GT6 Rotoflex Spring fitting

[xebec]

Hi,
I am trying to fit the Spring onto my Rotoflex GT6 and am wondering whether I am following the correct procedure. I have attached a few photo's for clarity. It looks as though I will have to get the spring really high in order to fit it to the vertical link. I have jacked up the vertical link and made up a spring loading tool and jacked that up as well however I do not seem to get high enough to line the holes up in order to fit the spring bolt through. I was not sure but I have now removed the steel band around the rotoflex coupling which I assume is correct. Please could someone advise whether or not I am doing this procedure correctly and/or advise what I should do or have done. Looking at it I am going to have to get some extra muscle in to handle it however I may be wrong. Appreciate your help. Thanks & Regards, Ken

[xebec]

And a couple more Photo's:

[toolmaker]

hi ken, looks to me like its ok, you need to lift the spring higher to fit the bolt, then when its fastened up the force of the spring will push the whole lot down.

[John Bonnett]

I'm very interested in this because I'll be tackling this job very soon. I think the root of the problem is that without the weight of the body you are lifting the whole chassis off the ground before the spring deflects sufficiently. It may be necessary to bolt the chassis to the garage floor unless you can load the chassis with enough weight.

I'm interested to hear what others say.

[Nick Jones]

As you are finding, this is a right sod.....

You've got two problems because without the body on the chassis just comes off the stands before the spring is high enough.  So for that you need to stack it up with heavy stuff or get some hefty mates to sit on it.

Even once you solved that, you still have to fight the rotoflex itself which needs to be considerably distorted for the holes to line up.  It is possible with a suitable lever or two and a podger, but mind your fingers!  I have used the twsted rope trick in the past, but cunning deployment of a ratchet strap would be more modern and probably alot safer.

Another reason why CV shafts are wonderful...... :P

Nick

[xebec]

Thanks for inputs so far as now I know that I am not doing anything stupid to try and sort this. I will have to try to get some more bodies around to add some weight and muscle to sort it.
Nick, The ratchet is a good idea to bring the vertical links in further so will get one of those. I would love to go CV however with the amount I have spent so far it will have to wait plus as I live in the Netherlands I get most of my bits from the UK and postage can be a bit expensive at times. Am I right in saying that Canleys are the only CV suppliers? Thanks again for inputs, muchly appreciated.

[Martins Stag]

Gents I have a bit oif a cheat that I use. If you temporary fit 4 x long Herald Studs on the diff with the plate have the spring loose, then put one of the spring bolts in on one end of the spring and  then try and find a mate and between the two of you but the second bolt in. It won't be easy but with two of you and the spring not being under tension and very slack you should be able to get  the second bolt in. Once you have this start winding down the spring in the middle to creat tension. Once it is down a fair way remove two diagonal studs and replace with the proper shorter GT6 studs, take the tension up on these, then replace the other two and tension down all four studs onto the diff. It takes a while but it is the best way I have found of doing it.

Hope this is clear if not let me know.

I've never got on with spring lifing tools

Martin

Hayward Heath

[xebec]

Hi Martin,
That sounds pretty clear and a good solution to me if i can get hold of some herald studs. Thanks..I will bare this in mind.

[garyf]

Agree wIth the comments about needing extra weight on the Chassis and the fact you have to twist the vertical link against the tension of the rotoflex coupling, but are you sure that the spring lifter you have made is to the correct factory dimensions?

If you had a bit more distance between the the 'U' section and the section that wraps around the spring, you should be able to get a bit more leverage?

I'm sure the Spring lifter tool I have is a bit longer between the 'U' Section and the outer section that wraps around the spring with the bolt?

Hope that makes sense.

[rotoflex]

I've only done this while the body was still on the car, but the first time was still vexing.
As I lifted the spring, the body rose, so I needed something to weigh the body down.
My dad came into the garage while I was trying to figure out what to use, & he
said, "You know, there's not much that's heavier than water."

So the subsequent solution, and always after, was to jack up the corner of the
car with the lifting tool attached, put a tall jackstand under the end of the lifting
tool, then put a cooler in the back of the car


Get the garden hose, fill the cooler with water until the center of the spring goes
down low enough, bolt up the spring.

Then get a short piece of hose, siphon the water out into the flower bed, &
remove the cooler.

It seems you might be able to cobble up something to temporarily balance a
cooler on top of the spring & do this.

[cook1e]

Here's a picture of the proper spring lifting tool, I think Garry has a point about the U sections being further apart. Also in the picture  this is jacked up ready to lever the spring eye bolt in place, as you can see it's quite a bit closer. I use a crowbar to lever the top of the vertical mount inwards and then a screw driver pushed through the holes in the vertical link and spring eye once aligned to hold it in pace and apply just the right ammount of leverage to start pushing the bolt into place tapping it hope and withdrawing the screw driver...

[Richard B]

1729 wrote:

Am I right in saying that Canleys are the only CV suppliers? Thanks again for inputs, muchly appreciated.

Canleys do an off the shelf kit keeping the OE bearings in the vertical link.

Nick can supply modified vertical links (exchange) to take modern style bearings and Rover drive shafts. pm him for details and do a forum search on CV conversions.

[Clive]

I believe jigsaw also do a conversion.....again using OE bearings.

I have used the Nick Jones conversion. Using a proper rear bearing that requires no shims or faff is wonderful!

[Peterrc]

Hi Ken, my middle name is Heath Robinson.  I  have an Equipe and had to fill the boot up with bricks to get it to line up.
To align it I had the spring lifter (a wrought iron gate post) set back from the end of the spring so that I could fit a 'G' clamp behind it.  I then made up a squashed 'U' from wood that contacted the 2 uprights and avoided the spring.  Once nearly in position I inserted a suitable sized bar, the same diameter as the bolt, that had been ground to a point over about an inch.  Once the bar is located put the bolt in from the other side.
Good luck, Peter

[xebec]

Thanks to all for your advice and recommendations. I will persevere and hopefully with more manpower it can be sorted. The tool I made up was to the specifications in the workshop manual as the distance between the U's issupposed to be 14.6 mm and mine is 15 mm. I am considering  making another U and fitting it just after the last one on the bar.  I have today bought a couple of ratchet straps that hopefully will pull the vertical links in a bit more to line up. Here's hoping.
cheers, Ken

[JimGT6]

I found that when I replaced the bushing, it was easier if you loosened, but not removed the bolts holding the rotoflex coupling on. this way the vertical link could move in and out a little.

Jim

[GT6chris]

I originally fitted mine when the body was off and used a couple of ratchet straps. I fitted the eye bolts at each end and then pulled the spring down on to the diff with the straps. I have since fitted the Jigsaw CV conversion which makes the whole process a great deal easier.

http://www.gtsix.com/images/rest/chassis/ch8.jpg

You can see just how much you need to distort the rotoflex to get the bolt in from the photo

Chris

[Mr Elsie]

Am I missing two bolts from my spring? Based on pic on previous post? Do all diffs have 6 bolts? Or are there some that have 4?

[Clive]

Later spitfires (mkIV and 1500) and the very last gt6 mk3 were fitted with swingspring thgast used 4 bolts/studs, and the duff gassing ward drilled for 4. All other cars had 6 studs holding the spring down.
So yes, you are missing 2 bolts, probably as the diff came from one of the above cars. Does it matter? Not sure. But I have used a 4 stud diff with my CV to to rear end. I have however doubled up on the cast plate on top. One reason being y spring studs were a bit too long, and the plates have been known to crack. So I used a simple solution. I hope.

[xebec]

Chris, your solution is interesting and I will give it a try. I have just bought a couple of ratchet straps which hopefully will come in handy to sort this out as so far I am in the same predicament. I see what you mean about how far the rotoflex coupling distorts. I did not realize it would be that much. Will hopefully sort it in the coming week. Thanks All.

[timireson]

Yes the plates can crack/snap. mine was in two pieces when I took it off. trying to source a replacement!!
tim

[xebec]

Hi,
Well I managed to get the spring and everything connected. I had help from my son pushing down on the spring after we had removed the spring from the diff and connected the spring eye bolts first. Once we had managed that (was not easy) he managed to get enough force downwards for me to just about put a couple of nuts on the studs on the diff. Once all the nuts were tightened on the studs it dropped into place nicely. So great news now onto the engine and gearbox, clutch etc. I have another question of which I will start a new thread. Thanks again to all for advice etc.