Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I recently had to remove and refit a rear strut tube from the hub housing.

Unfortunately, in the process the hub housing has lost metal (much corrosion at the interfaces) and the interference fit is now minimal (1 thou or less at a guess). The tube can be twisted by hand in the housing.

I have cleaned everything up and re fitted the tube using Loctite 660 metal repair - it seems to have worked.

Quick question - is this an acceptable repair and will this product work in shear? I am a somewhat concerned and wonder whether I should shrink a collar onto the tube to stop the hub housing sliding up to be certain?

Views of the wise would be welcome.

Cheers

Jon

what I would do in such a case is weld a small ring on the tube that would act as a stop, resting on the hub top face, to make sure the tube will not creep down over time.

...my instinct says the same, however I am not familiar with the actual durability of the product and whether it would suffice on it's own.

According to the guff, it will accomodate up to 0.5mm of wear and is sold as a metal repair (and retaining) product for taking up wear between adjoining metal surfaces, shafts, splines, bearing housings etc.

Jon

I've used a lot of locktite "green" over the years and I would tend to trust it. The welded ring couldn't hurt but that stuff works! Don't want to ever try to disassemble it though.

Kurt.

will this product work in shear

Yes, superbly, that is what it is made to do, it has no strength in tension.

You will need a big welding torch to disassemble it.

So, Chancer, would you, as a personal view, rely on the glued in approach with Loctite 660 on it's own without a collar/stop?

...I don't want to separate it if I don't have to.

Jon

My username should tell you!

...that had not escaped me!

I'm with Chancer....go for it! It will wick but I think I would remove the strut and thoroughly coat the area's on both parts before assembly.

Kurt.

If you think about it even if you had a transition borderline clearance fit you would need only the smallest amount of "grip" for the assembly to be locked and to withstand any suspenion load.

just think how the front struts are clamped to the hub carrier on most modern vehicles, its a split collar with lots of clearance when undone, you only need to nip up the pinch bolt fractionally for it to be rock solid.

You still have an interference fit which would almost certainly be OK without the loctite but I would use it, I have recovered many worn bearing housings in the past with anaerobic sealants, the problem is only ever getting the things apart again in the future as a massive amount of heat is needed.