DeDion tube bent?

[LesG]

Hi all,

been out sprinting today at Teesside Autodrome, had a cracking day weather-wise, and improved on last year's time by over a second!

 

Trouble is; I noticed my driver's rear wheel sitting at a more pronounced negative camber angle than the passenger side. Looking under the car I couldn't see anything loose, and there were no obvious cracks in the tube?

I've been out and about on the public roads recently, but don't remember crashing in any potholes, and although I was riding the kerbs today, again, there weren't any bumps that made me go 'Ow!', so I'm hoping for some suggestions please? 😬

[bluenose]

It could be a bent ear, I would check this first, after checking all bolts are tight. I had a bent ear when I bought my car and in the end the de dion was bent as well, so replaced both.

 

Nick

[LesG]

Not sure how I'll be able to check the ear for bentness, but looks like it's back on the axle stands and in bits again ☹️

 

but I suppose it'll make me upgrade my solid brakelines to the rear calipers for braided lines 😬

 

and I do have a spare DD tube; just hope that it's straight.........

 

 

 

[Wrightpayne]

Les,

 

Kev Russell had a dedion tube fail on a test day at curborough. The weld failed in the middle of the tube.

 

Check out dedion tube failures in the search - worthwhile giving it a thorough check over.

 

Ian

[bluenose]

Find an engineering company with a flat table to check the tube. The ear can be checked with a steel rule.

 

Nick

[LesG]

Ian, my car has 'through the tube' damper mounts, so hopefully not cracked, but I'm going to take it out and check thoroughly; my next hillclimb is June 15 so better get my finger out aswell.

 

Nick, cheers

[Wrightpayne]

Nick,

 

Kev's car is a very early dedion VX - I think he has through the tube shock mounts too.

 

 

link to his photo albums in this post here

 

You may find something in there.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[LesG]

Ok, time for an update;

 

I set to jacking rear of car up, undoing all the nuts, bolts etc. to enable removal of DD tube, then realised my garage isn't wide enough to slide tube out of either side of chassis! 😳

 

So, I checked ears out for bendage/warpage, and they seemed fine, so I linished them to ensure flat faces both sides, and did the same to the alloy crud-preventers, reassembled and measured cambers.

 

After several trial-and-error attempts, and an 11-thou shim (feeler blade) on the passenger side, and a 35-thou shim on the driver side, I now have 1 1/2 degrees neg. camber both sides.

 

Cheers to those who offered help.

 

Tomorrow it's increase the front caster! 😬

[k.russell]

found some pics

 

[combine]

I've had a cracked De dion tube , its not pleasent ! Was told by Dartford - wear and tear/age etc. Anyway after nearly going off the road I ordered another and without much difficulty put the new slightly updated one on ! Suppose 1991 - 2013 is a fair run for strains including upping power from original 175bhp !

 

Edited by - combine on 9 Jun 2013 07:02:54

[LesG]

K Russell, that's the exact same tube as I have, and a scary prospect! Mine appears solid at the moment though.......