SamC

Front top wishbone ball joints are QR1798. Changed mine on my CSR this winter.

Hi All, Unfortunately I am no longer able to attend the Snetterton trackday on 5th July. Ive made the club admin team aware, so please contact them if you'd like to take my place. Thanks, Sam

David, just a note of caution, neither of my cracked brackets were visible without removing the damper, bolt and sleeves.

7 Wonders, the Team Leos bracket is identical but made of HE30 which is a pretty reasonable ally without any nasty low elongations etc. it also comes with decent quality stainless bushes and collars. Doing an effective job of redesigning it will need upright mods or a slight move of the OB damper mount bolt axis.

It looks to me like they defined the kin point of the lower damper mount relative to the rear top wishbone mount and boxed themselves in from a packaging perspective with the driveshaft and wheel bearing bolt bores. I suspect the people who did the kinematics (Multimatic) and the people that did the design (Titan?) didn't find the right balance of compromise!! A tightly tolerances clamped joint would have indeed been a better design as you say James, and very achievable with top hats to give rotational clearance etc. I plan to continue with my Team Leos brackets and check them periodically. They will probably benefit being replaced in 10yrs time to belt and brace it, but that's a decision for another day!!

Hi all, when I discovered mine failed I brought it to the materials lab at work and got it analysed. It failed from stress corrosion cracking as a result of the preload hoop stress generated by the tapered spacer as James says. The alu they have used is very brittle so they evidently didn't want to clamp across the lugs, and instead used this rather crude expanding collet solution. To be honest, it is just a horrible design…! SCC causes tiny pits on the surface of the component where sustained stress is experienced (effect is vastly increased where permanent strain is induced - i.e. material is taken beyond yield – in this case if someone has done it up without a torque wrench because ‘they’ve been tightening bolts since you were in nappies’ and therefore know better!). This isn’t necessarily the same as the kind of corrosion that you’d imagine on steel etc, it can be barely visible to the naked eye and just cause miniscule surface pitting. Not saying the two aren’t linked, but they aren’t necessarily the same hence I agree with Simon, I don’t think it is necessarily the steel corroding that has caused the bracket to fail, I think the bracket has done that on its own. That being the case, it appears that time under load is more important in this case than the actual load seen by the bracket, that just polished off the job, and of 90% of the tails I’ve heard, the force required to finally ping it was small (I broke one of mine open with a screwdriver…). That would also correlate well with the fact that we are now seeing a raft of these failures (I’m now aware of double figures – I think someone was trying to keep a log somewhere, but can’t remember where).

Simon at Meteor Motorsport would be my first phone call. He'll be able to help.

Good news you've tracked something down. Re spanner's, they are just standard c spanners. What colour are the dampers? Grey or blue and gold? If standard, Bilstein if grey, Multimatic if blue and gold.

Check the rocker to damper junction. Mine had worn into the rocker arm where the top of the damper had rotated (presumably when someone had not been careful doing a ride height change).

Hmmmm, I could hazard a guess! I suspect this will be a regular thing being reported from CSR owners now. Think I've heard of 6 or 7 confirmed failures of these now...?

Oh blimey, that's not good! Much collateral damage?

Hi Kelvin, I'd be interested in these please?

I'm planning on going there soon in my CSR and have the same concerns you had. Did they do any static measurements? If so, did you try to measure yours with a smart phone etc before you went?

Think this is them. If in doubt give Simon @ Meteor a call - he was really helpful for me this winter on a similar topic. https://meteormotorsport.com/shop/caterham/brakes-pads/mintex/mintex-1144-caterham-new-ap-caliper/

I have the same issue with the Starcom on my CSR. I can't bare it. Cant help with a fix I'm afraid but it's on my list to do so following with interest. This was my first choice... https://www.earshotcommunications.co.uk/shop/product/starcom-flt-01-dc-power-filter/

Great news Ben! Trident at Silverstone are ace aren't they! I needed a 5/16 3-3/4" cap head for the pushrod to lower wishbone bolt, couldn't find them anywhere, phoned Trident "Yeah, got them in stock, they've got a 2" shank, is that ok?" Ha! Gotta support local, so easy to just do it all online now isn't it.

I've got a brand new pair that I have decided not to fit should they be useful to anyone. (No reason other than just deciding to retain the original brackets)

Ben, just to paranoia check, you are trying to undo the 17mm nut first aren't you? The grub screw won't move until you've loosened that.

I've just done this process on my CSR. First answer is take all the bushes out and just ask the powder coater to mask the bores. Completely standard procedure for them. You need the bores to be clean and bare metal to reinstall the bushes. Removing new powder coating is tiresome work! Re thickness, it's largely the same from one place to the next. Just choose someone that has a good reputation, but to be honest, they are all much of a muchness. Removing the bushes on mine was HARD. I have access to large vices, proper sized press tools and hydraulic presses at work and it was still a lengthy job requiring lots of heat. Don't be afraid to heat the living daylights out of the wishbones etc. To give you some idea, pressing the sphericals out of the lower front wishbones took 45kN. If you don't have access to these tools, it's worth taking them to a garage or fabricator etc that has. You'll save yourself a lot of swearing! I went for polybushes all round. As 7 wonders says they are easier to install (ref above but in reverse!) but more importantly have made the car fantastically tight without any appreciably change in NVH. Simon Rogers at Meteor was a good source of advice for me and who I bought the bushes off.

Another relevant thread recently. /forum/top-wishbone-end-ball-joint The QH ones weren't appropriate for my CSR. Thread into wishbone was too long meaning you couldn't get the correct camber without cutting down and the thread through the upright resulted in no thread protrusion from the nut. Bit the bullet and put original ones on which Redline now have in stock (but didn't until last week)

Ha! Joking aside, I've seen a Sealey pressure bleeding kit that looks much more robust. Maybe that's the answer. Think this is it, but never used it or seen it be used.

My problem is trading off the chances of SWMBO listening to me vs the Easybleed leaking...

(Careful if using it empty though as the clutch reservoir is much smaller than the brake one! Air in there will turn a 30 min job into several hours!!)

Not sure on the gravity feed unfortunately, but one bit of anecdotal evidence that it wouldn't be great is that I've had my gearbox out all winter with the clutch hose disconnected and hanging out the bottom of the chassis in a pot. The reservoir still has fluid in it. It's worth a try, but if it doesn't work I'd use the Easybleed.

I use a Gunson Easybleed, but several other similar things are available. Essentially any brake bleed kit. You could do it with the pedal and topping up the M/C but for £20 for one of those kits, it's a no brainer. You just fill the kit with fluid, attach it to the reservoir (kit comes with a variety of caps) then the other hose to a tyre by the valve (to pressure the system). Then connect a tube to the bleed and drain into a jar etc. Easybleed Kit