drive shaft seal

[Gee0]

I seem to have a leak in on the right hand side driveshaft, (the seal looks blue in colour)

Any ideas what the replacement part is?(lotus only or direct replacement) Numbers would be good
And the procedure to the replacement.

The mechainic I spoke to had a look and said the front chasie structures need to come off for access aswell as undoing the bits around the wheel

Any ideas would be helpful.

Gerry

[GeoffSmith]

SJs?: You'll need at least the Oil seal + snap ring + hub nut.

[Specky]

Don't trust that mechanic..

This is how I did it the other day...

Crack wheel nuts

Jack car

Remove road wheel

Remove road wheel centre cap

Refit road wheel

Lower car

Remove the hub nut…(Kin tight)

Jack car

Remove the wheel again

Remove the brake line securing clip on the upper sus arm

Remove the two upper ball joint bolts…(make a note of the camber adjusting bolts or take a photo)

Remove lower spring /damper bolt (or the whole damper)

Undo the two bolts on the back of the engine that hold on the half shaft/ whole R/H drive shaft Assembly

Slide the full Drive shaft Assembly out (the no resistance method)

Refit is the reverse



TTFN

[Enright]

I would recommend splitting the upper balljoint rather than removing the bolts that go through it, because:

1) Those long bolts are prone to siezing within the balljoint.
2) You're much more likey to bugger up your geometry.
3) It's easy to put the little adjusting plates back in wrongly. And then the nuts work their way loose again, and next thing you know you're phoning for breakdown trucks to pull you out of hedge bottoms on Christmas Day!

You have to get the disc out of the way to gain access to the balljoint nut, but it's no problem, and it gives you the opportunity to exercise your caliper sliders.

[router]

When I did this I done it a slightly different way. I split the ball joints and TC ball joint removed the brake caliper then used a slide hammer to tap out the drive shaft from the gearbox, this way you havent got to disturb the cam angles at all.
Now getting the oil seal is easily removed but not so easy to put back in, I used the old one as a drift as it sits over the top nicely, the trick is to try and get it in straight, easier said than done and does take abit of patience....

Cheers

Neil

[GeoffSmith]

I think it was M100TWO who recommended clingfilm or similar to protect the new seal from the sharp edges of the driveshaft.

[dapinky]

Before getting too far into it, it may be worth ensuring the driveshaft is fully located in the gearbox - the shaft is not a uniform diameter, and unless fully pushed in it will leak (I changed one which didn't need it because of this )

It is possible to do it without removing the driveshaft from the hub:-

Undo the top wishbone pivot bolt nuts (one end has a locknut, the other doesnt IIRC), slip the top wishbones off the pivot bolt, allowing the hub to fall away from the car at the top and rotate it forward or backwards (can't remember which way gives the most clearance). There was enough movement to allow the driveshaft to slip out of the gearbox when i did mine without disturbing the camber adjustment, the ball joints or the tight hub nut.

There is just enough room to change the seal, but it is a very patient man who doesn't end up swearing a lot!

I made a suitable drift out of a block of soft wood so as not to wreck the new seals when putting them in.

Also, although the manual says that the circlips need replacing, if you dont split the right hand driveshat then it doesn't get disturbed as the righthand one into the gearbox doesnt have one fitted (it is on the joint part way along - where it bolts to the engine block).

I didn't replace either of mine, as having spoken to others who had done the job, no-one (including Lotus mechanics) thought it necessary