Support Team Shaun_E Posted May 5, 2006 Support Team Share Posted May 5, 2006 My new harness arrived yesterday and I thought it would be a nice easy swap as I've removed and refitted the old ones before. Well of course it turned out to be a pain up the 🙆🏻. On my old harnesses the "top hat" piece that allows the harness mount to rotate sits proud of the harness mount but the ones that came with the new harness don't seem to be tall enough and once the bolt is tightened the harness mount will not rotate. I could live with that as I used the old top hats except that one of them has obviously been crushed a bit from repeated tightening. 1) The manual says tighten to 45lbft but that seems to start to crush the top hat pieces - is that part of the design or is the torque too high? 2) Should the top hat pieces always be replaced? 3) Can someone who has fitted a recent harness tell me whether the top hat pieces sit proud of the harness mount? 4) What order should the washers, etc. go? I had them as bolt head, plain washer, harness mount, crinkle washer, top hat but the manual I have shows bolt head, plain washer, crinkle washer, harness mount, top hat. If I use the order from the manual, the crinkle washer can easily be caught between the harness mount and the plain washer. I will or course call Caterham later but forewarned is forearmed. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom_C Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Mine don't rotate, and it was CC Midlands built. How on earth do you get a torque wrench on the shoulder straps anyway? Cheers Tom FH54WLX - only the car supports ManU, honest! see here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted May 5, 2006 Author Support Team Share Posted May 5, 2006 Perhaps I haven't described it clearly. By harness mount, I mean the triangular shaped piece of metal that the shoulder strap passes though and which is bolted to the chassis rail at the the top of the rear bulhead. On my old harnesses, this piece of metal is free to rotate around the mounting bolt because the top hat spacer is longer than the depth of the harness mount. The top hat spacers that came with the new harness are shorter and so when the bolt is done up the harness mount is clamped tightly and can no longer swivel. I would have thought that is was important that the harness mount could swivel freely to accommodate people of different sizes. It's easy to get a torque wrench on the harness bolts as the bolt head is at the top of the rear bulkhead - the bolts screw into a threaded boss in the chassis rail. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted May 5, 2006 Author Support Team Share Posted May 5, 2006 I have now spoken to Caterham and they told me this is how it's been for ages now. The design was changed such that the harnesses are no longer free to rotate. Bummer ☹️. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom_C Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Yep, that's how my 05 harnesses are, but as I have Tillets it never occurred to me that they should rotate. Cheers Tom FH54WLX - only the car supports ManU, honest! see here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrino Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 I also found that 45 lbft was too much and would distort the tophats - just "did it up tight". You could put a wanted ad out for some older tophats - I did this and the ones I received allow the use of the spring washer and permit the swivelling of the 'mounts'. Or you could get some tophats machined to your spec at a workshop - I had this done for my crotch strap tophats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrem Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Shaun, having gone down the Willans route I think I have a spare tophat or two - if you let me know your address I'll pop it in the post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted May 5, 2006 Author Support Team Share Posted May 5, 2006 Lionel - thanks for the offer - you have mail. cheers, Shaun Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrem Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 No probs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Mill Posted May 6, 2006 Share Posted May 6, 2006 I remember having the same problem when I built up my car. I just tickled the top hat bits in the lathe till the triangular bits rotated nicely. I felt it was a safety thing as the rotation is needed to make sure the load is evenly distributed across the strap width to maximise the strap strength. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now