Installing CV driveshafts-finally

[skelteanema]

Hi all,
I bought a set of the ElanTrikbits CV drive-shafts from Col Croucher about five years ago and they have been sitting on my shelf until now. I didn’t find the time to fit them to my Elan S3 DHC before. I regularly inspected my rotoflex couplings and they still appeared to be in good shape. With New Zealand in a total lock-down for at least 4 weeks due to Covid-19, I decided this was a good time to fit them, and did the job over the Easter weekend. I did it over two days, one side each afternoon. I used the Lotus workshop manual for instructions on the removal of the old rotoflex couplings and drive-shafts and Col Croucher’s written instructions along with a video I found online for the installation of the new CV drive-shafts, linked below.

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

In the video, they have a lift to raise the car, and the particular Elan they are working on is spotless underneath, so they have plenty of room to work in and no trouble from dirt and dust. The underneath of my car is not clean, and I only raised the car with the factory jack onto a stand, with a second floor jack to raise the hub to get the old drive-shafts to a horizontal position for removal. It was pretty straight-forward with minimal cursing. Getting the old shafts and donuts off was a little fiddly mainly because the old nuts were particularly tight, and the space under the car when jacked up is pretty limited.

The old versus the new!

Installation of the new CV drive-shafts was quite easy. In Col’s written instructions it suggests removing the A-arm bolts so that the strut assembly cab be swung out to give room for fitting; however, I took the inboard adapter plate off the CV shaft as per the video. I put a latex glove over the exposed CV joint innards to stop dirt getting in while I fitted the outer coupling. After fitting the outer coupling and the inner adapter plate, I quickly removed the glove and it was straight forward to reattached the CV joint to the adapter plate. After everything was torqued up,and the wheels put back on, I checked things rotated freely and then lowered the car to the ground.

New CV in place...looks the part

I inspected the old rotoflex couplings and although they looked to be in good condition, looks can be deceiving as one was clearly coming apart at one of the metal plates. So it looks like I have done this exchange job in the nick of time!

Old rotoflex looks OK at first glance...

Looks can be deceiving!

I took the car for a quick spin down the road and all performed as expected. Too early to tell much about the difference between the rotoflex and CV shafts, but first impressions is that it is more direct than the old couplings. Will report more when I can take the car for a decent drive.

[Bits]

Do you not require to install the limited dampers with the cv's you installed?

I have just taken delivery of a pair of cv's from Sue Miller (she got them from Kelvedon) and I also bought the dampers recommended to go with them.

[sprintsoft]

Those rotoflex with the solid sleeve inserts could be 20-30 years old so I’d say they have done their job, no small wonder they split!

[tdskip]

Thank you for posting this.

[rgh0]

Do you not require to install the limited dampers with the cv's you installed?

I have just taken delivery of a pair of cv's from Sue Miller (she got them from Kelvedon) and I also bought the dampers recommended to go with them.

The ElanTrikBits ones from Col Croucher don't require the droop to be limited as they can accommodate the required standard full droop articulation that you get in the Elan.

cheers
Rohan

[sprintsoft]

Hi Rohan,

Would you know what is the difference between the ElanTrikBits shafts and the Miller (now Kelvedon) kit, they both use the GKN Lobro cv’s, it’s not clear why the UK ones would be liable to lock up unless droop limited?

Thank you
Iain

[vstibbard]

Cols' magic touch.. touche!!!

[CBUEB1771]

they both use the GKN Lobro cv’s, it’s not clear why the UK ones would be liable to lock up unless droop limited?

I believe that Col fettles the CV joints extensively to get more angular deflection out of them. He also lightens them.

[rgh0]

they both use the GKN Lobro cv’s, it’s not clear why the UK ones would be liable to lock up unless droop limited?

I believe that Col fettles the CV joints extensively to get more angular deflection out of them. He also lightens them.

The two main changes I believe are to lighten them removing un-needed metal and add lightness and to modify the boot as this is the first limit on articulation. You also need to start with the right CV as I believe the Lobro Joints come in different allowed articulation based on how the tracks have been machined. Best you talk to Col direct if need more details. He is currently locked out of the site and waiting for Jeff to unlock his account and reset the password if possible so cant respond to PM's

cheers
Rohan

[alan.barker]

Hi Rohan,

Would you know what is the difference between the ElanTrikBits shafts and the Miller (now Kelvedon) kit, they both use the GKN Lobro cv’s, it’s not clear why the UK ones would be liable to lock up unless droop limited?

Thank you
Iain

The price