Rear Suspension Housings - Worn

[TurboFource]

I like it! Being able to improvise is a great skill😉

[Dilkris]

I like it! Being able to improvise is a great skill😉

Lets see if it works first.... 

[kram350kram]

...reading this post with interest.  Maybe save yourself some time and minimize machine by using a Speedi-Sleeve?  Unlike the Euro sleeves mentioned, Speedi-Sleeves have no corrugations and need to be driven in, on a bearing surface. Just a thought. If interested I have the catalog and could maybe get you to the correct sleeve for the bearing size you are using.

[Dilkris]

Now this is something else I have never heard of!!!

I have just Googled these and there are also YouTube videos on their application and fitment. They appear to focus on the "repair" of a surface which runs an oil seal and they are designed and sized to fit "over" a shaft as opposed to "inside" a housing. As I see it, and I may be wrong, they perform the opposite function of a Tolerance Ring.

Assuming they would work in this application (and as above I don't think they would), looking at the 6206 bearing, (30x62x16), the Speedi Sleeve in this size range would be as below, costing £34.50 - and I would need 4, £138.00 or US$190.00 - they are not cheap and when you are retired, this is a consideration. 

I wish I had been made aware of these before bought a new crankshaft pulley though, (typical worn groove in the area where the oil seal lip runs), as this would have been the ideal application. 

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/product.cgi?id=64917&action=addtobasket&qty=1

[jbcollier]

Used LOTS of speedi-sleeves in my day.  Absolute miracle workers.  AFAIK, they don't make them for bores.  Also the repaired surface is for seal runs only.  The shaft diameter increases so you can't use them where bearings mount.

[GavinT]

Lets see if it works first.... 

Ha . . I like the set up, too. Looks good.

Mind if I play devil's advocate, though?
I'm wondering if it might not be a good idea to add an L shaped bracket on the chuck side of the housing, bolted to the lower plate?
This would increase rigidity markedly. I'm thinking slotted holes in the L bracket for some fine adjustment would also be advantageous because you'll be removing the housing to press the sleeves in. That means a re-setup is on the cards.

Also, it seems a shame that those two cross slide bolts are conspicuously right there and only doing one job.
Colin would smile. 

I originally figured an ally sleeve could happily rely on Loctite alone and do without a locating dowel.
It now occurs to me that when heating the stub axle during future servicing, that may well melt the Loctite on the sleeve as well.
Install two dowels at the sleeve pressing stage and machine off anything protruding during the final boring operation? Belt & braces?

I've never been clear re the bearing fit of the 6206.
It doesn't seem to be a common failure issue, so, in my mind, I've always noted it's well captured by the trailing arm side bracket and left it at that.

[Dilkris]

  GavinT
I opted for 12mm bright plate because I was mindful of the join, I didn't want to weld these plates as I was worried of distortion - I played around with all the edge permutations until I got a true 90 with no day light, (note I don't have an engineers square so the V block was the best I could do.). With the 4 off 6mm x 30mm cap head bolts it is rigid and remember I am cutting aluminum.... slowly  so loading will be low.

Initial alignment will be a bit of a challenge - (I have a simple plan for this - will post photo when I get there...) - yes I could have made a support clamp that allowed for vertical screwed adjustment but, I really don't have the equipment for this. The bracket is bolted to the cross slide with 4 bolts - the 2 at the back you can't see.

I am going to try and press fit the sleeves into the housings whilst still bolted to the bracket - this should save me "set up" time when I come to align them again to perform the machining ID of the sleeves.   

Your comments regarding dowels are spot on.

I agree the whole bearing set up is "strange" - only one of the 6206 bearings is "captured" by the trailing arm bracket (the outer bearing) and the inner bearing is held against this by the inner sleeve - all is good (somehow) - but if the bearing turns in the housing for a prolonged period of time - you will be where I am.  Fit wise for the bearing to finished sleeve - I'm going to go for "size for size" 

I may be wrong but this housing wear appears common to any rebuild - what is not common is how people opt to address the problem. I have only seen 2 methods clearly documented:- 1, Loctite and 2: replace with new housings. Hopefully if all goes well - this will be the third method.                   

[lotusfanatic]

Hello Dilkris,

I'm still wondering how that all works?! 

also, I spy a Zeus book!

Mark

[kram350kram]

Understand the cost on the Speedi-Sleeves. Expensive in the States too, but a real time and money saver on expensive pieces. My thought was to press the bearing into the sleeve, measure the new bearing OD and then bore the housing for a press fit. Not what they were designed for, but a thin steel spacer none the less.

[Dilkris]

 
Bloody good idea... !!!! I hadn't thought of that.
Had it not been for the fact I've already bought the aluminium stock, I probably would have considered it.
Interestingly, I can't find any data for the material thickness of the Speedi-Sleeves  Obviously if my housings are worn/damaged in excess of this thickness, I would have to sleeve them first !!!     
Most certainly worth looking at for the next set being repaired.... preferably by somebody else on the Forum !!     

[GavinT]

Agreed, I think the Europa housing looseness is fairly common, though I speculate that the bores are more hammered out than actually worn out.
I put it down to the nature of cast aluminium, the imposed dual duty as an upper link and the years that have rolled by. Somehow it all seems to hang together, though, so the addition of Loctite seems a reasonable remedy.
I'm thinking your sleeves are likely of a tougher material and should fare better than the stock casting.

As an aside, I have a Datsun 1600 (Datsun 510) rear axle housing here with which I've been experimenting.
It's fundamentally quite similar to the Europa arrangement but in steel and also uses 2 x 6206 bearings & a spacer. The bearings are a proper press fit and it puts up decent fight to get apart.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your fix with interest.

[BDA]

Of course if you can find an upright from another car that is similar enough to the original, that would be a lot simpler, but I think a fabricated steel upright is viable choice and if done properly, could end up having a similar weight.

[Dilkris]

Of course if you can find an upright from another car that is similar enough to the original, that would be a lot simpler, but I think a fabricated steel upright is viable choice and if done properly, could end up having a similar weight.

If they were to be made from steel, you could also engineer out the original poor bearing arrangement; I don't have the facilities or the skill set to do this but I did approach an engineering company last year (when I was thinking about my existing problem) showed them one of my housings and asked for a ball park figure to fabricate them, (inclusive of some personal bearing modifications)....
the reply was between £1200 and £1500 each, (in all fairness, they would be a lot of work.) 
That of course, along with new ones from Lotus Specialists costing £400 plus VAT and postage, brings me to where I am today.        

[BDA]

Yeah, that's a little expensive but as you said, you could fix a lot of problems with the original design and have a MUCH stronger upright.

[MRN I J]

I think a fabricated steel upright is viable choice and if done properly, could end up having a similar weight.

Thats how BTTC cars & WSC cars were often made, a superlight but super strong TIG welded assembly.