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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

111R - Knuckle joint, seen better days!


denzel2364

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Hi all, 

I wanted to post a pic to get your advice. I took the clam off to repair it and wanted to see what the condition is like underneath. I noticed the knuckle joint on both N/S and O/S looking sorry for itself. My gut doesnt like what i see but do you guys think I should change this? If so, is it a big job?

 

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Very similar to mine before I refreshed everything last year. TBH the rust on the hub carrier is largely superficial; if unsightly. Mine was worse than yours and You'll be surprised how well they'll come out after some vapour blasting and painting or powder coating. In fact it's so satisfying there's plenty of folk who just do the whole suspension refresh - money and time permitting. 

If your ball joints, bushes, bearings & struts work as intended then that's great: you're good to go for the time being. Unless you want to make a start renewing things. 

If any of the above suspension components need replacing that should be your priority as the need arises. 

Ideally when your suspension is like that and you are going to replace parts yourself it makes sense to refurb the hub carrier or wishbones if the part you are replacing requires removal either of these. 

If you do nothing else right now; For a small outlay you could replace all the nuts and bolts. To take the sting out of preceedings when you do renew items. Just a thought.. Some of those look like they'll put up a good fight. 😬

Nothing there is particularly difficult to do if you have a selection of tools / weapons and some tanacity to revert to plan b, c, and d 😉.  There's usually someone here on MLOC (or SELOC) who's been there and done that and got the answer when @#£t happens. 

Good luck👍

 

 

 

 

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Replacing the balljoints is certainly DIY-able.  The suspension can be dismantled with a couple of spanners, a socket or two, and probably a lot of swearing given the amount of rust.  To separate the balljoints you'll probably want to get a special tool.  There are generic forks (EuroCarParts) or you can get ones specific to the Elise (Eliseparts) which are more convenient.  You might want to check if the balljoints need replacing first.  You can check for movement in the joint, but it can be hard to judge.  Eventually the joints will start to knock over small bumps, and some time after that will fail.  If the balljoints are worn, the bushes probably also need looking at.  They'll be past their best at 50,000 miles and probably in serious need of replacement at 100,000.

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On 20/04/2020 at 21:30, MrWill said:

Very similar to mine before I refreshed everything last year. TBH the rust on the hub carrier is largely superficial; if unsightly. Mine was worse than yours and You'll be surprised how well they'll come out after some vapour blasting and painting or powder coating. In fact it's so satisfying there's plenty of folk who just do the whole suspension refresh - money and time permitting. 

If your ball joints, bushes, bearings & struts work as intended then that's great: you're good to go for the time being. Unless you want to make a start renewing things. 

If any of the above suspension components need replacing that should be your priority as the need arises. 

Ideally when your suspension is like that and you are going to replace parts yourself it makes sense to refurb the hub carrier or wishbones if the part you are replacing requires removal either of these. 

If you do nothing else right now; For a small outlay you could replace all the nuts and bolts. To take the sting out of preceedings when you do renew items. Just a thought.. Some of those look like they'll put up a good fight. 😬

Nothing there is particularly difficult to do if you have a selection of tools / weapons and some tanacity to revert to plan b, c, and d 😉.  There's usually someone here on MLOC (or SELOC) who's been there and done that and got the answer when @#£t happens. 

Good luck👍

 

 

 

 

Ive been 'at it' with the wire brush and its coming together nicely. I think the bearings need changing though as ive used it for a few times before taking the clam of and its sounds rough. I like your idea on replacing the nuts and bolts though, that could be a good start. They look evil at the mo! 🙂

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On 21/04/2020 at 15:38, Lithopsian said:

Replacing the balljoints is certainly DIY-able.  The suspension can be dismantled with a couple of spanners, a socket or two, and probably a lot of swearing given the amount of rust.  To separate the balljoints you'll probably want to get a special tool.  There are generic forks (EuroCarParts) or you can get ones specific to the Elise (Eliseparts) which are more convenient.  You might want to check if the balljoints need replacing first.  You can check for movement in the joint, but it can be hard to judge.  Eventually the joints will start to knock over small bumps, and some time after that will fail.  If the balljoints are worn, the bushes probably also need looking at.  They'll be past their best at 50,000 miles and probably in serious need of replacement at 100,000.

Brill, thank you. I will have a look at these

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4 hours ago, denzel2364 said:

Ive been 'at it' with the wire brush and its coming together nicely. I think the bearings need changing though as ive used it for a few times before taking the clam of and its sounds rough. I like your idea on replacing the nuts and bolts though, that could be a good start. They look evil at the mo! 🙂

If you're replacing a bearing then I'd get the hub carrier vapour blasted if you have somewhere to post it off to. When I refreshed the suspension  I ended up doing everything in pairs ie what I did to the left, I did to the right. I know that only really applies to struts/springs rather than wheel bearings and ball joints but it's just what I did... That and while the car was in the air / under trays off and car out of action for a while it made sense to just do the same job on both sides.

  If you end up doing ball joints I can send you my eliseparts ball joint tool to use if you'd rather avoid buying. It's one of those seldom used tools. Happy to lend out than just sat in a draw for another couple of years. 

Re nuts and bolts. My plan a, b c and d put onto use a various times were:

Wire brushand Plusgas spray a few days before

Breaker bar

Impact driver 

Set of locking/grip tight sockets

Dremel with angle grinder attachment

Big hammer and metal chisel

Tunnocks caramel wafer 

Cheers 

 

 

 

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On 27/04/2020 at 15:25, MrWill said:

If you're replacing a bearing then I'd get the hub carrier vapour blasted if you have somewhere to post it off to. When I refreshed the suspension  I ended up doing everything in pairs ie what I did to the left, I did to the right. I know that only really applies to struts/springs rather than wheel bearings and ball joints but it's just what I did... That and while the car was in the air / under trays off and car out of action for a while it made sense to just do the same job on both sides.

  If you end up doing ball joints I can send you my eliseparts ball joint tool to use if you'd rather avoid buying. It's one of those seldom used tools. Happy to lend out than just sat in a draw for another couple of years. 

Re nuts and bolts. My plan a, b c and d put onto use a various times were:

Wire brushand Plusgas spray a few days before

Breaker bar

Impact driver 

Set of

Dremel with angle grinder attachment

Big hammer and metal chisel

Tunnocks caramel wafer 

Cheers 

 

 

 

HAHA "Tunnocks caramel wafer". Prefer mine from the freezer so ill have to keep it at home 🙂
Thank you for the offer too. I will have a look in more detail and i'll be in touch if these need to be changed.

As for doing things in pairs, i couldn't agree more. Tyres, brake pads, suspension, all done in pairs. 

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