Hopping Rear

[Temmck]

Wow, lot’s of good comments. A lot to unpack here. I will try to respond to all the comments. If I missed something please let me know.

Caliper washers – This was my mistake. My car came with the calipers in boxes. I purchased a lot of new hardware and inadvertently added washers here. One set of calipers came with the bolts attached with small OD washers which I may retain along with Loctite as I don’t think the new hardware from RD came with lock wire holes.
Body Lift – The issue I’m having is on the drivers side which is not the same side I found the loose hub bearing circlip.
Body lift movement – Body lift motion is the same when measured from ground to body as hub to body. How do I upload a video?

New info.
I removed the old rotoflexes and they have taken a set over time. I believe this is what may be causing the body lift issue. I’ll know for sure when the new ones go on. I have new rotoflex as well as all new nuts and bolts.
Removal of the old rotoflex revealed 4 different types of bolts and 4 different types of nuts. A real cluster. The picture is missing two bolts which are currently stuck on the car. For anyone who doesn’t believe the bolts can rust to the brake disc and hub spider, I can vouch that they can to a very serious degree. I used a pipe wrench, hammer and torch and spend two hours banging, heating, pulling, and cursing to get one loose. The other doesn’t want to budge no matter what I do.

[alan.barker]

Imho check ALL metal spiders to be sure they are not bent with all the hammering.
They can be bent very easily.
Was the car jacked up with wheels hanging down for a long time. This can deform the rotoflexs.
Good luck.
Alan

[661]

Is this a perfect time to introduce the CV joint debate?




Gets popcorn.

[ericbushby]

Yes,
Go for it Graeme
Nobody has mentioned that for ages now.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE (with CVs)

[alan.barker]

C V Joint needs a different imho post/blog (hors sujet)
Alan ( with rotoflexes a diehard)

[billwill]

Billwill's method of assembly viewtopic.php?f=37&t=16456&hilit=+doughnuts
make sense but the images seem to have disappeared now.


Ian

Strange. The images work here. They are actually on a different server, as this was the first message I ever posted on lotuselan.net and the system would not let me use the site upload at that time, so I put them on my server.

Here is a direct link to one of them for you to test:
http://www.datahighways.co.uk/images/og ... upport.jpg

and as an image:

I will convert them to files held on lotuselan.net as soon as practical.

[Elanman99]

Billwill's method of assembly viewtopic.php?f=37&t=16456&hilit=+doughnuts
make sense but the images seem to have disappeared now.


Ian

Strange. The images work here. They are actually on a different server, as this was the first message I ever posted on lotuselan.net and the system would not let me use the site upload at that time, so I put them on my server.

Here is a direct link to one of them for you to test:
http://www.datahighways.co.uk/images/og ... upport.jpg

and as an image:

I will convert them to files held on lotuselan.net as soon as practical.

Hi Bill
Your direct link worked (and opens one image) but nothing happens when I click your second 'image' link.
Good of you to document your procedure as I am sure it will help others in the future.
Regards
Ian

[billwill]

The first link show take your browser to my server and show only one picture. The second is just a normal external picture link and should have displayed one picture in the message on lotuselan.net.

The actual server of my own site datahighways.co.uk is in Germany, so it might be refusing to serve pictures to you for political reasons

Anyway, I will fix it as soon as practical.

[RichardHawkins]

Temmck,

I agree with Alan Barker, my 3 eared couplings were all damaged to some degree and needed remediation. What shocked me most of all was that the bolt holes were not concentric with e axis of the couplings. Whether this matters I don’t know, probably not with rubber couplings maybe with CV joints. I corrected for this by making my own adapters so the CV axis aligns with the coupling axis. Hope I didn’t waste my time!

Hope this helps,

Richard Hawkins

[Temmck]

I do not know how the car was stored prior to my ownership but I think there is enough natural difference in axle center lines that just sitting in the same spot for 30 years could permanently deform the rotoflex to this degree.

Thanks for the comment about the spider ears. I am also concerned about knocking them out of shape when hitting the bolt with a hammer. I will check them carefully once I get this darn bolt out.

I have now tried everything I can think of to remove this last bolt. Last night I sheered off the 5/8" bolt when trying to loosen it with a monkey wrench. My last resort is to cut off the bolt close to the spider and drill it out. Any last ideas before I put the cutoff wheel on the grinder?

[512BB]

Yes, cut off the bolt leavng 1/2" proud. Then heat the bolt and the drive shaft ear to good and hot and bash it out with a large punch, or an old bolt. Job done.

Leslie

[alan.barker]

I think i would remove the chapman strut from car complet with drive shaft.
Then remove drive shaft with seized bolt.
Put the drive shaft in a press with lug supported correctly.
The Elan is very delicate take care.
Alan

[RichardHawkins]

Temmck,

Once again, I agree with Alan Barker.

Richard Hawkins

[snowyelan]

If you can find a 2 leg gear puller that fits you may be able to do it without removing the strut. There are also ball joint removal tools that use a screw and a C shaped frame.

[Craven]

As you can fit new wheel bearings without strut removal! ensure you remove rear large circlip and carefully tap the through shaft. Don’t whack too hard or you will wreck the outer bearing.