Possibly the most important parts?

[David Morris]

Hi All, now that we are entering the winter 'lay-up' period of the year, can I mention what I would describe as the most important parts of the front suspension on all Javelins and Jupiters? Failure to touch/ examine these parts will probably send your beloved vehicle to the scrap yard, or be very difficult and expensive to repair. They are the set of set screws and bolts that attach the front mountings of the torsion bars to the chassis legs. They will work loose, allowing the mountings to loosen and 'fret' against the slender front chassis legs, under the cylinders. In time, the front chassis legs, which are hollow, will develop stress cracks behind the bracket holding the forward end of the torsion bar. These will be almost invisable and eventually make the front chassis leg unsound and dangererous. This chassis failure ususally got detected at the annual MoT, but now days.....?

The parts affected are the eight setscrews, part numbers 832/1119 on Javelins/later Jupiters ( 4 per side ) and the two long bolts 831/1118 on Javelins/later Jupiters. These long bolts are the most important and are 5/16th unch by 2 and 7/8" inches and secure the torsion bar brackets to the chassis legs. It is vital to keep these bolts really tight! THey are not large bolts for the very important job they perform, and especially as the heads are difficult to fit a spanner onto, and the nuts are recessed into a reinforcing bracket. Please do put a spanner on these items and make sure they are VERY tight, they will keep your car on the road, ignore them and your chassis legs will fail. I know this from sad experience, and have the tee shirt!

My saviour was Dennis Sparrow and he managed to put my Javelin back on the road, for which I am very grateful, but it was a really tricky repair. You should probably fill these chassis legs with oil, to prevent internal rusting, which will be completely invisible!

All the best,

David

[Forumadmin]

Amy and I had one of the large bolts shear in the Dordogne in the 1998 Marathon. A lot of work to repair that took most of the night before a 6am start.

[paul wilks]

Thanks for the reminder David. Since you first flagged this issue to members, I have made it part of my regular check round whilst undergoing the usual greasing of the front suspension/steering. Thankfully I'm able to report the bolts are kept tight. Thank you again, David
Best wishes