Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Helping a friend with his '67 Elan. Rear end seems to have chunked. We had the car on stands temporarily today to verify the tranny worked and the rear diff. didn't. But where do you folks recomend to jack from and where to place stands? According to the factory service manual he has you need to remove the left rear wishbone , the obvious axles , and manuever the diff. out thru the space left. From quick sight I see some folks might find this a little tight but I'm sure there's an easy cant,twist,rotate,etc. that gets it out without asprin.

Just popped in here but I'll be around more. Big hi to the CT crowd. I'm not a Lotus owner , sorry. .......not yet.

Cheers!


Took out the "rear". -edit Hoping the new title helps for reference. THis edit find us well down the road from the original post. We found a snapped axle and have at this point proceeded to complete diff removal , been inspected , minds put at ease , new axles and all sorts of goodies ready to go! Please pardon my mention of "rear" for the diff. as I'm a Subaru man with plenty of "double diffing" going on here. Hope this info helps some in the future. You guys were very helpful - THANKS!! Enjoy.

Paul

You don't know what you're missing,Lots Of Trouble.........

John

john.p.clegg wrote:Paul

You don't know what you're missing, Lots Of Trouble.........
John

Challenges, John, challenges

You need to jack up by the chassis so that the wishbones on the LHS can come away. The problem is that the exhaust is in the way. This is what I use - after trying different wooden blocks it never felt safe, but this way it is securely located in-between the chassis sides and you can put stands either side so it doesn't topple.

The diff should come out with a bit of wiggling, although it will be difficult if the floor of the chassis section has been pushed upwards from previous jacking there. Also, if there is a brace bar fitted to the top of the diff, this will also have to be removed before you attempt to manoeuvre the diff out.

Paddy

Paddy

Why does your exhaust bend to the left....or is it in negative and it really bends to the right??


John

It bends to the left and then turns around and goes into left-hand end of the box which is transverse - and you can see the box in the top-right of the picture.

I've no idea where that system came from - it was like that when I got it.

Paddy

Paul,
What has drawn you to the conclusion that the diff has failed? These are pretty tough units.

Getting one out for the first time can seem like a challenge but It's not really a problem as long as the chassis has not been bent (if it has, bend it back). With a Spyder chassis it literally falls out (keep fingers, cranium, etc. well clear).

I don't recall having to remove the exhaust but my Elans have had straight through pipes, rather than the "round the houses" version shown.

elansprint71 wrote:I don't recall having to remove the exhaust but my Elans have had straight through pipes, rather than the "round the houses" version shown.

I didn't mean that the exhaust is in the way of removing the diff - it's in the way of just putting a jack under the centre of the chassis.

Paddy

elansprint71 wrote:I don't recall having to remove the exhaust but my Elans have had straight through pipes, rather than the "round the houses" version shown.

I didn't mean that the exhaust is in the way of removing the diff - it's in the way of just putting a jack under the centre of the chassis.

Paddy

paddy wrote:

elansprint71 wrote:I don't recall having to remove the exhaust but my Elans have had straight through pipes, rather than the "round the houses" version shown.

I didn't mean that the exhaust is in the way of removing the diff - it's in the way of just putting a jack under the centre of the chassis.

Paddy

Apologies! Merlot again.
I have made a steel version of the wooden jack-up thingy shown.

I made a similar structure to Paddy's but it is made from 3 pieces of 4x4 (firmly screwed together) and goes right across the full width of the car just ahead of the rear wishbones, with most of the weight taken by the centre of the chassis, but the body providing anti-tilt stability.


See the first picture on this topic.
elan-f14/replacing-the-doughnuts-t16456.html

Hey you guys are OK!! ....not unlike the Subaru folks.

I'm going to skip the quotes , you guys are plenty bright here and can figure .....well then again you DO choose to have Lucas stuff .....

Rear diff should be the culprit. We jacked the car , started it up and engaged all gears. I watched the prop. shaft spin away right up to that rear diff. ----no action there after.

Chris the owner should probably chime in sometime soon. He's having a lovely day with his lovely lady today (Brit car board lingo) but hopefully he'll get to swearing and bandaging sometime soon. Me , I'm often overtired and sleep deprived from being a third shift knucklehead so pardon my not always being timely on replies amd sometimes stopping short on info.

I like the jacking methods presented , THANKS ! I'm plenty handy with saws , etc. etc. etc .... so I'll whip something up. Now as for jackstand placement. I'd like to not rely soley on the hydraulic jack I have.

Like I mentioned , I'm at one of "those moments" now where I really need to rest and have trouble typing , and focusing , but I have plenty more Q's to ask.
I'm going to catch a nap and check back later after a CT scan ...lucky me. Thinking ahead - has anyone split a diff and worked on them themselves? Or do you guys have someone known to be "the" guy to send it out to??? .... talk diff. inners ..... but first - sleep.... see you guys later and THANKS again!!

Cheers!

_

What is the actual problem? I presume there is no drive to the rear wheels, if that is the case before you pull out the diff first take out the short output shafts from the diff sides after first removing the main shafts.
The output shafts have a habit of breaking more so on the plus two Elans due to the extra weight, the later cars had stronger output shafts to cure the problem but it is not unknown on the two seater cars.
It is sometimes possible to remove the broken output shaft without taking the diff out, if it has a clean break and no metal particles are in the diff then you could save yourself a few hassles if the output shaft is the problem.

Hi Paddy - have you ever had a problem placing your jack support there ? I place mine in the same place as Bill's as I've never trusted the chassis strength right under the diff. Trouble is once you add in the height of the wood / jack etc, there's very little "wriggle room" to get everything nicely lined up.

Regards
Richard
'72 Sprint

richardcox_lotus wrote:Hi Paddy - have you ever had a problem placing your jack support there ?

No, not any suggestion of it flexing. You can see from the photo that there is a reinforcement just there to support the wishbone bracket. The support just fits between the sides of the channel so it is bearing on the most rigid part of the structure.

Paddy