Jackfit

Hi , Gary did my steering box , great work , I will take off haft shafts to get a better feel of rear

Jack

Jackfit

Hi, took my son for little ride in car to feel thump in rear or drive train. Let him drive down driveway, he goosed the gas , bad idea ...

Something let go in drive train. Stopped car, no drive shafts hanging, but...

Car will only go forward or backward one revolution of wheel then stops. It will do it in all 4 gears forward and reverse.

Called flatbed, to get car back to my garage.

It seems that the rear let go....

I get the car up on jack stands.... time for rear end removal/ strut rods bushing, body mounts, tranny removal, and if possible crossmember , later after rear removal..plus a lot of stuff that is showing wear after 60,000 miles in the last three years.

I will ask for help after the weekend , just to make sure I take it apart in the right order....

It will be a real job to do on jack stands....I may offer some Lobsters for lunch as a reward for coming up to Maine to get the tranny off my chest or to help pry the crossmember off the frame...

Pictures later.....Son leaving Sunday, for new job in Seattle at Amazon as a robotics engineer...

Thanks in advance for you kindness and understanding , and supporting me as I cry under the car.......should be quite interesting...

Jack

Railroadman

Remember that *USUALLY* a new part is good for many, many years of driving. However, once in a while some part will fail far before its predicted life is over. The fact that you put new U-joints in 2-3 years ago does not mean it absolutely cannot be one going bad. Ditto almost any other item. Keep an open mind and good luck pinning it down.

rene-paul

Please do a search on the forum about this. I just completed the removal and rebuild and reinstallation of my diff. I fabbed up a piece of steel plate that bolted to the camber bracket surface on the rear housing. It is also drilled for a bolt to go into my small floor jack. Nice and stable! Lowered the diff and crossmember until hit touched the tailpipe. This will give access to the crossmember to diff bolts. Once the bolts are removed lower the dif and the crossmember will lay on the tailpies. Gary helped me with the bearing and seal replacement and also the set up. You might consider sending the diff to him as he is fairly close. Keep us informed!! See John Hinckley's tech article, "Doing The Sombrero Dance In Your 63-67 Corvette" That will help.
Brgds,
Rene

Jackfit

Hi, Thanks for the tips, the bolts the hold the carrier to the cross member are never coming out. Once I take off the haft shafts and drive shaft, I will know which way to go, may leave the carrier on the cross member and just remove the rear from it , so I can see what may have broken. Or once in there, I may try to drop the cross member, depending on the prying the member of the frame.

Where do I find the link for John's article ?

Jack

GUSTO14

I seem to recall that the C3's in the 70's had a run of problems with the bolts in the ring gear backing out. As the bolt would back out it would strike the rib inside the back cover...

...making a clicking sound. Finally it would snap the head of the bolt off and the noise would go away until another bolt would loosen and repeat the cycle. Eventually the ring gear would simply be too loose to function or one of the bolt heads would jam in the gear. Needless to say, maintenance would be required.

Whenever I see a used rear cover for sale, I always look inside at the strengthening web to see if there is evidence of this. I think you would be surprised at what you find. Typically it does not really harm the rear cover beyond some scratches and gouges on the web.

It is always a good idea whenever purchasing an unknown rear that in every other respect looks good to remove the rear cover and check the integrity of the ring gear bolts. I've seen them both with and without lockwashers. If they don't have lockwashers, it certainly can't hurt to ensure that they have thread locker on the bolts.

Good luck... GUSTO

Mr D.

Jack, look on the bright side of this, its winter and a perfect time to do this right and have it ready for the spring.

Good luck.

Jackfit

Hi to all my wonderful friends out there in Corvette Land

I would love to have some one do the repairs, but I thought this would be a good time to have all the forum members come along for the ride. A lift would make it much easier, but that is not going to happen.

Today I turn the heat on in the garage, set the stage for major surgery, take photos for the before and as I do each step.

If I get into trouble , I will call for help, mostly , it is good to have an extra set of hands, if not just to drag me out from under the car.

It will also be a testament to modern Human Replacement Parts.

I have both hips and knees that have new joints, both wrists and ankles have been worked on and lets not even talk about my shoulders.

If I can drive Thousands of miles, fix my car, go to the gym, then so can many of you out there who may be putting off such work.

Give yourself a life.....if you need it, get it done...

Pictures to follow later today ....waiting for the garage to warm up..

Jack

66jack

Jack...

here's the link to the article...Scroll down until you see the magazine entitled..."Twice as Grand"..its on the left of the link, 8 pictures down...there are articles by John and others...

http://www.mwauto.com/media.php

jerry gollnick

I still have this problem with the 64 racecar rear diff bolts loosening. Did GM come up with a fix for this problem? I could really use one . It's no fun when this fails on the track.

OC-1

Jack,

I'm thinking about your offer along with some coyote hunting.

A quick release for dropping the rear would be to drill two holes in flat the storage area directly over the bolts that hold the rear to the crossmember. Xmember stays put.

Just a thought.

rene-paul

Jerry, red type locking compound is what I used on the ring bolts; but I am no racer. I am and aircraft mechanic and would suggest drilling the ring bolts and .032 safety wire.

Jack I am 65, I cribbed up the frame under the center crossmember and just aft on the frame for safety. Thick carpet underneath helped. I used a small floor jack because the weight is around 100 lbs BUT should not be muscled around by guys our age while laying on our backs. The plate I fabbed up made the whole diff/crossmember very stable. I also used longer bolts in place of the original crossmember to frame as a safety when prying around the sombrero mounts to break the frame from sombrero mounts. I think there is a you tube video I reviewed too. Rene's axiom, "to much analysis leads to paralysis"
Brgds
Rene

JohnZ

Here's another link to the "Sombrero" article:

http://www.lbfun.com/warehouse/tech_...breroDance.pdf

Jackfit

So it begins...Day 1

I started today working on the car. Turned on heater in garage, keeps it about 50* if outside is below 32* and warmer if above.

First goal was to jack up car to view damage if possible

Next remove mufflers
Next to remove half shafts

Time 3 hours . One problem was not being able to rotate wheels more than 1 / 4 turn. That made unbolting haft shafts difficult because of small turns of wrench at odd angles on u-joint nuts.

There is little doubt that my rear end is dead.....

Now what to do next. Carrier bolts from cross member will never come out. It will be very difficult to unbolt the rear from carrier as there is no room to get at top bolts.

My sombreros are shot (48 years old) the only way I will get the rear out of the car is to take off the cross member with the rear end.

All the components (Strut rods bushing shot) , springs, drive shaft, have to be take off to drop the rear.

I am on my back doing this. Any suggestion on my next days work will be welcome. I am soaking all in penetrating oil .

Here some pictures of today's work

Car is ready



Getting ready



Up it goes and I hope not down on me



Stable I hope



Wheels off for room, but had to put them back on to rotate wheel



Haft Shafts Off ...one little turn at a time because or lock up of rear



This is the view - what to take off first ?



End of the day

ricks327

A little late to the game in regards to your work garage but it would help tremendously if you insulated your garage. For maybe $500 it would at least give you a little more comfort.
Hang in there for the removal of the rear end.
Rick

Jackfit

Hi Rick,

I rather spend the money on parts and we know there will be parts needed. The only parts of the car that I did not restore in 2010 were the body mounts, strut bushings, and rear end.

New complete trailing arms, shocks, u-joints and wheel bearings , steering box, motor rebuilt , and interior plus paint, plus plus plus. So most of the car is OK

This will be interesting, seems like I have to take it all apart to drop the rear. I may start with the springs , then struts....last will to pop the cross member off frame...should be fun...I have to start looking for a big pry bar...

Jack

Jackfit

Hello and good morning to all. 9:30 am

Turned on heat as it was 27* in the garage . Will start work at 40*

Goals for today:

Take off rear spring without killing myself . I put on new height bolts so I am familiar with it. Main spring was new in 2004 , so bolts should come out with my big torque wrench.

Take off Strut bracket and rods , make need shock knocker later

Take off snuber bushing and bracket

Disconnect drive shaft

I will post pictures later in the day of my progress. Feel free to offer advice on any of the procedures that I am attempting in about 1 hour (10:30 am EST)

Need to sit in whirlpool first to loosen up for the up coming tasks

Jack

MarkC

Jack, Pep Boys sells a gray rubber mat that is about 3 1/2 x 5 feet in size. It is about 3/8 inches thick and costs about $20. I have two of them and they are great when working off the floor. They cushion that hard concrete floor plus you will stay a little warmer. Good luck.

Jackfit

Day 2

Hello and good Evening to all. 8:30 pm

I put in 3 1/2 hours or work today and quit around 2:30 pm . I had to stop because of lack of a shock knocker, ( found one tonight) and it was time to stand up.

Goals for today:

Take off rear spring without killing myself
Take off Strut bracket and rods ,
Need shock knocker to remove strut rod from spindle arm
and bracket

I was able to remove rear spring using a simple method of two jacks, one to hold trailing arm and one to compress spring in order to release tension on bolts.

I was also able to remove strut bracket , but had to leave in place until I can remove rods from spindle with shock knocker.

Once strut bracket is removed, I will remove snubber bushing , disconnect drive shaft and make decision on cross member removal/carrier removal to take out rear.

Here are the pictures

Support of spring / TA , jack is holding up shock mount not rotor



Unbolting nut by compressing spring with jack



Lower spring jack and down comes spring freeing bolt



Bolt free of spring and can now be pushed up and out



Spring can now be unbolted from carrier



Spring can now be removed



Shocks are freed from spindle , but left bolted on top



Rear End now free , ready for next days work , once strut bracket is removed when rods are free of shock mounts.



Parts on the floor, good 2 days work (7 hours slow me ) without any broken bolts !

ricks327

Jack,
I like your approach...slow, easy and methodical.

Rick

P.S. Stay warm!