rear arm thingy

[Sparky]

That wasn't hard!  You wanna try doing one with a balljoint splitter and a small aubergine.

And yes, there was gin.  And wine.

[esprit22]

49 minutes ago, silverfrost said:

No way Colin Chapman would of let that bar be designed in solid steel !  We where lucky to get a top suspension arm on later cars  

Reckon it's Mr C's fault then, there should have been a "don't jack here" sticker on these. 

Might as well use a bit of old scaffolding bar instead!

Edited February 27, 2017 by esprit22
additional information

[Chillidoggy]

In Mr.Chapman's defence, the Esprit jacking points are clearly listed in the Lotus Service Notes. They're also in the owner's manual.

[esprit22]

13 minutes ago, ian29gte said:

In Mr.Chapman's defence, the Esprit jacking points are clearly listed in the Lotus Service Notes. They're also in the owner's manual.

Sorry Mum 

[Andyww]

The jacking point for the rear in the owners manual is on the body at the rear end of the sill.

Unless one likes the sound of splitting fibreglass this is definitely not worth doing!

[ChrisJ]

1 hour ago, esprit22 said:

there should have been a "don't jack here" sticker on these

That would have added weight though

[esprit22]

9 minutes ago, Andyww said:

The jacking point for the rear in the owners manual is on the body at the rear end of the sill.

Unless one likes the sound of splitting fibreglass this is definitely not worth doing!

I normally use the original jack in the correct jacking points even though the jack is a pain to use and the bar used to turn it is much, much to close to cars bodywork! Had to use jacks on this occasion as needed to take all the wheels off at same time as away being pampered.

3 minutes ago, ChrisJ said:

That would have added weight though

[Chillidoggy]

22 minutes ago, esprit22 said:

Sorry Mum 

 

If you can't learn to look after your toys, you'll be going to bed without any tea.

[TAR]

One side of mine needed cutting and drilling out, Once drilled, it reduced the pressure on the bush and allowed it to be pushed out.  

[andydclements]

On 24/02/2017 at 16:15, esprit22 said:

As the rear geo is set by shims, it has never been messed with, albeit the front has been set before. Don't see how the load carrying capacity has been reduced though by this arm being slightly bent. 

Yes, set by shims but only on one corner of the triangle that is the rear wheel plane, think of a pair of scissors the points being where the shims are, and the finger/thumb holes being where the top and bottom arms are . There are two supposedly fixed points of the triangle and those are the rear arms (lower and upper arms), which set the rear camber, then the shims at the font of the trailing arm set the toe in. Unfortunately by bending the lower arm (albeit slightly) it will have reduced the camber or possibly made the wheel lean outwards at the top, and by bringing the wheel in towards the centre of the car (again very slightly) it will have reduced toe-in or possibly made it toe-out (doubt it's that bad). Both things together could show up on cornering, or just make it sightly less planted on a straight line.

[Andyww]

On 24/02/2017 at 16:15, esprit22 said:

As the rear geo is set by shims, it has never been messed with, albeit the front has been set before. Don't see how the load carrying capacity has been reduced though by this arm being slightly bent. 

Apart from the geometry, these take the cornering side load of the suspension.

Experiment 1: Take a drinking straw, press on each end, it takes quite a bit of force before it collapses.

Now bend the straw slightly and put a dent in the middle. Press on the ends and it will collapse with virtually no resistance at all.

[esprit22]

On 2/27/2017 at 23:21, Andyww said:

Apart from the geometry, these take the cornering side load of the suspension.

Experiment 1: Take a drinking straw, press on each end, it takes quite a bit of force before it collapses.

Now bend the straw slightly and put a dent in the middle. Press on the ends and it will collapse with virtually no resistance at all.

Nuh, still not convinced.

Give me another example.

Edited March 1, 2017 by esprit22
more

[Sparky]

[C43]

On 27/02/2017 at 23:21, Andyww said:

Apart from the geometry, these take the cornering side load of the suspension.

Experiment 1: Take a drinking straw, press on each end, it takes quite a bit of force before it collapses.

Now bend the straw slightly and put a dent in the middle. Press on the ends and it will collapse with virtually no resistance at all.

exactly what I was going to say. 

if you want to get technical look up Euler buckling theory...although the buckle might be so big it takes it out the range of the equation looking at the photos. 

[Chillidoggy]

50 minutes ago, Sparky said:

 

Is that the High-Wing?

[Sparky]

Give it a another week...

[esprit22]

22 hours ago, Sparky said:

Give it a another week...

..or two..

[esprit22]

Had to be sawed out as a tad seized. Managed to get one half of pin out last night by winding out on existing thread but reckon will need to drill out other side, pain tn backside...

[C43]

dont forget you need to change the sliding bush in the upright. this will probably be seized also and it shouldn't be..

[esprit22]

48 minutes ago, C43 said:

dont forget you need to change the sliding bush in the upright. this will probably be seized also and it shouldn't be..

Sorry, what bush is that?

[andydclements]

In the aluminium casting, you'll find that of the two parts where the steel pin goes through (the pin you had to cut), one ali part is 1/2 diameter ans simply ali, the other is a bigger bore ali with a steel movable sleeve in it. that steel sleeve needs to be able to move within the ali. It's not a sloppy fit for permanent movement, only just to mean that youre not pulling the two ali parts closer together which would result in one breaking off from the casting.

[Chillidoggy]

19 hours ago, esprit22 said:

Sorry, what bush is that?

 

Do yourself a favour and upgrade to a Full Forum Membership, then you will have access to the Esprit parts manuals. And if you're planning on maintaining the car yourself, then you should also get the Lotus Service Notes, too.

[Barrykearley]

^ then the secrets of that bush can be revealed  

[esprit22]

On 4/6/2017 at 10:41, ian29gte said:

 

Do yourself a favour and upgrade to a Full Forum Membership, then you will have access to the Esprit parts manuals. And if you're planning on maintaining the car yourself, then you should also get the Lotus Service Notes, too.

No need, I bought both over 20 years ago thanks.

[Sparky]

In that case, never has the acronym RTFM been so richly deserved.