AR7E - Alcester Racing 7's Equipe
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Right - the rear suspension is in pieces and has been cast to the winds... ...Now we 'just' need to unbolt the prop from the diff, lower the diff from the chassis, slide the prop out and replace... All of this can be achieved by only one person - but the risks and frustration probably outweigh the feelgood factor of doing an almost impossible job yourself. What we're saying is that after having achieved it the hard way once, we'll insist on assistance in the future...
OK. You can either remove the diff and propshaft as one unit, or you can unbolt the prop from the diff and remove/replace as two items. We'd honestly recommend the latter option - it means that you have two smaller and lighter items to manipulate rather than one big, heavy and unwieldy one. So, first step is to put the gearbox in neutral, get under the car, rotate the prop until one of the four connecting bolts is in the 6 o'clock position, get back out from under the car, pop the gearbox into 1st to lock the propshaft in position, get back under the car and undo that bolt...
Click Image for Full Size Key: A - Handbrake cables B - Diff flange C - Prop Flange D - underside of diff. ...and repeat another three times... You can probably see that having an assistant simply to pop the car in and out of gear will make things a lot easier already... And that's before you try to drop the diff... Dropping the Diff.
Key: A - Top central mount B - Diff Flange C - Redundant front mount D - Lower RH mount E - Driveshaft orifice F - Fill Plug G - Breather pipe Right. The diff. Before we go any further, take a look at the picture of the diff after it has been removed (above - click for full size) As you can see, there are actually three mounting points - but only two (top central, lower L+R) are used in the Caterham application - the front mount just behind and below the diff flange is not use. The top mount secures the diff to the chassis using an incredible eleven-inch long bolt that goes through a chassis mount, past a couple of shims (washers), all the way through the diff mount, back through some more shims and another chassis mount and is terminated by a nut. The left and right lower mounts utilise two short bolts rather than another biggy that goes all of the way through - both bolts do use a set of shims, however... The shims (washers of varying thickness) are used to make sure that the diff is precisely mounted in the centre of the chassis - and so extreme care must be taken to ensure that you put back exactly the right number and thickness in each location upon reassembly... You have been warned... Count them in, and count them back out. OK, so we know how the diff is attached and that we need to be very careful to capture and log all of the shims. You've probably also guess that the diff will be heavy. Very heavy. And your head/chest is right beneath it... So find that assistant. What we'll do is to remove the two, lower, side mount bolts and leave the diff hanging from the big, top bolt. The assistant can then get a jack underneath the diff and take some of the weight (noting that the bottom of the diff is not flat and therefore the diff will not balance at all well. With the weight taken by the jack, the main mechanic can withdraw the top bolt (capturing the shims whilst we work) and provide some lateral support for the diff. The diff can then be lowered gradually (noting that the diff and prop flanges might stick together somewhat and that the diff might not completely clear the De Dion tube (and handbrake cables etc.) on the way down). Finally you should be able to get the diff into a position where it can be manoeuvred to the ground in safety. Phew! Wasn't so hard was it (gravity was on your side...) And that's about it - you should be able to slide the old propshaft out (noting that gearbox oil may seep out of the hole where the propshaft was) and 'simply' reassemble the whole lot in reverse order... The final page in this how-to will list some of the things you'll need to bear in mind on reassembly.
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