Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

The inside to inside distance between the circlips on the driveshaft and flanges all measure about 2.33 in. with a vernier, but the available u joints from suppliers (for Loti) have a fully collapsed distance of 2.40 with the caps touching the spyder or yoke (and need some clearance). Anyone run into this before, vehicle is early S2 Elan? If it has been discussed before help direct me to the topic...
Jack

Hi Jack

I've never heard of this before.

I have just been fitting some new UJs to the output drive shafts on my Europa and although they were very tight they did finally go in ok. Are you sure you've got the caps fully pushed onto the spider. On new joints the seals can sometimes be vey hard and can hold the caps off a little way, also, have you checked the the width of the grooves relative to the thickness of the circlips. If this dosn't show anything up I'd check the sizes of the various parts of the new UJs against the old ones. If there is any difference then all I can than suggest is return the joins to the supplier and try and source some alturnative ones. Sorry I can't be more help

Andy

Hi Andy,
Actually you did bring up a point, I will check the circlip width compared to the grooves. I had one fully assembled and couldn't get the second circlip in, didn't appear close, and I admit didn't want to hit it too hard to drive the opposite cup backwards as that circlip already looked tight. (bashing something not understanding why it won't appear to go is bad practice!)
So I checked one fully tight ( the one not assebled ) (checked the seals were flexing enough) and compared with the inside width of the clips, but did not check the outside less the clips.. ..And .050 per side gap on a circlip to slot width is more than one would consider even checking for.... let you know....

thanks,
Jack

margaret wrote:how to change a u joints on a vehicle? Progressively over the last couple of months I've started getting a slight clanking noise when turning mainly to the right. I got underneath the front and made sure everything was tight and lubed like it is supposed to be and it was. hoping for some help here. thanks a lot.

its not clear that your problem relates to the U joints in the Elans drive shaft. You cannot see them from underneath the front as they are inside the centre chassis tunnel. Do you have standard rubber donnuts in the rear drive axles from the diff to the wheels or have they been replaced with u joint or CV axles. A problem in the rear axles could cause it or potentially a problem with part of the drive train or exhaust hit the body if any of the rubber mountings have partially failed. It could also be a loose or failing wheel bearing.

Lots of possible causes

Try different tests - turn left turn right, sharp corners, gentle corners, power on power off, different gears go over bumps etc etc to try to identify what specifically causes the noise and where it is coming from in the car

cheers
Rohan