157 replies to this topic

[mbes2]

Mine snapped at brands mid clearways . . We noticed at the lotus factory they doubled up the toe links on the new lotus exige, top and bottom to the hub

Edited by mbes2, 23 April 2015 - 09:50 PM.

[furtive]

We noticed at the lotus factory they doubled up the toe links on the new lotus exige, top and bottom to the hub

 

Is that something that could be retrofitted to the VX?

[Zoobeef]

Probably would involve using whole new uprights. There's a guy designing some for his own car at the minute....

 

 

Finally got home, came via my parents for a cuppa. I didn't have any long enough M10 bolts but had some really long M10 coach bolts from my decking, so cut one down and fitted it. Started up ok (fuel cutoff didn't trip) and drove off the trailer and into my garage. Seems to drive straight.

 

The inside is covered in glass from the rear window so now have splinters in my hands.

 

The rear spoiler has shown the strength of the ali plates I put under the clam. As it's not damaged the clam at all or snapped the 2 M8 bolts each side. Rather it's snapped both aluminum uprights clean in half.

 

Going by the weight of the pieces of fibreglass that have come off that corner of the clam I would hazard a guess at it being more than 50% filler previously haha.

Edited by Zoobeef, 23 April 2015 - 10:33 PM.

[QoY]

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]Sorry to see that you copped for all that damage when yours went. Looks like we were lucky to escape without any.[/font]

 

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]Garage in Wales fitted borrowed toe links to mine today so I am going down to collect it in the morning. They said both ball joints were seized up on the old link and it had been stood for 3 years so my own fault really.[/font]

 

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]Got the Elise ones arriving tomo and planning to upgrade asap. Best buy a torque wrench by the sounds of things. [/font]

 

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]It has put me off track days for a while just pleased it did not go at Spa or on the ring 3 weeks ago![/font]

 

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]Big thanks to EBO100 for the loan of the links to get me home .[/font]

[Bootdog]

Not another one!

I think we should start a list 

 

What sort of age/mileage was on the kit when it failed?

Here's when mine broke, elise-shop kit [color=rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;]3 years old, and had done 13k miles, and say 15 trackdays equivalent.[/color]

http://www.vx220.org...oelink-failure/

 

[color=rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;]- I think 8.8 bolts are too weak for this application with sticky tyres on the car.[/color]

[FLD]

I suspect a double shear upright is going to be needed to solve this one.

[furtive]

Is this really only a concern for cars that are regularly tracked and are using sticky tyres, or should everyone keep an eye on their toe links?

[slindborg]

should everyone keep an eye on their toe links?

 

Well, its clearly a YES

 

I'd imagine (purely speculation) that most failures are due to in-correct torque on the bolts (oem type or rosejointed) or severe corrosion on the parts.. Both of those can be easily assessed on inspection.  

[FLD]

If it helps I check mine over every year when I treat the whole car with ACF50.  I change the ball joints every couple of years too.  (I'm on oem).  I do the odd trackday and run T1R's.  I'm rather particular about these things now since having HCB failure.

[Gedi]

Checking the bolts and re-torquing them every few months (or every track day) isn't really an acceptable solution. Especially when we've seen that even being as strict as this can still result in them failing.

 

I know everything fails, but when these fail it's dangerous and potentially very expensive. We need a better solution.

[Arno]

We noticed at the lotus factory they doubled up the toe links on the new lotus exige, top and bottom to the hub

 

V6 Exige uses the Evora rear suspension. Completely different construction from the other Elises and VX.

 

Bye, Arno.

[Bootdog]

Checking the bolts and re-torquing them every few months (or every track day) isn't really an acceptable solution. Especially when we've seen that even being as strict as this can still result in them failing.

 

I know everything fails, but when these fail it's dangerous and potentially very expensive. We need a better solution.

 

There is a solution available :

https://www.elisepar...t-s2-rear-pair/

 

These are beginning to look like a cheap alternative to a 90 mph off-track excursion.

[Nev]

 

Checking the bolts and re-torquing them every few months (or every track day) isn't really an acceptable solution. Especially when we've seen that even being as strict as this can still result in them failing.

 

I know everything fails, but when these fail it's dangerous and potentially very expensive. We need a better solution.

 

There is a solution available :

https://www.elisepar...t-s2-rear-pair/

 

These are beginning to look like a cheap alternative to a 90 mph off-track excursion.

 

 

I agree... that's a good point Bootdog.

 

Breaking rear toe links scares the sh*t out of me. I will have to rethink if I want to buy the rear GT hubs off EP now...  

Edited by Nev, 24 April 2015 - 09:27 AM.

[FLD]

Whilst these solutions fix the problem we need to consider any knock on effects.  If the increased load is breaking ball joints / bolts and we upgrade what happens to the rest of the componentry when that load is applied?  Are we goign to see subframes fatigue and fail catastrophically?  I imagine a stress crack may go un-noticed.

[mbes2]

Just found this

 

 

 

http://moto-concept....ion/toelink-kit

 

Also

 

Edited by mbes2, 24 April 2015 - 09:52 AM.

[slindborg]

^^^ for early lotussssess, ie NOT the VX.

 

 

Started a thread on seloc to ask if theya re having as much paranoia and fear and fails as here... Would paste but its ballsed

[mbes2]

^^^ for early lotussssess, ie NOT the VX.

 

 

Started a thread on seloc to ask if theya re having as much paranoia and fear and fails as here... Would paste but its ballsed

 

lol 

 

[Nev]

That first pic is not double sheer by the looks of it, if you notice it still has only a single central bolt to mate the new bracket to the upright.

Edited by Nev, 24 April 2015 - 10:00 AM.

[Gedi]

The EP hub is _really_ expensive.... It contains a lot of improvements and development time which we aren't interested in, we just want the rod end to be supported top and bottom.

 

I wonder if someone would be interested in making an identical hub which just fixes the mounting problem on the original hub

[slindborg]

That first pic is not double sheer by the looks of it, if you notice it still has only a single central bolt to mate the new bracket to the upright.

 

Also, had the poster read what is in on the source website, it's for early Elises