Rotoflex Vitesse Rear Trunnion Kit

[Htiek]

Good Morning,

 

'69 Vitesse Mk2 convertible.

I was re-assembling the LHS rear suspension yesterday and appear to have a 'gap' between the inner wishbone and vertical link. The washers/dustcovers on my new rear trunnion kit do seem to be made of quite thin material compared to the originals. Torquing up the bolt just seems to be crushing the outermost washers, one of the inners can still be spun by hand.

I was debating about fitting a spacer washer but why should this be necessary?

Is this just an example of the often discussed inferior pattern spares that are available these days or is there anything more sinister I should be checking for?

Thanks,

Keith

[Pete Lewis]

this may be related to some kits had sealing discs made for other models  ( was it TR7) ??  and many found some were 'too thick'  

similar problems appeared with the front hub felt seal and retainers ...Grrrr  aftermarket  looks about right ..Noooo!!

so you might just have removed a thick one to replace with a  (correct ) thin one and the assy had been opened out to accomodate

 

just a thought

 

Pete 

[gt6chris]

Hi Keith,

 

There are 2 different styles of rotoflex uprights. One has cast bosses where the lower trunnion bolt passes through and the other needs spacing washers between the link and the wishbone. My car has the less usual style which requires the spacing washers. These are not shown in any of the manuals but certainly exist and I have examples of both styles.

 

Chris

[gt6chris]

This is what the parts on my car look like - and require extra spacer washers

 

[gt6chris]

Rotoflex with cast bosses:

 

 

 

Rotoflex requiring spacer washers:

 

 

Regards

 

Chris

[Htiek]

Thanks for the replies chaps, much appreciated!

I'm just back in from the garage after having another look at the vertical links. They look more like Chris's second picture and certainly don't match the dimensions in my workshop manual. The manual says 82.092mm, mine are more like 75mm.

 

Chris,

Did you just add standard flat washers to take up the difference?

 

Cheers,

Keith

 

[gt6chris]

Hi Keith,

Yes I just got a couple of heavy duty stainless steel washers to fill the gap. They were actually a standard metric size with a thickness of 3mm which makes sense with your dimensions. This has worked fine on my car.

I think the M12 on this site are what I used:

http://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/A2_Washer_od3nom_M.html


Regards

Chris

 

Edit - just checked now at home and those are definitely what I fitted to my car.

[Htiek]

Thanks Chris,

Some suitable washers have been liberated from the work's store....

Cheers,

Keith

[Htiek]

The vertical links are now fitted, both sides looking and feeling good. The head-scratching has resumed though...

The diagram in the workshop manual shows Vitesse radius arms as being straight, by that I mean the 'ends' are at right angles to the 'tube'. Mine are at an angle more like the GT6 drawing. Does anyone know if there was a changeover in the design at some point? I assume these must be correct for the car as they fit OK.

More worrying is the complete lack of shims/spacers in the hub. The bearing pre-load seemed to be OK but I am now changing over to CV conversion driveshafts. How likely is it that no shims would have been required on both sides originally? I have found much bodgery elsewhere on this car so am a bit concerned that the bearings may not have been fitted correctly.

Cheers,

Keith

[Gary Flinn]

Keith

 

Not sure on this, but the GT6 Radius arms may bolt to the Chassis/Bodywork in a different location to a Vitesse, hence the kink on the Radius Arms? 

 

The Vitesse Mk2 Rotoflex Radius Arms are bolted more inboard towards the Centre of the Car than a Mk1 Swing axle Vitesse (Anyone know why?)

 

You may have GT6 Radius Arms which are a different part number as you probably know.

 

Be very carefull with the Rear Bearings on the Rotoflex hubs, if there is to much preload on the bearing they won't last long!

 

I suggest a strip down and re-set in line with the information on the Canley Classics site if you go for the standard bearing set up, shims and spacers may be a problem although someone as had some remanufactured, can't remember his name?

 

Not sure with the Canleys CV conversion but certain others use other type of Bearings that don't need the shims and spacers? 

 

Hope you get it sorted.

 

Regards

 

Gary

[Htiek]

Thanks Gary,

I have seen photos of a few chassis on the 'web with the radius arms going to the middle of the rear outrigger. Mine are angled a lot further in. I'll have to do some more digging...

Cheers,

Keith

[gt6chris]

Hi Keith,

 

The radius arms on my GT6 are straight. IE the bolts are 90 degrees to the arm. I thought it was the Vitesse arms that had the angled ends as yours have. So I think you have the right parts.

 

As for he bearing spacers and shims the spacers were available in a few different thicknesses so in theory there may have been a spacer but no shims. A spacer will always be needed and the end float needs to be set so that the whole outer driveshaft assembly can be fully tightened without preloading the bearings. There is no pre load on the rotoflex bearing set up in fact there is a very small amount of end float. I have Jigsaw CV driveshafts on my car which still use the original bearings which required shimming.

 

Nick Jones made (Makes?) a conversion that uses modern sealed bearings in a modified upright which does away with the need for setting end float. I would like to do this sometime on mine - retain the Jigsaw drive shaft but modify the upright to take the modern bearing.

 

I think you can get spacers and shims from:

 

Richard Briscoe (RB Mobile Classics) he had spacers made up in all the sizes for Rotoflex hubs.

Richard's contact details:-

rbmobileclassics@gmail.com  07766 354449

 

Regards

 

Chris

[Gary Flinn]

Keith

 

On the earlier Vitesse and all Heralds with the Standard Swing Axle rear suspension the Radius Arm bolt to the rear Outriggers more centrally.

 

The Mk2 Rotoflex Vitesse Radius Arms bolt on to the Outriggers like the Photo's you have shown.

 

Does anyone know why the Rotoflex Radius Arms are located in a different position on the Rear Outriggers? 

[gt6chris]

Interesting point.

The Rotoflex upright remains fairly vertical throughout its travel whereas the swing spring pivots in an arc around the UJ at the diff end of the driveshaft.

My theory would be that the mounting of the Rotoflex Radius arm means that it has less influence on the for/aft movement of the upright. This will keep the geometry more constant which is what Triumph were trying to do with the Rotoflex set up.