CSR owners check your rear suspension mounts

[Jonathan Kay]

3 minutes ago, Dixa1225 said:

CC have plenty of Duratecs , no issues with supply for these engines for the next few years.

Yes, this was stated in the recent online meeting with, IIRC a date.

Jonathan

[ScottR400D]

On 26/04/2024 at 08:59, Jonathan Kay said:

Yes, this was stated in the recent online meeting with, IIRC a date.

Jonathan

There was a post in here recently where a customer’s car was on stop because they had no engines. 
Caterham say a lot of stuff, it’s not always true. 
Time will tell. 

[Croc]

It looks like another option for replacement CSR lower suspension brackets became available.

http://www.beachmanracing.com/csr-lower-damper-bracket

The installation instructions are very helpful. 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54a5bfa5e4b00fb49e124354/t/664960c6758ce06353175e1d/1716084936856/BR+Caterham+CSR+Damper+Bracket+Install+Instructions-V1.1.pdf

 

 

 

 

[David aka Blue7]

Good post, how did you discover that?  Beachman Racing seem to be based in Washington, $897 is about £708 plus postage.  You wouldn't think there are many CSR's in the US to warrant the design and production of an improved Clevis Bracket?  It seems similar the the Team Leos bracket but the sides of the two damper location lugs have been chamfered and the stud has a spacer.  I have no knowledge of the material quality they refer to.  Here is a pic of the two together with the team Leos version

[Croc]

39 minutes ago, David aka Blue7 said:

Good post, how did you discover that?  Beachman Racing seem to be based in Washington, $897 is about £708 plus postage.  You wouldn't think there are many CSR's in the US to warrant the design and production of an improved Clevis Bracket?  It seems similar the the Team Leos bracket but the sides of the two damper location lugs have been chamfered and the stud has a spacer.  I have no knowledge of the material quality they refer to.  Here is a pic of the two together with the team Leos version

 

Beachman Racing is a US Caterham dealer and have a fledgling Caterham race series they organize in the Pacific Northwest region.  I know Bruce Beachman from an old CSR project and was in Redmond, Washington (the US state not DC) two weeks back for a BMW CSL race engine rebuild plus a separate Holden restoration project I have going on.  They were a few miles away from Beachman Racing so it was easy to drop by to say hello.  Bruce had the bit on his bench and we chatted about it.  I told him to post it to USA7s when he had it for sale and available on his website - which happened overnight. 

Full disclosure - I have no financial interest in Beachman Racing or this part.  I have the Team Leos part on my CSR as it was the only option available when I replaced my cracked mount early last year (a big thank you to @SamC for alerting me very early).  Just posting here as its nice to have another vendor in the market supporting Caterham CSRs as I do feel we are neglected by Caterham in their support of CSRs. 

There have been a number of US CSRs where this part has failed.  I am aware of 8 which is significant when you consider Caterham sold somewhere between 35 and 38 CSRs in the USA market to date. 

I'm not an engineer or a specialist in metal material quality either.  But I do know from the government lab analysis of my broken Caterham-supplied shock mount that choice of metal is critical for avoiding fatigue related failures on parts like this.   

[David aka Blue7]

That's a great Technical Guide by Beachman Racing, can this be uploaded to the Technical Guides section under Suspension?   Shaun_E

I will try to attach a copy to this post but in the past PDF files have failed to upload  ... well it seems to have uploaded successfully.

BR+Caterham+CSR+Damper+Bracket+Install+Instructions-V1.1.pdf

[SamC]

@Croc Thanks Mike, looks like a well re-engineered solution. Worth noting for us (semi) metric folks across the pond that it looks like they’ve replaced the M14 Nylocs with 1/2” for the wishbone mount. No drama of course, just different from standard.

Their report ties in exactly with my findings on stress corrosion cracking and the hoop stress which is comforting.

If only Caterham were so proactive eh.

[Geoff Brown]

Cannot beat a good bit of 6061 T6.  Good stress & fatigue resilience. Came across it a lot during my aviation career both in  sheet & billet form.

The only caveat like all aluminium alloy, it must be protected correctly to avoid corrosion/oxidisation. With the CSR this will mean good inspection at least annually due to the mounts being susceptible to 'road rash'.

Copper grease during assembly & I would suggest after assembly the mounts are carefully coated in Waxoyl or similar.

 

[ScottR400D]

On 02/08/2023 at 16:53, David aka Blue7 said:

I stand corrected, I have just received a reply from Bob Laishley as follows:

Dear Mr Evans,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, please allow me some time to study with our engineering team and come back to you with a more formal and comprehensive reply.

Regards

Bob

This sounds promising, if CC can acknowledge the problem they can at the very least advise all  the Agents to check and advise owners to replace CSR clevis mounts when they are serviced.  It sounds as if CC are not aware of the problem, which is surprising?

David

 

I notice that it’s now over a year since Laishley asked for time to study this with his engineering team. Anyone had a full answer yet or received updated CC clevises? 

 

 

Edited August 19 by ScottR400D

[PlastererPete]

I haven’t heard anything since I last emailed George Campbell asking if there was any findings on the ones I drove down to them. Just got told that investigations were still ongoing and there will be an update in a few weeks. That was 23rd November last year. 

[ScottR400D]

8 minutes ago, PlastererPete said:

I haven’t heard anything since I last emailed George Campbell asking if there was any findings on the ones I drove down to them. Just got told that investigations were still ongoing and there will be an update in a few weeks. That was 23rd November last year. 

So 9 months roughly. I guess some might argue that’s a few weeks………. 🥴

[Geoff Brown]

With all the money behind CC you would think that by now this subject would have been sorted.

What about bringing the VT Holdings CEO Kazuho Takahasi into the loop ?

[Midas]

I met Bob Laishley last week and asked him if there was an update on this issue.  He didn’t give me any details, but assured me an announcement will be made shortly.

[Geoff Brown]

On 22/08/2024 at 17:55, Midas said:

I met Bob Laishley last week and asked him if there was an update on this issue.  He didn’t give me any details, but assured me an announcement will be made shortly.

Don't hold your breath ?!

I was told personally by 'Uncle Bob' that CC are working on an update or direct replacement of the TITAN LSD & would I like to carry out a back to back comparison when completed..

That was at least 10 months ago.......