How to fit Spigot sleeve?

[philwaters]

Hi all,

Following on from my eailer thread, we now have the new bearing and suitable sleeve which at a quick glance appears perfect for the 1.8k.

I thought I would see if their was any special ways to fit said sleeve as the wall thickness is very thin and I don't want ot damage it. Do you fit the bearing in it first and then drift it in - or, as I think, would the bearing just slide out the other side.... what's the best way 🤔

We've got all the bits now, all we need now is time (and energy)

 

Phil Waters

[Foxy Smith]

What I did, and I'm not saying it was right, was to find a socket that was a good sliding fit on the inside of the sleeve. The sleeve was then mounted in a lathe and the outside polished down to hopefully achieve a good fit. Having done this the sleeve is mounted on the socket with a short extension bar attached. The sleeve can now be driven into the crank with judicious hammer taps on the end of the extesnion bar. The problem with this technique is that where the socket goes from the diameter that fits inside the sleeve to the larger diameter that actually drives it in is radiused. This results in the outer edge of the sleeve being belled or flared out and so the sleeve cannot be driven fully home. In practice this does not matter as by now there is enough sleeve with in the crank to support the spigot bearing. If it had been my car ( it was John Howes Sausage express I was experimenting on!!!) and my socket, I would have been inclined to stick the socket in the lathe and turn the radius to a square shoulder to give a direct and square push to the sleeve. This all assumes you have access to a lathe or can improvise.

 

Good luck.

 

Alan

[philwaters]

Hi Foxy (right forum?)

We have no flywheel at the moment, so I could use a flat bit of bat to get the sleeve in until it was flush with the end of the crank, and this wouldn't bell-out the sleeve, but it is the last bit. I guess we could use a couple of sockets, changing as the chanfer on the crank becomes a problem.

 

I was more interested to see if it was a case of fitting the sleeve to the bearing first, or one at a time to the crank....

 

Phil Waters

[SLR No.77]

I'm nor saying my way is correct, but ........

 

Fit them separately. They don't "lock" together therefore probably not a good idea to try to drive them in as a pair. I worked at the crank end bore with a small sanding wheel on the end of a Dremel to enable the bush to be a push but tight fit. Apply a little Loctite to the outside of the bush then drive it in - gently using a wooden block - until it's in flush.

The bearing can be driven home in the same way, and also use Loctite if you think it needs it - make sure the rubber seal is outwards.

 

Stu.

[EFA]

Foxy,

 

Are you saying you BODGED Farmer Howes car???

 

Fat Arn

Visit the K2 RUM website

See the Lotus Seven Club 4 Counties Area Website here

 

[Jason Plato]

Did mine the same method as Stuart F .

 

 

 

Lotus 7 Club Speed Champion 2003

South Wales Area Organiser

C7 TOP

 

Edited by - Dave Jackson on 7 Dec 2003 15:46:14

[philwaters]

Great, cheers guys

Another job clear... now to find the time

 

Phil Waters

[Foxy Smith]

It was'nt a bodge Arnie, it was an elegant solution to a technical problem which by luck worked rather well.

 

Phil, yes right forum, but its a long story and strictly non PC. My worry about doing what you suggest is that the sleeve is very thin as you know and the material is surprisingly soft. I think that if you try to drive it unsupported internally and it jams it will buckle. Two further solutions that occured to me were a. loctite the sleeve to the spigot bearing so that the bearing provides intrnal support in driving in. And b. shrink fitting the sleeve using liquid nitrogen. I have access to liquid nitrogen so it's not completely fanciful, but as the sleeves mass is so small it would'nt stay shrunk for long and you would have to move fast.

 

One further point re flap wheels in hand held drills. This can be a good way to get a bore out of round fast,although there is so little to be removed here it's not critical.

[Lennie]

Phil if you get stuck we have a drift of the exact size just ring or e mail.

[Tony Whitley]

I used a variation on Foxy's theme mainly as I couldn't find a small grinding wheel last night. I put the whole sleeve / socket / extension in the freezer for an hour and cleaned the inside of the hole in the crank with a bit of wet and dry. The cold sleeve shrunk just enough to go in. If I do it again I'll put the bearing in the freezer too - it was a tight fit

 

M1 7 SMW Caterham Elise Mem.No. 10376