Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi a relative newbie here so please forgive me if I've missed something obvious!

I'm semi restoring my 71 130S +2 which I have owned for 6 months.

I'm looking to replace the rear bearings, clean up the bearing housing, damper tube etc...

The hub is off, and I want to release the housing from the drive shaft. The bolts that fix the bearing carrier to the drive shaft housing are the ones that go through the disc. I can only get an open ended spanner on them and they are not moving without fear of the spanner flexing and springing off. On the housing of the outer end of the drive shaft I can see a number of Allen headed bolts. Should I be releasing these to release the carrier? or do I undo the bolts to the diff end and take out the damper, bearing housing AND drive shaft as one unit??

I was thinking that with the damper free at the top and hub split, the bearing carrier would simply slide off the axle....

Even if I release the inner diff/shaft bolts and take out the whole assembly ...how do I get the disc bolts out anyway?

Appreciate any help and advice!

Gary

Hi Gary

Yes the six socket head bolts through the outer CV joint could be removed to disconnect the CV joint from the adapter plate so you could remove the rear bearing carrier from the shaft.

To remove the the adapter and disk from the shaft you need to remove the the 3 bolts that go through them. Unfortunately you can only get an open ended spanner onto them as there is just not enough clearance with the bearing carrier hub to get a socket on. So you need to find a good quality and very solid open ended one to try with and be careful not to round them off if it slips.

If they still dont move then you need to start working on all the normal techniques to free up siezed fasteners and if none of those work then you need to cut or grind them off.

cheers
Rohan

Hi Gary,

I have the same conversion and the original instructions say to use an open ended spanner as Rohan has pointed out. I bought a set of the Halfords Pro. series spanners just for that job as they have a wider face than my older set and they were longer as well, so more leverage.

Memory is fading a bit here, but I think the nuts you can see are on studs into the mounting plate/disc so to get the disc off, the nut has got to go !

Brian

Thanks both...

I started again this morning with renewed vigour....have been putting plenty of penetrating fluid on these bolts for the past 2 days,...used heat....a pro-spanner with a small piece of tube added for leverage and still no movement!...

It looks like I'll have to grind them off

How would you suggest I go about removing the rest of the bolt that will be sat in the drive shaft adaptor plate?

Another quick question...I'm going to be looking to swap the damper....I have an oily piston rod so whilst it's all apart I'll renew the damper...I also want to refurb the damper tube as it looks like it a been at war...can these be removed from the bearing carrier...or are they press fit at the factory?

Thanks again
Gary

captainchaos wrote:I also want to refurb the damper tube as it looks like it a been at war...can these be removed from the bearing carrier...or are they press fit at the factory?

The damper tube is an interference fit in the hub carrier casting however you can remove and reinstall them. After you have dealt with your current problem you will need to remove the outboard drive shaft and bearings. This is a bit of a job as the bearrings are an interference fit on both the inner and outer races. Remove the large snap ring which retains the inboard bearing in the hub carrier and clean the area up. Heat the hub carrier in the area of the inboard bearing and then press the drive shaft out, the inboard bearing will come along as well. Then remove the snap ring retaining the outboard bearing, heat the casting again and drive the outboard bearing out. Examine the lower end of the damper tube, the part down inside the casting. Remove as must dirt and corrosion as possible from the bottom end as you don't want to score the hub carrier when removing the damp tube. Heat the hub carrier casting to about 300F and you should be able to withdraw the damper tube from the hub carrier by hand. I have done this. When you have finished fettling the damper tube heat the hub carrier again to about 300F and you should be able to slip the tube back in by hand.

Hi Gary,

If you're really stuck with getting these things apart then my first thoughts would be to save the stud at all costs. Sure, they can be replaced but it's more work and for me the last resort because you might end up having to drill it out and re-tap the hole.

So I'd try a nut splitter. I would probably help it along by chain drilling a series of holes (1mm ?) down the side of the nut, I'd be surprised if it's anything other than mild steel and should drill easily. In fact you could probably chain drill a line down the nut and split it with a small chisel.

Brian

I'm having a nightmare...

After lots of bad language I finally resort to grinding off the heads of the 3 bolts thinking that the thread is in the miller shaft adapters and one the heads are off I can bash the bits apart ... Or so I thought!

So I removed the Allen headed bolts to split the adapter and drive shaft and remove the whole assembly from the car ... So now I think ... The lugs of the inner axle are not threaded so surely with some gentle persuasion I can push the adapter from the lugs and take the bolts..(now studs) away.... But no such luck!

So, totally frustrated, I then decide (rightly or wrongly) that having noticed the adapter holes are fully threaded I thought to screw in a bolt extractor to the bottom of the bolt (stud ) and try to turn it out ....the stud is so tight the extractor breaks off !

I think it looks like my only option is to drill out the stud and re-tap.... Is this unusual ?

My next task is to withdraw the damper from the tube and the top cap ... I tried briefly to release/turn this but my c-spanner kept slipping ... The end to a very frustrating day!

And the front end came apart so easy !

Captain wrote:
So, totally frustrated, I then decide (rightly or wrongly) that having noticed the adapter holes are fully threaded I thought to screw in a bolt extractor to the bottom of the bolt (stud ) and try to turn it out ....the stud is so tight the extractor breaks off !

I have posted before, and others agreed, that stud extractors are f.cking useless, and here is another example of this. Maybe in ideal circumstances, and with a tail wind, they work okay, but in my experience, generally they do not. DO NOT USE STUD EXTRACTORS.

Leslie

If the heads are off the bolts then you should be able to drift the bolts and adapter plate off the drive shaft arms. Be careful as you do this to support the adapter and arms properly as it is relatively easy to bend the arms.

Once you have the adapter plate and bolt shanks free from the drive shaft you should be able to remove them in a vice or get more aggressive with heat to free then up.

The bolts are often a tight fit in the drive shaft holes as the PCD tolerance on these was not accurate when Lotus made them as it was not crtical with rubber donuts

cheers
Rohan

Salut

I found a 'freeze spray' (can't remember the name - it's a sort of liquid nitrogen in a spray can for releasing corroded threads, etc.) much more effective than penetrating oils.

@+

Vernon

Thanks all....

I tried to drift the studs out as suggested...got one to move about 3mm and then gave up.

I've taken the carrier/tube assembly to a local classic car restorer (basically experts in rust!) and left it with them. They've done this before (he tells me) so I challenged him to remove the damper tube for me as well which he kindly accepted!

Hopefully i'll be fitting new bearings at the weekend. The car was purchased with a pair of dampers (Spax TAG 1008) I have no allegiance to them. The current damper is buggered so replacements will have to be sourced if I don't fit the Spax..

I searched the archives (although some of the postings go back a number of years re spax) ... any up to date opinions?

Thanks again for all your input, it is much appreciated.

Hi all

I now have everything apart ( phew!) including the damper tube out of the bearing carrier. Before I reassemble with new parts...

Any comments on these spax dampers?


Thanks