Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am in the process of fitting a set of Sue Miller's CV driveshafts, and had read it was necessary to remove the safety pins from the hubs on later models of the +2.

But from what I can see in the manual, my car seems to things the wrong way around. I have pins on both ends of the drive shafts and a ring welded to the outboard stub axle. Is this a home made bodge?

There is nothing on the differential flanges, so if guess it was just hoped that Rotoflex wouldn't fail.

It is a lot more to grind off than a pin. Not sure a Dremel will do this one.

Oops, hit submit before adding the last two photos.

Can’t be too much help as I’ve no longer got the rotoflex type shafts fitted, but one of my intermediate shafts is like your first picture on both ends, the other shaft didn’t have anything on either end. Neither side diff output shaft or axle had that tube welded on which I suspect is a homemade modification. I’m sure you’ll get more info from others on here.

I did think I'd seen the intermediate shaft with pins on before, but searching images online I can't find any now. I'm just going to bite the bullet and lie under the car with an angle grinder. Had I spotted it a week ago I'd have dropped the suspension and done it on the bench, but I refitted it all on Friday. Suspect it is not going to be one of the more pleasant days work.

The Diff output shaft in your picture looks like a replacement billet steel part? The 3 arms appear to be more 'squared off' than the more rounded ends on the standard items. I don't think the replacements like this have pins or cups on them, I've certainly not seen any that have.

Gents and nerds , allow me to chime in. ( on the basis of the original Sprint set-up )
The lotus failsafe arrangement for rear drive shafts consisted of sturdy pins welded to the centre of the spiders of the outbord and inbord driveshafts.
The intermediate shafts had substantal tubes welded to each end to catch these pins.
Made a hell of servicing rotoflexes.
The picture may be a homegrown " reversion " of the theme. ( female ( bigger Ø ) now on the spiders. Pins ( Std ? ) on the intermediate shaft ? )
The Dave Bean catalogue contains a discussion of the set-up and a suggestion for opgrading .
Best regards
C.Garde