasionally
as I came to a stop one of the spinners would go flying off the car and take off down the street. More
than once, I held up traffic while I chased down a wild spinner. Of coarse, as I started this restoration, I
forgot to write down which way the spinners turned on each wheel. But I'm no fool - don't bet on that
my wife says, you can't even tell time. Remember the 2 to 3 month estimate to fix that Morgan. Its been
over 2 years now! - I put each spinner on its hub, labeled them, and set then on their respective sides of
the car. Unfortunately, I removed the labels when I cleaned and painted the hubs, not to mention the fact
that they all ended up in one pile. Oh well, maybe I still have a few lessons to learn. The hubs should go
on so that the spinners are tightened in the opposite direction to the way the wheel normally turns.

If you take your car to an alignment shop, be sure to tell them you want to know the Camber angle, Castor angle and the kingpin inclination. (You can check by asking them what the values are, rather than telling them.

Toe in should be set to 2 degrees (or 1/8-3/16") of toe in..

Camber angle should be 2 degrees positive camber (the top of the tires slant outward like this "\ /") for all 4/4 Series II through Vs and +4s with the TR engines.

Castor angle should be 4 degrees for all 4/4 Series II through Vs and +4s with the TR engines.

Kingpin inclination should be 2 degrees for all 4/4 Series II through Vs and +4s with the TR engines.

These last 3 items are fixed by the design and assembly of the front suspension. While it is conceivable that they can be adjusted it is done with brute force. So stop and think about it before changing any of these settings unless the car has just been in an accident. (I would be remiss if I did not point out at this time that there is a "modification to the front suspension call a "negative camber" mod. This will change the tire stance from " \ /" to "/ \" ). However, this modification will take a little work and there is some discussion as to its applicability for street use. Fred Sisson as a nice write up about it in his book.

If none of the above has helped solve the front end vibrations, you will have to come face to face with the mystique of the Morgan front end.

PLUS 8

Toe in should be set to 0-1/8" (0 to 3.2mm) of toe in..

Camber angle should be 1 + or -.05 degree of positive camber (the top of the tires slant outward like this "\ /").

Castor angle should be 4 degrees.

Kingpin inclination should be 2 degrees.

Decambering a Morgan (for a 0 camber)

I will not attempt to go into the pros and cons of decambering your Morgan. Suffice it to say that all of the racers do it, most people recommend it if you use radial ply tires, and our SNOBMOG is not decambered.

To decamber your Morgan, you must move the bottom of the kingpin outboard with respect to the top. This can be accomplished in several ways. On the Le Mans cars, Chris Lawrence had longer bottom tubes made for the cross-axle. The local slalom crowd has been using "Decamber Plates". This is a replacement base plate with the hole for the kingpin moved 3/4" outboard. This is a very simple modification to make and the only drawback seems to be that a greater strain is put on the two mounting bolts for the base plate (because of the greater offset). Grade 5 or better bolts should be used here and torque them to 20 lbs. feet.

Editor's Note: I would suggest that you manufacture the new base plate (see drawing) before starting the following procedure.

The Procedure

• Disassemble the front suspension
• The end of the cross-axle will have to be modified for the larger offset. If it has not cracked already over the years, cut away the outer edge of the flange on the cross-axle as shown.
• Mount the new base plate to the kingpin and reassemble the suspension. Be sure to use 5/16" grade 5 or better bolts to hold the base plate to the cross-axle, and to torque them to 20 foot lbs.
• The last step is to adjust the toe-in. As you have effectively increased the distance between the two front wheels, toe in will be excessive unless the track rod is also lengthened.









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Toe-In Measurement

The easiest method that I have found (aside from taking the car to your friendly local alignment shop) for adjusting toe-in is to use a plumb-bob. Any weight, like a nut on the end of a string, will do.
    1.    First, jack up the front of the car, spin the front wheels, and mark the approximate   centerline  of the tread with a piece of chalk.

    2.    Now lower the car to the floor With the wheels pointed straight ahead and then drop the plumb-bob from both the front and rear centerline of each front wheel. Mark the position of the garage floor with a piece of chalk.

    3.    Now, measure the distance rear to rear, front to front, and the diagonals. As in the sketch.

    4.    The toe-in is the difference between the front and rear measurements. If the rear distance is greater you have toe-in. If the front measurement is larger, you have toe-out
 

Toe-in Adjustment

1. Loosen the stop-nut(s) at the end(s) of the track rods between the front wheels and also the clamp on the rod from the steering drop-arm to the track rod. Note the position of the clamp on the track rod.
2. Rotate the track rod to lengthen it or to shorten it as required.

Note: If the front has just been decambered, the rod should be too short and will have to be lengthened (about one inch).
3. When the toe-in is correct (1/8 to 3/16 inch), tighten the jam-nut(s) on the ends of the track rod.
4. Tighten the clamp on the tie rod in the same position that it was in before.