bahf Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Has anyone ever had Sierra driveshafts shortened and used them on a Caterham S3 deDion?Experience, advice, suppliers and / or opinions welcome ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I've never heard of it being done ...Reco-Prop (google them) may be able to advise ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesG Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Technically you could argue that Caterham did this when they started using the Sierra 7 inch diff in the S3. I can tell you from my experience of installing a Sierra 4x4 viscous LSD into my S3, that the CV joints are a straight swap for the Lobro bolt-on drive joints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahf Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 LesGThat's the route I am considering because it may be a cost effect route to source a 4x4 Sierra rear end and modify it for a Caterham. For info, I'm starting without any rear end parts except a set of Caterham hubs and Granada calipers, hence I don't have driveshafts or flanges, etcAny thoughts anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted March 16, 2015 Member Share Posted March 16, 2015 You're probably way ahead of me but aren't there several different types of Sierra diffs... IIRC someone explained this once.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahf Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 JonathanYes, there are loads of Sierra diffs - some good information on http://www.super7thheaven.co.uk/components/sierra_rear_differential/From what I can see, the LSD axles are on 4x4s and have flange connections. maybe LesG can let us know what he used and any issues, challenges, the end result, would he do it again, was it worth it....I'm only considering this to save money, but if it gives a poor result I'll save for a bit longer ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2GBR Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Several companys out there to make custom drive shafts ask the rally / sprint / hill climb boys, If you are going this route have them gun drilled to add strength. Not sure if using lobro joints rather than tripoid that they will fit in the De-Dion ears though, But the lobro joint is by far the strongest and heaviest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahf Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 One of the Sierra setups I've seen has lobros on the axle end and tripods on the wheel end and it is with a disc brakes, so I think it should be ok with the de dion ears. Having looked at the rear of the Caterham I think that if lobros were fitted at the wheel end they will foul the chassis under full suspension movement, hence that option probably wouldn't work.I'd dearly like to get my hands om some knackered driveshafts to experiment.Another complication is that I believe there are different spline sizes at the wheel end and hence different wheel flanges - any experts out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesG Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 My car had the early driveshafts (shortened Sierra) fitted, with standard cv joints on both ends. All I did was undo a circlip, slide off cv joint, then slide on new Lobro and refit circlip, simples! Then bolted to output flanges on the diff.This diff I use is a 7 inch version, out of a 4x4 Sierra, and came amongst all the boxes of bits when I bought my car. I checked it out, measured up, sorted the Lobro joints (there are two types, you need the smaller diameter, easily bought from any factor), and just fire it in. I've been hillclimbing/sprinting with this in for about 5 years now, no issues. You can have the viscous coupling overhauled and updated to 180lb/ft rather than the standard 150 lb/ft for around £200 ( more suited to our lightweight cars), but I've not felt the need to.The only other thing I did was to swap the crow wheel and pinion (3.92) from my standard diff to keep the lower gearing. All the Sierra LSD's came with 3.65 final drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattF Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 You can get a Sierra diff with a 3.92 LSD, because I've got one! It's from the 2 litre version of the XR4x4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2GBR Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The earlier tin can end Tripode joints can be replaced but are a messy pain to do though, I made a jig to hold the spring compressed while you peen the can edge over to hold it all together. The latter style i have no experience off. The Lobro joints are easy peasy to replace and yes several Locost buildes have made bastard shafts with Lobro at diff and Tripode at the hub. The shortened shafts were from a version of a 1.6 Sierra which came in two different dia and a few different spline numbers but does not matter which as long as you have the correct Tripode / Lobro joint splines to match. The length to shorten and re spline can be calculated by the difference between SV shafts and S3 shafts remembering that the left and right are different lengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 sounds like a query on the Locost builders site may prove useful .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesG Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 MatF; you must have been lucky lol! The diff I had came with a little alloy tag hanging off it with '3.92' stamped into it. Understandably, I took this to be the final drive ratio. Unfortunately, it wasn't, and my XFlow engine (as it was at the time) struggled to pull top gear. Jacking the car up and counting the driveshaft rotations to the propshaft rotations confirmed 3.65 ratio. I can laugh about it now........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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