Rear suspension issues

I’m a new Elan owner (1968 plus 2) and I have developed a rear suspension problem. The back of the wishbone on the passenger side is rubbing against the inside of the rim. I’m assuming the wishbone is bent. Fair guess?

Erm. If it is a Plus 2 you posted your question in the wrong section.

I would have thought bends in the rear wishbones would be very obvious.

Has it been repaired or modified wrongly.

There is nothing terribly odvious…I suppose the best approach is to simply remove things as take it from there.

Alloy wheel or steel wheel? Wishbone or bolt head? You might be looking at rear wheel bearing failure, or just the wrong bolts and/or the Alloy wheel problem as discussed on the forum.

regards
Mark

This happens when the wishbone outboard bushes are shot. The chapman strut moves forward and aft’ and usually under cornering you hear the alloy scrape on the bolt heads that are already very close to the inner part of the rim. Also check that the bolt heads are the type, ie correct bolts.

Assuming nothing is bent or damaged!

Mike
:slight_smile:

Thanks everyone. The bushing idea sounds like the problem (also the most straight forward to address to elimiate possiblities)

Glen

Glen,
As a new owner you might not understand what is meant by the correct bolt. The correct bolts have a reduced height hex head, roughly half the height of a standard bolt. This gives more clearance to the wheel. Originally these bolts were forged to the reduced height dimension. These days many suppliers provide standard bolts that have been machined down to the correct head height.

Thanks Russ

I had no idea about the bolts.

Glen

Hi Glen;
Are you racing the Ice Road Truckers with the Lotus :^)
I’m betting on you!
Phil, in sunny, mosquito & black fly free San Jose CA

Another way to eliminate the problem is to use a Spherical bearing on the outer ends - you also avoid the shaved hardware as the head is recessed into the lug .

Spherical bearings great ,doing it on project car but you would need new A frames and the rods ends for inboard.
Or have i got it wrong. Are the tubes the right size and can the end be doctored like the TTR ones.

A less costly solution that is better than rubber is the poly’ from Autobush or Superflex from Sue Miller. Sue provides the instruction about fitting. Have to file some off the alloy strut and fit stainless washers. This is a better engineered solution than the outer bonded bush, in my opinion. Sue told me that Mick desinged these as he was sick of changing the outer bushes after 12months on the MOT on cars he had restored. They do screw up pretty easy. If it is the forward and aft’ movement that is causing the problem to you, this will significantly reduce this movement. I would say that the old rubber bushes allow about 6-7mm of total flex to and fro’ even when intact. They are annoying! The plus two alloy must have a slighltly smaller inner dia’ and makes contact earlier???

The inner are worth doing but you have to be careful if you dont have true frames. Ploy is less tolerent than rubber with the size and shape of the metal work. Can cause some filing to centre. But worth it. The blue poly is not hard! I think a lot of peolpe dont like it and it gets a bad name bacause of poor fitting.

There is quite a bit about this in the old threads, if interested.

An interesting discovery for me was the minature abrasive flap wheel. Never realised how good they are. Ideal for cleaning out bush tubes. Even taking some metal back if again you dims are wrong causing poly’ to migrate sideways.

excuse spelling?? If I have some bad ones.

Mike :smiley:

Thanks for all the replys…Phil I don’t think the Lotus would have the clearance for the Ice Road!!! (but it would be a fun ride) I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good supplier for Bushes I want to use the poly ones if I can find them.

Glen

Glen,

I mentioned in my post about Autobush. I believe they are from the USA. I think if you type it in the net, you will find them. Are you after a local supplier or not bothered about overseas. If not Sue Miller, From “Mick Miller” UK.

I have full set of the Autobush ones (spares) and they look the same sort of quality as the ones I got from Sue. Sue’s are Superflex. As I say, they look good but have not had them on a car. Someone else on here may have used them and can tell us. ???

Have used the superflex for about 3 years. Top kit!

Mike
:wink: