>A related issue: What is the typical lifetime of RotoFlex units? Say in
>total miles of vigorous driving with 87 hp.
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I don't know mileage wise, but I've had them on my 70 GT6 for about 10
years and several thousands of miles now since the restoration and they
still look good. What you want to look for is large cracks or severe
separation (1/2 inch or more) between the bonding plates. The ones on the
converted V6 spit used to last about three months, but I suspect that the
150+ ft/lb of torque didn't help, so I eventually replaced (through
irreversible mods) the rotoflex joints and axles with TR6 ones
(Aribert_Neumann%MIMCO@magna.on.ca. . . I get an undeliverable error on
your E-mail delivery so if you want the details send me a good address,
this one appears to be unusable) since changing the rotoflex joints is a
REAL pain.
As far as your noise goes, I doubt its the rubber doughnuts. They don't
normally make any noise even when going bad. I would suspect the outer hub
bearings, or even a slight possibility of the inner axle bearings. It
would depend on how many miles are on the diff and if the noise is present
when turning or just randomly appears. If when turning, this strongly
suggests the outer hub bearings, and it would be the wheel opposite the
direction of the turn. In other words, if you turn right and hear the
noise, then look at the left wheel. This is because *usually* the noise is
most noticeable when the wheel is unloaded. There is a VERY SLIGHT chance
(indicated by the loss of power that you say your experiencing during this
noisy period) that the splines of the outer axle flange assy are worn to
the point of slipping but this would have had to have been a badly worn
assy to begin with - If there is truly a lot of miles on the car it might
be worth while to strip and repair/replace all the bearings, bushings,
rotoflex, and u-joints anyway because to remove, disassemble then
reassemble one of these rears correctly is a challenging job indeed (been
there done that, several times)!
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
72 V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire (long term project)
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