Driveshaft

[Henrik]

Hello
My friend messed upp his driveshaft.
Where can I source a Hardy Spicer yoke and the 3-armed bit for the rubber doughnut?
Driveshaft is intended for a Hawke DL2a

Henrik

[Jim Johnson]

I've found the best source for the "3-armed bit" for the rubber donuts is to find a Lotus Elan drive shaft (ebay) from someone who has changed their Lotus to cv joints. Each axle gives you two of these. Have a qualified driveshaft shop shorten/lengthen the tube and put the spicer joint on the other end.

[DanW]

The above suggestion to have a shaft fabricated from a spare Elan halfshaft is good. If one is not available on Ebay, you may find one from one of the vintage Lotus Elan specialists in the UK. A UK Hewland specialist may also supply the parts you need.

The bolts that hold the metalastic couplings to the diff output shafts and the half shafts are critical for the proper grip length, strength, and required minimum torgue. The supplier should be able to provide the correct bolts as well.

Below are some reputable suppliers of Lotus Elan parts in the US.

http://www.kampena.com

http://www.davebean.com/

http://www.rdent.com/

http://www.jaeparts.com


Regards,
Dan Wise

[Brian]

Coming from Sweden, you probably don't want to do the obvious thing for us - order the parts frm Craig Taylor (Taylor Race Engineering). I would start with the Hewland web site, go to their distributors/agents page, just about all of the people on that list can supply the parts to make a driveshaft or supply one already fabricated to length. Honestly, the last thing I would do is try to find used Lotus parts.

Brian

[Comp89]

Did you check with Universal Racing in the UK?

http://www.universalracing.co.uk/

[DanW]

Coming from Sweden, you probably don't want to do the obvious thing for us - order the parts frm Craig Taylor (Taylor Race Engineering). I would start with the Hewland web site, go to their distributors/agents page, just about all of the people on that list can supply the parts to make a driveshaft or supply one already fabricated to length. Honestly, the last thing I would do is try to find used Lotus parts.

Brian

Brian,

As a Elan owner for 27 years your point is well taken for most Elan parts. Many parts, including the stock diff output shafts and stub shafts will not hold up to racing abuse. I learned this from 5+ years of autocrossing. I never had a donut failure, only diff output shafts. Bean and others sell a ball and socket retention device that was installed in the later Elan Sprints. The device provided centering of the donut joint between the output shaft and the half shaft. It also prevented the dreaded "flailing halfshaft" upon donut failure. If a donut failed, much fiberglass, mechanical damage and driver/passenger injury could result. I do not know if the centering device could be fitted to a formula car or sports racer with the clearance limitations of Hewland sideplates.

The original half shafts with the 3 eared spiders are quite strong though. I have never seen one fail even when the donut failed.

The donuts fail because of age/abuse or the bolts are not tightened to the proper torque. Owners who do not pay attention to the correct grip length will also experience bolt and donut failure. There are two versions of the Metalastik couplings, the ones with the additional interleaving plates are stronger and do not "wind up" as much as the non reinforced ones.

[Brian]

Hi Dan, the last thing I wanted to do was denigrate Lotus parts, so I hope you didn't take it that way. What leapt to mind was searching out a genuine Lotus part, that some Lotus guy might need, paying Lotus prices for it, and taking it apart to get the spider and the yoke so that a new custom axle might be fabricated. Just not the thing to do when all of the parts required are available off the shelf, new...

the donut protectors are certainly recommended for all cars that use them, I had them on my Merlyn. never lost a donut but that's probably because they knew I had the protectors...

I have seen a spider twisted like a pretzel, btw, but the back end of the car was far worse...


Brian

[DanW]

Brian,

No offense taken at all. I hate to pay Lotus prices as well for pieces that were originally made for Humbers.

Hope Henrik's friend gets his car back together.

[Phil Creighton]

I may have a drive shaft (or 2) that will work. Can you send dimensions and picture to philipcreighton@earthlink.net

[Henrik]

Hello
My friend have sourced a Lotus driveshaft so thats the path we will take.
The current driveshaft is a tube aprox 35mm in diameter and 5mm wall thickness which makes it very heavy. this would be a good place to save some wheight. How thin tubing (35mm dia) would be minimum for a FF1600 running threaded tyres? 3mm?

Henrik