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Metalastik rotoflex couplings


Mike R

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Having just found one of my rotoflex couplings rubber coming away from the metal I searched for the OE Metalastik couplings. Managed to find them in stock at Race parts http://race.parts/

In the usual teadition .... other suppliers are probably available and I have no connection to this supplier.

They are expensive at approximately 4 times the price of aftermarket ones, but then the aftermarket ones I fitted about 12years ago only lasted 1 to 2 years at 2000 miles per year. The Metalastik ones I fitted after that have lasted till now over 10 years.

Hence, 4 times the prices for around 8 times the life and a whole less hastle.

A good example of where paying for a better part is worth it ... although life of these obviously yet to be proven.

I thought I’d just let fellow Rotoflexer’s know the Metalastik’s are still available as the usual suppliers don’t seem to have them.

regards,

Mike

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The Metalastik ones do last.  But first you have to find them...... then pay for them.  I do agree that the extra money is worth spending though.  Not an enjoyable job.....

My CV joints have been on since 2004 though...... just saying...... 😛  It was crappy non-metalastik doughnuts drove me to it - lasted 11 months!

Nick

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ok Mike  got that 

Have fun changing them , having a local with cv shafts they are certainly a better option for any future work

 

There is no stress in the assy , unlike  having to fight  rotoflex distortion ,  

Easy on an Imp but the triumph inside out spider arrangement is a masterpeice

Pete

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The original N.O.S. Metalastik ones do turn up at Auto-jumbles occasionally still and there is no doubt they last far longer than the reproduction ones, although some repros are better than others.

I was lucky enough to pick a pair up from James Paddock at a reasonable price in the original Unipart boxes during the rear suspension rebuild of my Mk2 Vitesse, but then again that was 15 years ago now! 🤔 

 

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Hmmm CV conversion .... must admit I am tempted. But then I try to keep any modernisation to minor bits that are easily reversed. So for now its donut’s for me. If ever the Metalastik’s become unavailable that’ll be the time to jump. For now I’m hoping for 10 more years of trouble free donuts.

I’m sure there’s a Homer Simpson moment in there somewhere ....  mmmmm ... donuts!

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The canley conversion uses triumph parts. The outer CV is from a fwd car, and iirc the rotoflex upright was designed to take it. At least it appears that way. And a CV off a spitfire propshaft for the inner. So it is an OEM conversion, and if I were buying a setup it would be my choice. 

I wonder if cv's were the plan until the bean counters got involved. The rubber rotoflex setup is so badly designed surely it must have been a rushed afterthought?

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Makes you wonder why the FWD developed CV use  in triumphs   and BL had them on all but a few but even later designs like 2000/2500/Stag/TR   continued with  Uj drive shafts  and  telescope slides. With the lock ups and tail twitch that can happen.

Pete

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7 hours ago, clive said:

The canley conversion uses triumph parts. The outer CV is from a fwd car, and iirc the rotoflex upright was designed to take it. At least it appears that way. And a CV off a spitfire propshaft for the inner. So it is an OEM conversion, and if I were buying a setup it would be my choice. 

I wonder if cv's were the plan until the bean counters got involved. The rubber rotoflex setup is so badly designed surely it must have been a rushed afterthought?

But Canley conversion NLA..... supplies of parts used up.

There were some very odd ideas in the ST design office...... wheel bearing designs especially IMO.

Re the CV shafts, I thing the main reason for mixing Rotoflexes with either CVs (FWD) or UJs was that although the conventional CVs were available and reasonably priced in the 60s, the versions that allow plunge did not appear until later.

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When I was struggling to find genuine Metalastic donuts about ten years ago  - for a reasonable price - I found some in stock at Bailey Morris Propshafts, in Cambridge ? They were new manufacture by Trelleborg, who have bought the rights to the Metalastic brand and are made to the same standard. Trelleborg make a lot of different size donuts as they are commonly used in propshaft couplings. Might be worth a try...

Gav

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3 hours ago, trigolf said:

When I was struggling to find genuine Metalastic donuts about ten years ago  - for a reasonable price - I found some in stock at Bailey Morris Propshafts, in Cambridge ? They were new manufacture by Trelleborg, who have bought the rights to the Metalastic brand and are made to the same standard. Trelleborg make a lot of different size donuts as they are commonly used in propshaft couplings. Might be worth a try...

Gav

Bailey Morris are in Eaton Socon, not Cambridge.

When news got around that they had new manufacture Trelleborg/Metalastic couplings in stock I bought several sets (in fact all the sets they still had in stock at the time)

One pair got fitted to my GT6, which as far as I know is still going strong (I sold the GT6 a couple of years ago)

Another set found their way onto Nigel Clarke's GT6 and as far as I know they are still going strong.

I sold a couple of other sets and hung onto a set for my next GT6 project.

Even though they were expensive, they were still considerably cheaper than CV shafts, and once one knows the techniques to replace them they are not too difficult.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I got the old donuts off the car and they were worse than I thought. Split Virtually all the way through on one side, only took a little pull from me to split.

Has anyone had a rotoflex donut fail whilst driving? Will it do damage?

I’d forgotten what a b****r of a job fitting the couplings is. Getting the bolt holes aligned by adjusting the spring lifter tool height, jacking the vertical link up and down a few times. Crow bar to try and force it .... and eventually magically it works.

Maybe that CV conversion might be on my Xmas list.

 

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Pleased  it didnt wreck any special tools youve had for years

I remember seeing and old bedford , breaking into a roundabout , both rear springs broke loose ,ripped the prop off and ended up suspended on the inverted springs dug in the road and the diff faced backwards....quite noisy when a car caught the flying propshaft 

No spanners were hurt

Pete

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