Its difficult to see the full extent of wear you are talking about in your pics (1.5mm groove) - but i do also see what looks to me like some wear on the needle roller bearings. The outer race and roller bearings are precision fit with close tolerances so i’d say they should have been refitted in their original positions.
GIven that your position and the garage position are both plausible, i think you have done well to stand your ground and get the deal they have offerred. I think in the circumstances you will either get a whole new inner CV for nowt !! or the most you will have to pay will be the parts… and you are going to need to get them now anyway.
I think many of us will have found over the years that when we get our pride and joy back from a garage we notice things that we didn’t notice before. We always think it was some nasty incompetant mekky at the garage that did it, but often when we cool down we think well maybe it was like that?
I’m not saying this is the case but I think it is entirely posible that the tripod joint was getting worn - maybe as a result of ill-fitting from new or perhaps poorly packed with greas from new ??? who knows ?? and when they fitted the new boot for you it has simply brought an outstanding problem to the fore ?? difficult to swallow and maybe not true but definately possible ?? ehh… ??
BTW… I presume it was this inner boot that they needed to replace ? and thus removed the half-shaft from this end to fit the new boot? Also you have to ask the question… how did the boot get ‘torn’ in the first place ?? ill-fitting from the factory ?? leading to premature failure of the CV ?? mmm… I guess we’ll never really know.
Make sure they use a High temperature, High Pressure grease when they repack it not some simple multipurpose LM grease or anything.
ANother thing… get them to check the outer CV as well because if the inner is worn then the outer may also be worn… I understand they have more stress and strain and usually ‘die’ first… but AndyD or someone could correct me on that.
Well, they’re going to replace the whole righthand shaft assembly that includes the inner and outer CV (pre-packed with grease), so no problems there.
I just wonder if I should dismantle the lefhand one now. Would it give up soon?
And yes, all the possibilities and combinatons are possible.
But think of this, I am very picky with my car, and I can normally feel a very little difference not mattering if it was after a service or while driving.
And the vibration was not there before.
I have been exchanging messages with Mr Scuffham over at Seloc, he has been very helpful and although he has never seen that type of wear, he tells me that it’s not impossible to destroy one of these joints in 20 min (as he did on a race) so the possibilities are still open for the wear caused by the bad fitting of the piece.
Or it could have been caused by a metallurgic failure, as the hardening of the metal appears to be all lost.
Let’s see what they say over at Lotus when they receive the piece.
The outer CV is designed for a front wheel drive layout - usually they have all the steering and driving force applied.
In a rear wheel application the outer does not a lot up and down and thats about it ( depending on your suspension condition …) The inner is working as usual in / out and round and round if you follow me …
You can get a duff joint, badly assembled, lack of grease ( biggest problem ) -
All in all I think Uldis did good to push the issue - lets face it you would have had to change the shaft anyway …
Dont forget to check you gearbox oil if the dealer is so good
waaa’ sappennin’ Bato… (if you ever saw Cheech and Chong you’ll see what I mean).
No update.
Car is still with them and I hope to receive a call tomorrow afternoon telling me to go and pick up the car.
When the whole adventure is going to restart.
Or maybe it’s on Friday.
…they are going to call their field engineer (who they say is a third party contractor). If he says that the wear could have been caused by the incorrect positioning of the tripod, they absorb the charges…What do you say?
Hmm? He may be third party but they’re paying him. Their interpretation of ‘could’ may lean slightly more in their own direction. Still, quite a good result I’d say.
car is back with me.
Good news is… It’s alive!!! Mwuahahahaha!
and
they didn’t charge me for labor.
Bad news is… until it’s proven that mounting it the wrong way can premature wear out the splines, I had to pay the shaft.
Lotus price: �290 including VAT.
Now, Bob (a tuner I know) is going to tell me if he know an authority in these subjects, but on his opinion it is VERY possible to make that wear in 200 miles.
Bummer Steve, sorry to hear this, at least its pretty clear whats wrong and you didn’t have a huge off… i hope !!
I suppose the earlier toe-link failure could have stressed the tripod joint?.. i never actually considered that as another downside of toe-link failure… what do you think?
I suppose the earlier toe-link failure could have stressed the tripod joint?.. i never actually considered that as another downside of toe-link failure… what do you think?
Great minds think alike - afterwards I was thinking that the angle of the wheel must have placed some unusual forces on the joint and maybe it contributed to the failure.
I read somewhere that the maximum angle for some types of CV joint is around 25 degrees, and after that they can wear very very quickly, so when the toe link goes you run at a crazy angle for a short while, but that can be enough to “start the end”, as it were…