Help with rear suspension.

Hi
I?ve spent all afternoon struggling and am back to were I started.
I?m trying to build up the rear suspension on a new chassis, and decided this was also the time to fit Mick Miller driveshafts.
When I?ve fitted the original driveshsfts with donuts before I?ve done it with the suspension all connected up, and jacked up the upright till everythings in line and then fitted the driveshaft, no real problems.
I have assumed that as the Mick Miller shafts have studs permanently fitted that they will be to long for this method.
I?ve connected the new CV drive shaft to the outer shaft on the upright, connected the top of the upright to the lotocone , then intended to jack up the upright and connect the lower wishbone to the upright, and the CV drive shaft to the diff output shaft.
As far as I could see it should work, but it has been a right strudel and I?m back to square one.
I?m sure another of those jobs that?s easy when you know how, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me how.

Mark

Mark
You’ve not said exactly what the problem is- does the shaft assembly appear “too long”?
I fitted the MM shafts with a Spyder twin-wishbone set up and it literally all fell together.

Is the body off the chassis?

I would remove the adaptors from the CV joints, by undoing the socket head screws, and bolt them to the inner and outer drive shafts. They can be quite a tight fit you may need to open up the holes slightly. Assemble the rest of the suspension and then replace the CV joints and intermediate drive shaft.

Alan

Hi
I think the problem is that the upright and CV shaft as an assembly is just to unwieldy to control, as the chassis is bare it has no weight and moves about when trying to jack the upright.
Jacking the upright and trying to line up the drive shafts and the lower wishbone at the same time, even with two people its like trying to fight an octopus.

Mark

I found it was easier to compress the spring a bit then jack it into position, cheers, John.

Hi Guys,

       I used a pair of those ratchet straps to position the suspension where it needed to be. Just ratchet the 'A' frame up to the position you need. I.E. Level. My drive shafts as you can see are Spider.

       Remember.. The CV joints will 'plunge' for the want of a better word. The length can be varied when fitting. This allows for your suspension travel whilst moving.

      Hope this helps.. Ratchet straps like these are V cheap and great for all sorts of jobs. I bought them to Hold down my Honda Pan European Motorcycle on the North sea ferries.   :slight_smile:

Alex B… :sunglasses:


Mark,
I understand the problem- of course with the twin wishbone set-up, I just disconnected the lower wishbone.

Alex’s solution looks a good one.

Hi
My problem is that the CV drive shafts have studs fixed to the ends, although I haven?t tried it I imagine that they are to long to fit the gap between the inner and outer drive shafts.
I think there is a need to disconnect the upright and swing it out slightly, locate the CV drive shaft then close in the upright and reconnect it.
The drive CV drive shafts do have some ability to expand and contract, can they be wiggled in with the suspension connected and raised to the correct height?

Mark

A photo for those of use the at verbably chalanged

Yes Mark, you connect up the Lotocones etc. just leaving the 2 bolts out of the bottom of the upright and swing the whole thing out an inch to clear the studs.
Jim

Hi Jim
Thanks for confirming what I thought, this is what I have been trying but without the body on the chassis.
I think I?ll find it a bit easier to control with the body fitted to the chassis first.

Mark

Mark,
I assumed that you had disconnected the wishbone!

Nice logs Gary. :wink:

Those look like susan Millar’s logs! :laughing: :laughing: Might not be though!

Alex B…

You see pete, I did a search on google for “Mick Miller drivershafts”

and it gave me a list of 10 items that matched, the first one I clicked on was

mickmillerlotus.com/images/p … otuscv.jpg

I simply put a [img]

in front of the HTTP

and [/img]

after the JPG and it shows the photo over here. Wonder of wonders a photo of a driveshaft with logs no less. :blush:

Hi Gary
Yes I was assembling onto a bare chassis and hadn?t connected the bottom of the upright to the wishbone. I?ve always managed to fit donuts before with the wishbone connected but I was pretty sure that the new CV shafts wouldn?t go in the same way.
I had clamps on the springs and was trying to jack the upright into position to line up the drive shafts and the wishbones at the same time. Difficult to control everything at once especially as the chassis would move around when you pushed against it hard.
I?ll fit the body back on before I attempt it again.
Thanks to all for there advice.

Mark

Slightly off topic.

I’ve had Mick Miller CV’s on my +2 for nearly 3 years now. Well over 20,000 miles.

They are one of the best investments I’ve made in my car regarding driveabilty and peace of mind.

Best of luck with the Elan!

Peter

Hi Mark, All,

           Mark, this should be easier to do with the body off. Have you tried 'shortning' the driveshafts? Have you plunged /compressed them as far as they will go? They ''should'' shorten a bit. I am not sure how much but you wont harm them finding out. Susan Millar or even Andy at Spider would be worth a call if you are unsure. I would place them standing on end on my wooden workbench and gently tap the ends downwards. Use a nylon or soft face mallet. Gently!! Measure the lenght b4 you start and stop when you feel any resistance. You might find they go short enough to be fitted at an angle into one end ??  Bolt that end up tightish and then straighten the driveshaft to line up with the other end. You then need to 'lenghthen' them again to fit into the other end. ??   I  have not used these driveshafts, but the spider items I fitted compressed about 20 mm just at the one CV joint which made it a lot easier to fit. 

          Hellova lot better access with the body off which should help rather than hinder.

         If you try compressing the driveshafts go gently. They are very robust but as I said, I do not have any experience with that type.

         Good luck with it..Soon be the longer nights!! Clocks forward this w/end. :wink:  :smiley:  :smiley:

Alex B…

Hi Alex
I?m now pretty convinced it?s better to fit the body first, the instructions that came with the CV shafts states that the wheels should not be rotated with the suspension at full droop, so moving the chassis about with the CV shafts fitted and no weight on it is a bit of a no no.
But I will try to fitting the CV shafts without disconnecting the wishbones, as you suggest they do compress a little, and this may be enough.

Mark

If it’s a road car you’d better be careful on the MoT test - they always jack up my cars by the chassis until the tyres are off the ground, then rotate the wheels to check all is well. Not surprisingly, there’s usually a cracking sound as the doughnuts start to delaminate… :cry:

:arrow_right: Matthew

Matthew

"MoT test - they always jack up my cars by the chassis "…this year I caught them jacking using the A frames…was not best pleased…

John :wink: