Fitting Sue Miller/Kelvedon CV joints

[TonyA]

Now my car is back from body repairs, I am fitting the Sue Miller/Kelvedon CV joints. I have already removed the original donuts & half shafts and loosened the front suspension arm joint from the hub carrier. Now I'm ready to fit the 'dumbells'. My question is should I first engage the longer studs thru the discs and then pull back the upright to engage the shorter studs at the diff, or the other way round. ? Any tips welcome; I am on my own, on my back and these buggers are heavy to manage ..! Cheers. Tony.

[lotusposition]

Sorry to see nobody can be bothered to help you here!
I seem to remember I found it easiest to fit diff end first.

[andyelan]

Hi there.

The easiest way I found to fit the shafts was to take the aluminium adaptors off the drive shaft assemblies (the 6 cap head screws at each end) and fit these separately to the diff and hub. It should then be a straightforward job to fit the drive shafts into the recess in the adaptors and screw in the cap screws. Just be aware that with the adaptors removes the CV joints will be exposed, so take care not get any dirt into them during the fitting

Regards
Andy

[mjbeanie]

Hi Tony,

I recently fitted the Elantrikbits CV assemblies to my Elan Plus 2.
Here is what I did and it worked quite well. First confirm which side will utilize the long or short studs.

I removed the aluminum adapter of the side of the CV joint going to the diff only. After marking the orientation of the adapter plate and CV assembly with a marker. There was no reason to remove the other side, and I kept it clean from contamination.

Then I fitted the DISC side first as it is the most "stubborn side" to get the bolts thru. Needed the wiggle room.
I fitted the aluminum adapter cap to the diff and snugged up the attachment bolts.
I rotated the disc and cv joint assembly, until it aligned with my mark on the adapter plate, and attached it to the plate, tightening the cap screws.

This worked well and there were no issues.
Cheers
Mike

[david.g.chapman]

I re-assembled my Mick Millar CV drive shafts to my +2 recently without dismantling them:

1. Locate the brake disc end in the brake disc holes (disc loosely fitted around the hub and with the calliper off), but do not add the nuts at this stage.(Sue wrote DIFF END on the other end to make it easier to identify each end) You want the assembly floppy and moveable.
2. Lift the other end up above the diff output shaft ears, then try and insert one of the studs into any one of the ear holes.
3. Grab the output shaft ears and rotate them to line up with another of the studs. You are trying to wind on the studs through the ear holes using the ears as gentle leverage. The cv joints need to bend to the max to achieve this, including play at the disc end. The diff also has some compliance on its mounts.
4. Once two ears are at the hole entrances the third stud will not be far away from its hole. A bit if jiggling and all of the studs should start to pop into the holes.
5. Continue to jiggle and rotate and work the studs though the holes. Now you can use the nuts to draw the studs all of the way in.
6. Complete the assembly of the disc end.

Works for me!

Dave Chapman.

[alan.barker]

Hi Tony,
Be sure to Torque load Sockethead screws and Loctite threads.
Alan

[TonyA]

Thank you all..I was reluctant to undo the socket bolts partly because of the risk of dirt ingress and partly not to disturb the manufacturer's tightening process. I found putting the long studs through the wheel hub drive and brake disc first worked quite well : as soon as the threads started poking through, I put on the nyloc nuts and tightened evenly to pull the studs home followed by freeing the suspension arm from the hub to allow the strut to be pulled out enough to allow the short studs to locate in the diff drive, again using the nuts to pull the studs evenly home before torqueing.

There is no room to engage the nyloc nuts with a socket or ring I used an open crow foot on the torque wrench.to tighten accurately while brakes applied by a helper.

I have jusr posted my method of supporting the back of the car to get this job done.. have a look.

Cheers..Tony

[alan.barker]

Tony,
Manufacturers tightening technique is tight then a 1/4 turn so no technique.
On my Elantrikbits CVDS the Torque is 20Nm for Caphead screws. Fitting instructions supplied with.
Don't forget Loctite on Caphead screw threads.
Alan

[alleggerita]

We installed Mick Miller CV joints last weekend.

Working order:
Attach the strut to the upper part of the chassis, support with a wooden block.
Attach the CV to the diff and keep it suspended at operating angle to the chassis using a strap
Attach the CV to the hub. Make sure to correctly install the brake disc otherwise you have to do it twice (!)
Attach the hub to the lower A-arm. The CV joint has sufficient axial play to easily line up the hub/ arm holes

Remark 1:
We had to drill the holes on both hub and diff side to 11.4mm. The holes themselves were big enough for the individual CV joint bolts but the bolt spacing was off. This makes mounting a push fit rather than a press fit.
Remark 2:
The studs are too short on both sides to fully eat into the nylocs. And yes, we did install the diff side to the diff.
Remark 3:
This job is practically undoable with the body still on.

[JonB]

That picture of the nyloc nut - I'd be worried if mine look like that when I fit them. Your diff output shaft looks like it's a non-original part, billet perhaps? I suspect it is thicker than original, which could be the cause of your problem.

[shynsy]

Just doing this very job. Car is fully assembled so access from underneath. Undo all bolts for the donuts and withdraw donuts and shaft. Then fit the cv axle, I did outer first then inner. Went in fairly easily and nylons all engage fully. Only tip I have is having to gently tap each end into place in the relevant hub using a Hyde hammer until the threads of each stud are clear enough of the hub to engage the 3 nuts. I then did each nut up a turn or so in turn to draw the shaft onto the hub gradually.
Only issue I had was having to grind off the stubb of a failsafe device of the inner flange to allow the new shaft to seat. This was on one side which didn't have a failsafe shaft. The other side is a different matter. It has a fully intact failsafe system so looks like I will have you undo the wish bone at one end to separate the failsafe devices. Then I'll have to cut them off the hub before fitting the new cv shaft.
Tim

[alan.barker]

Be sure on the MM CVs the adapter is alloy so when you Loctite the bolts be sure to use Loctite Activator.
On Elantrikbits CVDS the adapters are Steel(no activator needed)
Alan

[skelteanema]

I fitted the ElanTrikBits driveshafts to my S3.

I actually found this video quite useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWq3FTdlC3E

It is similar to what Mike described. My car was nowhere as clean underneath as this car so I had to take special care not to get dirt in the exposed ends.

I don't know whether the same technique can be used for the Miller/Kelvedon ones, but assume it can.

[TonyA]

When I unbolted the six cap scews of the MM driveshaft to emulate the Elantrikbits YouTube fitting video, a couple of the ball bearings came out and they can't just be popped back in, I had to take off the assembly from the car and disassemble, repack and regrease the bearing. Frustrating,, messy and time consuming. I suggest do not go this route with MM because the geometry does not allow a great deal of movement when open before the ball bearings start falling out.. One of a number of advantages of the Elantrikbits version- but they are nearly twice the price of MM in UK.!

Tony

[512BB]

Great to see you finally found yourself a nice project Jack, and that you are making good progress with it. Just one observation. The inner A frame bolt heads should face each other. You appear to show the rear most bolt fitted the wrong way round. If you can post a picture of the hub without a wheel attached showing the bolts, I can let you know if you have all the washers fitted as required. Critical for how the rear suspension works. Speak soon my friend.

Shynsy wrote 'Went in fairly easily and nylons all engage fully'

And you appear to be confusing the bedroom department with the garage department

Leslie