Caterham three wheeler

Caterham three wheeler

Author
Discussion

MARTIN993

Original Poster:

74 posts

164 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
To my horror, the driver's side rear wheel came away from the car last week.

Fortunately I was going slowly at the time and damage minimal.

It appears that 2 of the 4 wheel bolts have snapped completely...

Has anyone experienced this before or have any sense of where to start as far as ordering and fitting replacements are concerned?

Car is in the North West

DCL

1,216 posts

179 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
I take it that the two nuts came off first.

It is possible that they were never tightened but, nuts that undo themselves, tend to be the result of a history of over torquing.

The studs are stretched beyond their 'elastic' limit. The symptoms are nuts that are inconsistent to reach torque or are continually slackening. IMHO, you should always use a torque wrench, and replace any suspect studs, particularly if you don't know their history.

Edited by DCL on Tuesday 26th July 15:17

Darumvej

186 posts

138 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
I thought for a minute that this was the new ultimate Caterham product announcement. biggrin

bcr5784

7,109 posts

145 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
Darumvej said:
I thought for a minute that this was the new ultimate Caterham product announcement. biggrin
Me too!

JUPE777

101 posts

117 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
MARTIN993 said:
To my horror, the driver's side rear wheel came away from the car last week.

Fortunately I was going slowly at the time and damage minimal.

It appears that 2 of the 4 wheel bolts have snapped completely...

Has anyone experienced this before or have any sense of where to start as far as ordering and fitting replacements are concerned?

Car is in the North West
As DCL says, most likely through over tightening stretching studs. You will need a 41mm impact socket for the rear hub nut. One side is a r/h thread and other is l/h so have a good look at thread before you try to remove. If the threads have been stretched through over tightening it would be safer to change all 16.

Iva Barchetta

44,044 posts

163 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Demon Tweeks in Wrexham for replacements ?

nigelpugh7

6,038 posts

190 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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I would just buy the proper item direct from Caterham.

http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_prod...




Buy a pair and replace both sides, with new hub nuts too.

You will need to borrow a 270nm Tourque wrench to tighten them up.

And of course buy new wheel nuts too.

http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_prod...


BertBert

19,039 posts

211 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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rhs of the car is rh thread, lhs is lh thread if that helps.
Bert

Gingerbread Man

9,171 posts

213 months

Thursday 28th July 2016
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You could take this time to get the slightly longer wheel studs.

MARTIN993

Original Poster:

74 posts

164 months

Friday 29th July 2016
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thanks for the replies...might be a job for this weekend, all being well

Equus

16,884 posts

101 months

Tuesday 2nd August 2016
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Do you have a better picture of the remaining two studs?

Rather than the studs being too short, per se, it looks as if the thread on the hub side of the stud was too short, so that the tread didn't project beyond the clamping face and therefore set up a stress line when tightened.

downsman

1,099 posts

156 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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Equus said:
Do you have a better picture of the remaining two studs?

Rather than the studs being too short, per se, it looks as if the thread on the hub side of the stud was too short, so that the tread didn't project beyond the clamping face and therefore set up a stress line when tightened.
Intererestingly the new Caterham part pictured is just like that too. I would agree that for maximum strength, it would be best of the thread started further out.