Sudden Grinding Sound From Rear Wheel

[2cams70]

I can vouch for Thor hammers for a lot of purposes. They have a rawhide hammer that I believe would be great for this particular application. The special tool being mentioned here would also be great of course but probably not was specified originally. See link.

https://www.thorhammer.com/product-cate ... c-hammers/

[Lotus49]

And don't forget that the left hand wheel spinners have a left hand thread i.e. you turn them to the right to loosen.

Mike

So, my little saga continues to get interesting. I was going to jack the car up this evening and I noticed that the spinners on the right side of the car, the one with the problematic wheel, loosen to the left (counter clockwise), not to the right. Both rear and front wheel spinners loosen to the left.

The left had side of the car has spinners that loosen to the right.

They should all be in the same direction, correct? From what I'm told here and what I read online, the spinners should tighten rotating towards the rear of the car. The right side is wrong, the left side is OK.

How significant is this issue? Is it the reason why my wheel became loose?

Thank you for your assistance.

Tom

[Lotus49]

Lotus49,
You should feel a little play on front wheels.
None on back wheels.
The lotus alloy wheels should have big Nuts to secure them not spinners.
Spinners are for steel wheels only.
Alan

Thank you Alan for your reply. Given this information then my rear wheel is the only one that needs to be fixed. I do not have to waste time on the front ones, which do have a slight amount of play.

I appreciate your help.

Tom

[Lotus49]

' I did not realize these were aftermarket wheels'

You have misunderstood my comment Lotus 49. Always good to know someones actual name by the way.
Leslie

Call me Tom. And thank you for your advice. Much appreciated.

[billwill]

Unfortunately as far as I know, changing the thread of the spinner to the other direction involves changing that hub. Often it is because they have been fitted on the wrong sides, but if you have 3 right and one wrong, you are going to need one replacement hub.

[Lotus49]

Unfortunately as far as I know, changing the thread of the spinner to the other direction involves changing that hub. Often it is because they have been fitted on the wrong sides, but if you have 3 right and one wrong, you are going to need one replacement hub.

I have 2 right, and 2 wrong. What I need to understand, is having this wrong facing spinner on my wheel the reason why it suddenly became loose?

I drove the car about 30 miles with no issues, and then the grinding sound appeared. If I reseat the wheel, and make it tight, will this problem continue to reappear?

[rgh0]

The spinners on the right of the car tightening clockwise and loosen anti clockwise , the spinners on the left of the car tighten anti clockwise and loosen clockwise as indicated on the spinner. Yours appear to be installed correctly.
This difference in direction side to side is required to prevent the wheel loosening in normal forwards driving.

All cars with centre spinners have this same feature of the different tightening direction on each site. The direction of tightening is different for external the cone spinners used by Lotus versus internal cone spinners which are more common as they were used by the likes of MG and Jaguar

Despite what has been stated many Plus 2S 130 came with Lotus Alloy wheels and knock on spinners. If they are not tightened correctly they can come loose which appears to potentially be your problem.

cheers
Rohan

[alan.barker]

When i visited a car show in NZ there was a +2S Elan with the spinners fitted the wrong sides. I told the owner he had fitted them on the wrong sides but he didn't want to know. I suggested he looked at the other Elans at the show and he just ignored me.
Pity he had rebuilt the +2S and made a nice job.
Alan
Ps. Perhaps he hasn't had the wheels come loose and it doesn't matter

[pharriso]

The spinners on the right of the car tightening clockwise and loosen anti clockwise , the spinners on the left of the car tighten anti clockwise and loosen clockwise as indicated on the spinner. Yours appear to be installed correctly.
This difference in direction side to side is required to prevent the wheel loosening in normal forwards driving.


cheers
Rohan

+1 what he said!!

[billwill]

So, my little saga continues to get interesting. I was going to jack the car up this evening and I noticed that the spinners on the right side of the car, the one with the problematic wheel, loosen to the left (counter clockwise), not to the right. Both rear and front wheel spinners loosen to the left.

The left had side of the car has spinners that loosen to the right.

They should all be in the same direction, correct? From what I'm told here and what I read online, the spinners should tighten rotating towards the rear of the car. The right side is wrong, the left side is OK.

How significant is this issue? Is it the reason why my wheel became loose?

Thank you for your assistance.

Tom

I've been trying to make sense of what Tom said in the above message, but it is confusing because he says ambigous things, like tighten to the right. That of course depends on whether you are talking about the top side or the bottom side of the spinner. Tom.. you have to be unambiguous and say whether they tighten clockwise or tighten anticlockwise.

Rohan say yours are correct, but each time I try to re-read that posting it seems to me that both sides are wrong (which could be due to the hubs having been assembled on the wrong sides).

Getting them on the wrong side was a mistake sometimes made with the early Elans, which were sold in kit form to avoid purchase tax, but should never have happened that way with a Plus 2 as they were never sold as kits. (?)

[Sadbrewer]

Getting them on the wrong side was a mistake sometimes made with the early Elans, which were sold in kit form to avoid purchase tax, but should never have happened that way with a Plus 2 as they were never sold as kits. (?)[/quote]

I may be wrong but as far as I remember the hub assembly was ready to go....although on second thoughts I may be mistaken!!

[billwill]

Getting them on the wrong side was a mistake sometimes made with the early Elans, which were sold in kit form to avoid purchase tax, but should never have happened that way with a Plus 2 as they were never sold as kits. (?)

I may be wrong but as far as I remember the hub assembly was ready to go.[/quote]

I admit to just reciting, what I'd heard, but was it possible to fit the whole hub the on the wrong sides?

[Craven]

Right hand side has a right hand thread left hand side has a left hand thread.
Easy way to check, if you are familiar with a ratchet socket set set to drive in clockwise direction of the handle this will tighten a right hand thread nut., flip the ratchet position this will drive a left hand thread. Very useful aid if you are upside down trying to work on the head of a bolt. I just hold the socket and check direction of handle before, do or undo seen sparkplugs broken off before.
FWIW.

[Andy8421]

Getting them on the wrong side was a mistake sometimes made with the early Elans, which were sold in kit form to avoid purchase tax, but should never have happened that way with a Plus 2 as they were never sold as kits. (?)

As mentioned above, the Elan kits were sold with the front hubs built up, so it would have been impossible to get them the wrong way around when building the kit.

Elan kit at the factory

1967-s3-fhc-kit.jpg (72.24 KiB) Viewed 453 times

Having said that, there is a type written sheet (that I can't now find) apparently from the factory describing spinner handing for the 26R that is clearly wrong, so it is quite possible Lotus stuffed it up themselves on a few occasions.

[Andy8421]

Getting them on the wrong side was a mistake sometimes made with the early Elans, which were sold in kit form to avoid purchase tax, but should never have happened that way with a Plus 2 as they were never sold as kits. (?)

As mentioned above, the Elan kits were sold with the front hubs built up, so it would have been impossible to get them the wrong way around when building the kit.

1967-s3-fhc-kit.jpg (72.24 KiB) Viewed 449 times

Having said that, there is a type written sheet (that I can't now find) apparently from the factory describing spinner handing for the 26R that is clearly wrong, so it is quite possible Lotus stuffed it up themselves on a few occasions.

Edit: Found the 26R sheet. Description of the tightening / loosening effect is wrong, and the recommended handing of the spinners is wrong. Stories that Chapman had to explain the effect to his design team as they didn't understand it.

26r-wheels-page.jpg (99.15 KiB) Viewed 449 times