diff' attachment

[tdafforn]

Dear All,
I am in the process of rebuilding the rear suspension and now I have
access to the differential I thought I would replace the bushes on the
torque rods (?) that connect the diff' to the chassis. What I can't
work out is whether the attachment is via a straight forward bolt or
is the bolt welded to the chassis (mine won't budge and I don't what
to push it until I knwo I can replace it with a normal bolt)
Cheers
Tim

[ardee_selby]

Tim,

The bolt is welded and should have nuts profiled to sit in the
concave area on the torque rod.

This area is a weakness on (original) Lotus frames.

The messages archive contains info from guys who have strengthened
the area (as well as other areas on the frame) and used a replacement
fixing....Search under AVO mods.

(Can anyone give Tim the detail?)

Richard


--- In ***@***.***, "tdafforn" <tim.dafforn@m...> wrote:

[Elanman99]

The forward mount of the diff tie rods is as follows.

There is a 'standard' bolt but its head is welded to the chassis so in effect become a stud. The end of the tie rod is flattened and the hole through it is conical. A special conical nut then clamps the tie rod to the chassis and is followed by a locknut.

I think the conical nut has an included angle of 60 degrees, at least that is the angle I used when I made some on the lathe out of normal full nuts.

It may be that on your car the two nuts are corroded and appear to be just one part. Try Plus-Gas or and hold the main nut still whilst you undo the locknut.

Ian Phillips


----- Original Message -----
From: tdafforn
To: ***@***.***
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 5:14 PM
Subject: [LotusElan.net] diff' attachment


Dear All,
I am in the process of rebuilding the rear suspension and now I have
access to the differential I thought I would replace the bushes on the
torque rods (?) that connect the diff' to the chassis. What I can't
work out is whether the attachment is via a straight forward bolt or
is the bolt welded to the chassis (mine won't budge and I don't what
to push it until I knwo I can replace it with a normal bolt)
Cheers
Tim

[tdafforn]

Glad I got in touch with you guys, I was just contemplating the big
hammer approach to getting the bolt out, I've already got the lock nut
off. The frame on my +2 is original and, at the moment, seems to be in
pretty good condition. So, is the torque rod removable with the dif in
position?
Cheers
Tim

[Elanman99]

Certainly is.

Its best to undo the nut/washer/rubber end of the tie rod before you removethe conical nut.

Ian Phillips
----- Original Message -----
From: tdafforn
To: ***@***.***
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 8:28 PM
Subject: [LotusElan.net] Re: diff' attachment


Glad I got in touch with you guys, I was just contemplating the big
hammer approach to getting the bolt out, I've already got the lock nut
off. The frame on my +2 is original and, at the moment, seems to be in
pretty good condition. So, is the torque rod removable with the dif in
position?
Cheers
Tim

[saarhus]

Tim and All,

As far as I can determine, there were, for the Elan, three different versions of the torque rods. The first, used I believe on the S1 thru early S3 had the flattened end with a straight hole and a standard bolt/nut/washer for attachment in single shear. The S4 that I am familiar with had the countersunk hole and the conical nut. The third option is the bolt welded to theinside of the frame as stud, and using, I believe the conical nut. I am not sure where the welded version was used, perhaps on the replacement frames??

My early S3 Coupe' has the straght bolt version. Over time the the holes in the frame cracked and distorted.

To repair/improve it I cut a strip of 16 ga. steel to fit the inside lip ofthe frame, drilled a matching hole in it and brazed it on. I cut a strip of 16 ga long enough to allow it to jog out enough to fit over the outside of the flattened end of the torque rod and drilled a matching hole in it. I brazed it to the outside of the frame, just behind the mounting tab for the A arm and ahead of the torque rod hole. I bolted all the pieces, including the torque rod, together before brazing everything in place. The major objective of this exercise was to put the torque rod in double shear, andspread the load out over a wider area.

Use an appropriate AN bolt with enough grip length to support the torque rod. The "snugger" the fit, the better. If you have the facilities to ream the holes to fit, so much the better.

If anyone is interested, I could post drawing or perhaps a photo or two.

Disclaimer -- The car is not yet back on the road, but I think this will bean improvement.

As usual, I have rambled on and apologize for that.

Cheers!

Stan A.

Dear All,
I am in the process of rebuilding the rear suspension and now I have
access to the differential I thought I would replace the bushes on the
torque rods (?) that connect the diff' to the chassis. What I can't
work out is whether the attachment is via a straight forward bolt or
is the bolt welded to the chassis (mine won't budge and I don't what
to push it until I knwo I can replace it with a normal bolt)
Cheers
Tim

[gobw2]

Hmm - learn something new every so often. On MY S3 - orig owner - it was
just a bolt - NOT welded, and the flattened end of the rods have plain
drilled holes. Original nuts were the metal locknut type as used almost
everyplace else, NOT conical. . No washers, so of course frame got small
cracks around bolt heads. George

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 19:51:13 -0000 "Ian Phillips"
<***@***.***> writes:
The forward mount of the diff tie rods is as follows.

There is a 'standard' bolt but its head is welded to the chassis so in
effect become a stud. The end of the tie rod is flattened and the hole
through it is conical. A special conical nut then clamps the tie rod to
the chassis and is followed by a locknut.

I think the conical nut has an included angle of 60 degrees, at least
that is the angle I used when I made some on the lathe out of normal full
nuts.

It may be that on your car the two nuts are corroded and appear to be
just one part. Try Plus-Gas or and hold the main nut still whilst you
undo the locknut.

Ian Phillips

[tdafforn]

Hi All,
After scraping away 30 years of underseal, mud and oil I've located
the conical nuts!
thanks to every one that helped, you saved me mashing the bolt with a
Big hammer!
Cheers
Tim