Tyrone Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 Just purchased at great expense (for me anyway) and guess what no fitting instructions from Caterham. The old system appeared to be straightforward and the new one may well be the same. Has anyone fitted this upgrade and can provide me with a step by step in words or pictures. Thanks Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 No replies so I guess not. So it's you..... What's in the kit? What did it cost? Why did you want to change? And let us know how fitting it went when you've done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrone Posted May 30, 2003 Author Share Posted May 30, 2003 The kit costs £250 plus VAT and post. It includes 2 hubs with wheel studs, 2 spindles, 4 bearings, 4 circular retainers, 2 Castellated nuts, 2 split pins and no installation instructions I have called Caterham and they are faxing instructions to me. The bearings are different to the Spitfire/Herald ones I am currently using but at present I cannot see what benefit the new design has over the existing. It may become apparent when I get the instructions. The reason why I have had to purchase the kit is that I destroyed my nearside outer bearing on the way to Rockingham last weekend. Unfortunately I f***ed the inside of the hub, welded what remained of the bearing to the stub axle spindle and 'blued' the spindle and brake disc Fixed it with a bearing bought from a guy racing a Herald and lots of help from MG X power support team. But because of the damage caused it cannot be regarded as a permanent fix. Will post next week with my findings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 Tyrone, Perhaps they are lighter ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miraz Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 The hubs and stub axles are much stronger than the Herald components used to date - if anything the new kit is marginally heavier than the old alloy hub setup, but should take a bit more punishment. Miraz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 Tyrone - it's past next week now..... how did you get on? I've just trashed a stub axle at Llandow (caught out by the kerbs I guess) and need to replace at least that one, need to decide whether or not to take the opportunity to upgrade. Clearly this kit fits the existing upright, presume the wheel studs in the new hub are the same as the old ones (pcd and thread), presume the discs fit onto the new hubs in the same way. Erm, can't think of anything else that might need changing, can you confirm you just bought the new kit and swopped it? Any feel for how much heavier the new hubs are? Anything else I need to know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrone Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 Chelspeed, I was writing a response to you when I think I got binned out by my works system. New hub assembly works great but I'll post a more detailed response tonight. Apologies for not responding sooner. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Graham, The hub upgrade was developed mainly for the racers who had problems with fracturing hubs and thus many reverted to the old cast iron hubs. The new hubs have stouter stub axles and stronger bearings. According to Jez Coates, these new hubs will/are de facto standard on all new Caterhams. *arrowright*Harry Flatters *arrowright* AKA Steve Mell of Su77on Se7ens and Joint AO - Surrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Faulds Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 The problem on the SLR racers was the stub axles breaking, not the hubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrone Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 New hub assembly is relatively straightforward even for a low tech guy like myself. The new stub axles are a greater diameter than the originals and therefore heavier but also stronger (so kerbs may not be so problematic in the future!). The pcd and disc assembly on the new hubs are the same. Beware, Caterham did not send the bolts to attach the discs to the hub. I sourced these separately. Ideally you should use a press to insert the bearing runners. The bearings do not come with grease. I used Castrol LM. The castellated nut is is much larger than the original as is the split pin. It goes on finger tight but you need to hold it while threading on the lock nut at the other end, I used a 42mm socket. On the subject of the lock nut, mine was not threaded all the way onto the stub. A quick call to Caterham confirmed a half nut is required and a deuce of nuts was quickly despatched. With the instructions the installation was relatively straightfoward. Both sides obviously need to be replaced and as with all these things the second side was installed with greater speed than the first. Hope this makes sense. If anyone needs a copy of the installation instructions I have them as both word and pdf files. Cheers Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy couchman Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Chelspeed - also try James Whiting. He does some excellent CNC machines gold anodised front hubs that take either Ford or Ital pcd's. The red car now has these Seem to recall they are cheaper than Caterham but doubtless James could confirm whether there are any design differences. Certainly the weight saving over the cast iron hubs is about 4 tonnes (well, roughly...) Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Anyone found a full upright/hub assy that's both stronger and lighter? I could not believe the weight of them when I installed them. Worcs L7 club joint AO.//Membership No. 4379//Azure Blue SLR No. 0077//Se7ens List Tours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Flatters Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Mr sfaulds, I stand corrected re the stub axles/hubs, but why were the racers reverting to the cast-iron hubs? *arrowright*Harry Flatters *arrowright* AKA Steve Mell of Su77on Se7ens and Joint AO - Surrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Hmmm I too replied yesterday but it's got lost.... The racers used small stub axles and alloy hubs just like the road cars. Then about 2 or 3 years ago the racers found cracks in the alloy hubs from the wheel stud holes to the outside. So they changed to the old fashioned steel hubs, note they were required to change rather than just permitted so it was all the same for everyone, the extra weight didn't matter. Then last year I assume there were stub axle problems so Caterham developed a new stub axle wheel bearing kit that needed new hubs so they took the opportunity to develop new, presumably stronger, alloy hubs. So you're both right. I need a new hub and stub axle so will probably take the opportunity to change to the new set up. So a set of instructions by email would be nice, graham.ford@chelspeed.demon.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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