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Check your toe link!

110K views 180 replies 82 participants last post by  shinoo 
#1 ·
Please be sure to check yours. Had a track day on Thursday, today I changed oil and checked the links. Both were lose. Be sure to check or they could ruin your day.

-Rob
 
#53 ·
I appreciate this thread. I haven't yet installed my Sector111 RTDBrace (still looking for a decent alignment guy in Knoxville area), and they were only @ 21 ft/lbs. I tightened them up to the 44 ft/lbs.
 
#54 ·
ducatiexigeowner said:
Sec111 has locking washers for the toe links.....
does the same trick as a locking tab, if not better,simple mod.....
a took a load of these courtesy of shinoo and neil along to the stargazing
meet......if your close to CA shay2 may have a few left over...
I have some of the washers. If you guys want them I can hand them to ya'll at the meets. I'll bring them with me. Let me know.
 
#55 ·
+1
Went on a club drive yesterday. Raining today so I figured I would play with the car. I brought both of the toe links up to 60NM. Both were loose (below Lotus spec of 50NM when my car was built). I managed to do it by only taking off the wheel and turning the nut "one-click-at-a-time" with my torque wrench and a deep socket.
 
#58 ·
FYI, the lotus service manual that i had downloaded from lotus around august of 2007 shows the updated 60 Nm torque specification for this bolt.

mine were below that when i went to torque them for the first time (had to turn the bolt about 180 degrees more to reach 60 Nm). kinda scary considering i have just over 1400 miles on my car so far. will have to check often to see if they work themselves loose again.
 
#66 ·
FYI, the lotus service manual that i had downloaded from lotus around august of 2007 shows the updated 60 Nm torque specification for this bolt.

mine were below that when i went to torque them for the first time (had to turn the bolt about 180 degrees more to reach 60 Nm). kinda scary considering i have just over 1400 miles on my car so far. will have to check often to see if they work themselves loose again.
Mike,

Would it be possible for you to post that page of the manual so that others might update their manual? Or maybe just a photo of it...
 
#59 ·
Just checked the toe link. Drivers side was about 1/2 turn loose, pass. side about 1/4 turn loose. Very easy to do after putting the car up on the ramps and removing the center tray. Our car has no track time, with about 9950 miles. Do not know if it was checked at 1000 miles. Thanks to those who provided all the pics. I am now up to the 60Nm. Adam.
 
#70 ·
watch those boots

Just an FYI. From a suspension engineer stand point, you need to watch the open end wrench on the hex close to the boot. It is easy to tear those things and then you're done. (contamination is the enemy to ball joint ends) At the factory (not Lotus but other OEM's), we use what we call "hold and drive" guns that drive the nut and "hold" the ball joint stud with the inner hex on the stud. If my experience we have seen allot of parts in service centers because a dealer services this link and is not careful to watch the boot to wrench clearance. Just trying to share info.
 
#71 ·
comments about torque vs. clampload

Lot of comments in this post comparing clampload to torque. Torque is the necessary work needed to turn the nut or bolt where clampload is how "squeezed" the joint is. Many things can affect this. Thread pitch as was mentioned but also coating type of the bolt and nut, bolt / nut hardness, and stiffness of clampload area are factors in how much torque one gets in a joint for a given torque. I would recommend that you maintain the factory clampload specification +/- 10% as this is the general accuracy of the factory. If you see the joint loosing more than once there may be other issues at work that may need to be discussed. Different fastener options with different specs, or perhaps looking at replacing the factory link and tightening the link with an update torque to the higher end of the spec. Hope this helps. Lots more useless knowledge where this came from.

Cheers.

NVM
 
#73 ·
Yes, you should loosen and then retorque. It's important not to stop tightening as you near the last several pounds. If you simply try to retorque a fastener in its static state, you have to overcome static friction, also known as breakaway torque. You wil be fooling yourself. You probably need to back off 1/4 turn and tighten in a continuous movement until you hit the torque or hear the click.
 
#77 ·
When I torqued mine to 60Nm I also put a dab of Torque Seal on the nut.
I still check the torque when I have the undertray off, but this way I can at least do a quick visual inspection every now and then to see if the nut is moving.

Pipe Auto part


Yellow Product Material property Font
 
#79 ·
Check your ball joint torques, too. Several people have found them completely loose or (in my case) nowhere near the right torque.
 
#82 ·
Toe-LInk Torque

Thanks for the great info. Checked mine today in advance of a track day tomorrow at Pacific Raceways in Seattle. I have only run one track day on R-comps, and one day on the stock Advans. Car has just over 2000 miles and just underwent a tech inspection Friday. Both sides were somewhat loose; 1/4 turn and 1/2 turn to get to 60Nm. There's a few places at Pacific I'd hate to have one fail. I'll be upgrading to an aftermarket toe link in the near future - meantime thanks again for the very poignant information. :clap:

Martin
 
#84 ·
With the stock track pack link brace, I had to retorque the bolts before/after every track day. They'd usually require 1/4 to 1/2 turn to get them back to 60Nm. Since putting on the RTDBrace, with the Nordlock washers, I've haven't had to tweak them at all. I still check every time though...
 
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