Check your toe link!

[HKFEVER]

I have a S240, but I am not sure I have the LTS toe link upgrade or not (some long story). I peep in the under tray and saw a golden colour bar and it looks like the toe link in the LTS parts list. Just wonder how to check it out to see whether I has the LTS toe link.

[paulhastings]

Checking the inner toe link torque and it was spinning in the rear. Not easily actually the torque wrench did click but, not sure how accurate. Need to remove the wheel to get a wrench on the nut and try again. Should it be able to spin. Never check before as it should have had this done at the first dealer service.

[fitfan]

^^ no - it was up on the roll on lift, so couldn't take the wheel off, decided rather tha ntaking the diffuser off we will do it when we have the wheel of during brake bleeding , the elise didn't spin in place, so the nuts of the back side are different (obviously) with the lotus brace.

[paulhastings]

No we were not. It was a Rodney described. However, I thought there was something the rear that keeps it from spinning.

Also I cannot find in my recent service manual and TSB download anything about going from 50nm to 60nm on the inner toe link torque.

Originally Posted by apk919

Are you holding the nut in front of the lower A-arm attachment point with a second wrench while you're torqueing the bolt head from the rear? You can't tighten it properly otherwise...

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by fitfan

^^ no - it was up on the roll on lift, so couldn't take the wheel off, decided rather tha ntaking the diffuser off we will do it when we have the wheel of during brake bleeding , the elise didn't spin in place, so the nuts of the back side are different (obviously) with the lotus brace.

You really want to tighten the toe link bolt with the car on it's tires - not with the wheel off or drooping on a lift. The toe-link bolt also clamps the A-arm bushing in place, and it must be tightened with the car at "ride height" or you will pre-load the A-arm bushing by pre-twisting the rubber in the bushing.

It can be a pain to tighten the suspension bolts with the car setting on it's tires, but it's the proper way to do it.

[paulhastings]

Yes of course. It was getting late after we just finished the oil service and we decided to address it again in a few day's when finishing the rest of the service with the brake flush.

Originally Posted by apk919

Can't you take off the diffuser while on the roll-on lift? Should only take a couple of minutes...

[paulhastings]

Thanks Tim.

Originally Posted by TimMullen

You really want to tighten the toe link bolt with the car on it's tires - not with the wheel off or drooping on a lift. The toe-link bolt also clamps the A-arm bushing in place, and it must be tightened with the car at "ride height" or you will pre-load the A-arm bushing by pre-twisting the rubber in the bushing.

It can be a pain to tighten the suspension bolts with the car setting on it's tires, but it's the proper way to do it.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by paulhastings

No we were not. It was a Rodney described. However, I thought there was something the rear that keeps it from spinning.

There is - on the OEM toe-link bolt/ball joint. There is a slot in the frame that interfaces protruding "ridge" on the toe-link ball joint that prevents the ball joint from spinning in place. However, when you replace that with a toe-link brace, there is a normal bolt that goes in the hole and nothing to keep it from turning except the wrench you put on it to hole it in place.

Also I cannot find in my recent service manual and TSB download anything about going from 50nm to 60nm on the inner toe link torque.

I don't know where it is published and don't think that Lotus has updated the Service Manual, but there has been reliable inofrmation (a copy of a letter?) that the Service Manual is not correct and the torque value has been increased.

[paulhastings]

I guess I should have mentioned my car is an '07 Exige with the track pack. Would this explain not having the protruding ridge?

Originally Posted by TimMullen

There is - on the OEM toe-link bolt/ball joint. There is a slot in the frame that interfaces protruding "ridge" on the toe-link ball joint that prevents the ball joint from spinning in place. However, when you replace that with a toe-link brace, there is a normal bolt that goes in the hole and nothing to keep it from turning except the wrench you put on it to hole it in place.

I don't know where it is published and don't think that Lotus has updated the Service Manual, but there has been reliable inofrmation (a copy of a letter?) that the Service Manual is not correct and the torque value has been increased.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by paulhastings

I guess I should have mentioned my car is an '07 Exige with the track pack. Would this explain not having the protruding ridge?

I would think so. The Track Pack means it came with the toe-link brace, so, you have a regular bolt passing through the brace, Heim joint, chassis, and A-arm - you need a wrench on each end to tighten it.

You don't have the ball joint that fits into the slot in the chassis.


Edit: Dang it. apk beat me to it. And provided a picture. I was looking for a photo I had seen and couldn't find. Didn't think to look in the manual...

[paulhastings]

Is there a picture of the track pack Exige set up? I looked through the rear suspension portion of the service manual and didn't see it.

Originally Posted by apk919

No... that keeps the joint from spinning, not the bolt. You definitely have the ridge.

The deal is that before the brace, the link had an integral bolt... you tightened the nut to the torque spec... with the track pack, the bolt goes through the inner joint, and spins freely...

Old version:

[RoadDad]

Originally Posted by paulhastings

Also I cannot find in my recent service manual and TSB download anything about going from 50nm to 60nm on the inner toe link torque.

This is as good as it gets:

anyone have the "new" toe link torque spec page in service manual?

SERVICE BULLETIN Model: Elise/Exige

Date: 03.08.06 2006/19



TITLE: Rear suspension toe-link torque check.
REASON: To introduce additional service check, and highlight importance for cars regularly subjected to
competition levels of cornering force.
ACTION: As stated in the owner's handbook Maintenance Record booklet (page 9) and Maintenance Schedule:
"The Lotus Elise and Exige are designed as road going sports cars. It is recognised that owners
may wish to use the car occasionally on closed circuit tracks to experience the car’s full range of
dynamic capabilities. However, use of the car in a competitive manner, including timed runs or
laps, is not endorsed by Lotus. This type of timed, competitive use will invalidate warranty and
require appropriate levels of expert vehicle preparation and servicing."
With the increasing use of Elise/Exige on track days and closed circuit events, the previous requirement
for the rear suspension toe-link inboard fixing to be torque checked only at the First After
Sales service, has been amended to a torque check at every service interval.
The hot dip galvanised coating used on the rear subframe can, on Toyota powertrain cars, result in
some initial 'settling-in' of the toe-link ball joint stud spanner flats with the channelled insert on the
subframe (ref. Service Bulletin 2004/09). This process will be accelerated if the car is subjected
to track type usage. The torque figure for the latest type fine thread (1.25mm pitch) ball joint stud
has also been increased from 50 to 60 Nm.
On Rover powertrain cars, no channelled insert was used on the subframe; the orientation of the
ball joint stud flats must manually be set horizontal to provide the maximum diameter for load distribution.
For recommended torque figures for the various ball joints which may be found, refer to
Service Bulletin 2003/11 Issue 4, but note that the latest type fine thread ball joint (A117D0090S)
is supplied as service replacement, with a revised torque of 60 Nm (unless using with early nonhardened
subframe; 45 Nm)
For committed or regular track use, Lotus recommends that all suspension fixings be checked
between sessions, and that the chassis rear brace kit LOTAC05377 (see Service Notes section
DH.5) is fitted to spread the load distribution across a wider base and to increase tolerance to
abuse.
Please update your copies of the following publications with this revised information:
Maintenance Schedule LSL460a (non-USA Elise/Exige);
Maintenance Schedule LSL462 (USA Elise/Exige);
Maintenance Schedule LSL501 (supercharged Exige);
Service Notes manual A111T0327J, (S1) section DE;
Service Notes manual A117T0327J, (S2) section DG;
Service Notes manual A120T0327J, (111R/USA) section DH;
Service Bulletin 2003/11 Issue 4.
Update packages

[paulhastings]

Thanks Andy! I am pretty sure we were doing it in reverse. Seems the way it is stated here is more difficult to fit the larger torque wrench and socket in place whereas the front you have all the room. Unless I am missing something.

Originally Posted by apk919

Yes... here it is:

You can of course, reverse the position of the normal wrench and torque wrench... but it's much easier this way.

[paulhastings]

Got it!

Originally Posted by apk919

Well, you have to temporarily bend the heat shield up to get to the bolt head... but you're using a lift, and I'm doing it while the car is on balance scales... so I use a crawler to roll in from the rear of the car...

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by apk919

You can of course, reverse the position of the normal wrench and torque wrench... but it's much easier this way.

EDIT: Oh, yeah... note that my OEM track brace did not have the turnbuckles or the brace to the chassis...

The original toe link brace was bolted to the chassis in the middle and had the adjustable ends to fit things "perfectly". Later versions were simplified and just had the bar that connected one side to the other.


To add to the photo, I colored
the chassis (sub-frame) blue,
the A-arm red (note that the bushing is actually "inside" the chassis),
the toe link brace green,
and the toe link and Heim (spherical) joint orange.

[fitfan]

tightening the nut end will limit the twist on the bolt (in the bushing).

presumably the bushing may grip the bolt under compressions. but mine seemed pretty "relaxed" when i put on my brace - a reasonably precaution / process though i suppose.

[turbophil]

Hold the boat... In a situation where bolt torque is critical (like with anything other than body panels.lol), NEVER tighten the bolt head unless you cannot access the nut. In this case, the nut is easy to access and bolt torque is extremely critical. In fact, it's probably not a far stretch to say that every toelink failure out there (short of those in crash) is due to improper (too loose) or at some point grossly over tightening (passed yield) of the plain 'ol ball joint that the factory sends out...

Tim, you get a for that one

Cheers,

Phil

Edit: APK- you get a thwack too

[paulhastings]

So, if it's not loose then do you need to loosen and retighten to make sure it's not ever torqued? Or, just put the torque wrench on it and make sure it clicks?

Originally Posted by turbophil

Hold the boat... In a situation where bolt torque is critical (like with anything other than body panels.lol), NEVER tighten the bolt head unless you cannot access the nut. In this case, the nut is easy to access and bolt torque is extremely critical. In fact, it's probably not a far stretch to say that every toelink failure out there (short of those in crash) is due to improper (too loose) or at some point grossly over tightening (passed yield) of the plain 'ol ball joint that the factory sends out...

Tim, you get a for that one

Cheers,

Phil

Edit: APK- you get a thwack too

[toedrag]

Originally Posted by paulhastings

So, if it's not loose then do you need to loosen and retighten to make sure it's not ever torqued?

I think so. I've always heard that if the nut/bolt isn't moving while being torqued, the torque value may not be accurate. So, best to loosen, then re-torque.

[turbophil]

I'm kind of a nut when it comes to bolts (pun), so here's the deal...

First, it's FAR, FAR better to over tighten a bolt than it is to under tighten one. FAR.

There are two primary ways to know if you've significantly over tighten a bolt (i.e. reduced the strength of the bolt). There are other ways, but these are good for most practical purposes...
1) The thread spacing expands. This is essentially an indication that a bolt has been torqued to yield. The bolt at this point is functional but should not be reused. How to tell: Upon removing the nut, and you VERY closely inspect the threads of the bolt, if you notice that the spacing of the threads has expanded (any of the threads that were in tension). If you see any irregular thread spacing, you should do the Carrol Smith "float test". Toss the suspect bolt in a near by pond/lake. If it floats, reuse it

2) The bolt breaks. The most stress a bolt will experience is the stress of tightening (short of over loading it and causing a failure). Not only is it in shear stress, but it's twisted as well. This is key because if the bolt survives the tightening process, then you don't have to worry about it breaking soley from being over tightened during use. Again, over tightening is far better than under tightening.

Tightening 101... MOST mechanical tq wrenches are only accurate to about +/-25% of the indicated torque. Given this statistic, you have 3 options, IMO. Annually recalibrate your tq wrench (Send it off), buy a digital tq wrench (expensive, but are typically more accurate and stay more accurate than mechanical), or cross your fingers and slightly over torque every bolt you're supposed to torque to X to X+10% or so (depends on the fastener size and use) to hedge your bet that your tq wrench may be reading much over what is indicated at the "click"... You now know it's better to be too tight than too loose (remember if the bolt doesn't break you're likely OK), so you always hedge up in tq rather than down if you question your equipment...

You should always use a hard washer with a bearing surface under the nut to be torqued at critical joints/unions (like the toe links). I'm not sure how I feel about those locking washer that come with some of the kits... I'd rather use a nyloc nut (yes, those are reusable). Remember is not the nut or the "lock washer" that keeps things tight. It's the bolt stretch...

MOST tq specs are for dry and clean threads unless otherwise specified (like the toe links- dry and clean).

All the above is especially importantly for things like suspension/driveline components.

I'd bet a fair penny that every failed toe link failed due to improper tq. Those that claim they always tq'ed their toe links prior to a track event and still experienced a failure (Which would be few) probably had something wrong with the tightening procedure like a torque wrench that wasn't calibrated, or were using the *old* tq spec opposed to the new one for the links, or perhaps retorqued a toe-link that had been previously been torqued to yield by mistake, or possibly the joint could have been loose at one point in time and damage occurred to the stud at that time. It could be any one or combination of those items...

IMO, I think the after market solutions do more for awareness than anything, which causes people to check them more frequently. That really helps the most (more than that "double shear" thing-uh-muh-jig connecting rod)... IN full disclosure, I do not personally run the stock toe links... but I also don't run the so-called double shear rod that connects the joints either...Not that there's anything particularly wrong with the aftermarket solutions out. They obviously work just fine

Hope that helps,

Phil