Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Looks done for and I’ve confirmed that there is okay in it, which seems counter to all that is Lotus Elan driving experience.

I know this has been discussed before but would you recommend going with one of the solid ones here?

I have installed the true universal joint style connectors on both my S2 and Plus2. I prefer the more direct feel of the steering over the rubber jointed style. I can live with the slight increase in harshness of feel. Save the beyond expected life joints for the future owner.

Solid U/J all the way for me. A matter of safety, plus, makes the steering very direct feeling.

Given you are in the US, this might be relevant. I replaced my worn stock coupling with a U-joint from Dave Bean and was unhappy with the results. It’s a folded steel design that didn’t get sufficiently tight around the splines of the rack and steering shaft resulting in some slop. It's not clear if they are all like that, or if I just received a bad one, but I didn't want to take a chance so replaced it with a slightly more expensive, but much stouter, cast version from RD Enterprises (see pic). It works great.



-John

A vote from me for the U joint style as well. I got mine from Kelveden I think, and it transformed the feel of the steering-the old joint wasn't worn out either.
Be sure to use good quality, tight fitting bolts with nyloc nuts and check them periodically for tightness.

JohnCh wrote: It’s a folded steel design that didn’t get sufficiently tight around the splines of the rack and steering shaft resulting in some slop.
-John

even when you tighten the "fold" with a screw (absent on your photo)?

might there be an issue in spline shaft diameter then ? this kind of design usually works well ...

That photo earlier is the one from RD that works. The Dave Bean version looks more like this. It's folded steel and even with the bolt cranked all the way down, there was still some slack. Granted it wasn't a lot, but it was noticeable. Bottom line, the slightly more expensive version from RD works great



-John

Excellent feedback, solid it will be. Will get something going with RD on it.

Thank you for the coaching.

JohnCh wrote:That photo earlier is the one from RD that works. The Dave Bean version looks more like this. It's folded steel and even with the bolt cranked all the way down, there was still some slack. Granted it wasn't a lot, but it was noticeable. Bottom line, the slightly more expensive version from RD works great



-John

are you sure the slack was coming from the joint/column junction (and not for example from the U-joint ) ? I would imagine that one canno't tightened it "all the way", that is there should still be a gap remaining between the two sides being tightened when they come in contact with the column: such a design mistake would be surprising from Dave Bean...

The same part is available from various Triumph supplier at much reduced cost.

I have fitted one, I used half height nyloc to secure mine as the standard bolt size was not long enough to allow full height nut to engage the nylon ring and therefore was risk of the nut coming off. The half height allows engagement with the nylon ring and believe offers enough strength for the purpose.

nmauduit wrote:are you sure the slack was coming from the joint/column junction (and not for example from the U-joint ) ? I would imagine that one canno't tightened it "all the way", that is there should still be a gap remaining between the two sides being tightened when they come in contact with the column: such a design mistake would be surprising from Dave Bean...

Positive. I placed my hand on the joint while turning the column to feel for the play. By tightened all the way down, I meant torqued down to the point that the opening wasn't reducing any further and it was difficult to tighten the nut any more without going to a 1/2" drive or breaker bar. As noted earlier, I could have received a bad part, or the tooling used to make mine was at the end of it's life resulting in tolerances that were sufficiently large that slack was evident with my 50 year old splines. Regardless, the joint from RD worked perfectly, and the one from Dave Bean did not.

-John

Hi Jon,
Thanks for info.
RD is the one to buy
Alan

I would note that TTR sells both types.

At the time I bought mine they only offered the one that JohnCh complained about. I found no problems with it unlike JohnCh. No slop. Might have received a bad one from Bean.

I further safety wired the bolts. Belts and braces.

none of these are splined, so friction alone is disturbing imo. my standard (are splined as we know) ones have nylon washers** (so everything CAN be tightened properly, so there's no play) ..................and nothing slips (** = instead of too flexible rubber ones) sandy

Sjsportscars steering coupling looks OK
Alan