ed1655

saw a post about this afew days ago and it rang kinda true to me..... what do you guys think of this? is this normal or a problem? tires are too new (i think - 3,000 miles) to tell if wear pattern is abnormal
these pictures suck azz i just realized cuz they are dark and taken with a phone . if they are insufficient please let me know, i'll get some new ones this coming weekend no problem . thanks as always!

rayluka

Cant see. If your getting bad wear you might want to think about getting a 4 wheel thrust alignment

Durango_Boy

Yokes and U-joints are probably worn. Check bearings too.

BB72

Generally thats worn yokes and spring or just the spring. If the spring is weak the rear will sag and the geometry or the rear will pull the top of the tire in. It's a big job so count on spending some dollars.

akfox1

Before doing all that, check the easiest thing first - the rear camber adjustment rods and their bushings. Very common problem, and easy to fix.
If they are good, go on to the expensive, not so easy stuff...

Duke94

When you say they are splayed, I assume you mean tilted in at the top. Could be as simple as adjusting the strut rods.

HamadUP

I've been into it few months ago, it turned to be the camber rod adjustments. did it for 150QR (40USD) and its perfect now.

ed1655

can you tell anything from my pics? is this a "normal" amount of tilting? is there even such a thing? i'll take some better pics this weekend and re-post. i don't want to take my car in to the mechanic for nothing if it looks ok to most of you - i just got it back last week! and, more importantly, my wife is ON MY *** about putting more money into this car right now.

Jughead

pics too dark to tell anything.

ed1655

okay guys - my bad. i'll post again this wknd or next week!

- Evan

80_vette

from the looks of it,the bottom of your tire seems to be out a bit.Chances are it's only your camber adjustment and sometimes it's the bushings that are worn.

That's what I'm doing this weekend to correct my problem...

dieseldave56

Unless the rear axles have been replaced that could be worn axles. The OEM axles were soft and had to be replaced with hardened ones. Of course the metal from the axles would chew up the bearings and gears.The cases on differential were notorious for cracking.
When my '73 LT1 4 spd coupe started showing signs of rear tire splay at 61,000 miles , I ended up dropping $3000 into it i.e. outer bearing assy, diff. case, 3.55 gears, axles, axle bearing, inner and outer shaft joints, plus fiberglass spring, lowering bolts.
Same problem with my '79 Pace Car. Just raise the rear off the ground and pull in and out. If you have 1/4" or more you have axle wear.
Granted , my cars were orignial to me way back then. I'd think that most all vettes of this era have had the axles changed by now.

Wuttin

To answer the question, no it's not normal. There should be a very slight camber that will be dialed in with a good alignment (if I recall its 1/8" total, slight inward lean at the top??).

Regardless, take good pix of the underside from behind the car, focus on the camber adjusters, the point where the yokes enter the differential, and the spring. Then the experts should be able to give a better educated guess.

ed1655

i have no idea where/what that is???? sorry. any further direction or a sample pic would be 'preciated.

GD70

Someone will have pics. There's been tons posted in various suspension rebuild threads. Also look in your AIM. All the specs for rear wheel alignment are there.

rihwoods

71-73 rear wheel camber should be in the range of 7/8 negative to 1/8 negative camber..

Tilting top of tire away from vette centerline is POSITIVE camber....
Tilting top of tire toward vette centerline is NEGATIVE camber...

When I ran autocross,my rear camber was set at 1.5° neg.....

Link:
http://www.vbandp.com/instructions/h...ruct/align.htm

Wuttin

Very worn yokes entering differential:




Differntial removed and cleaned - yoke was so worn that u-joint bolt was carving into differential case. The worn end of the yoke is inside the differential. It's best to completely remove the differntial to replace them.


The eccentric cam used to align the rear wheels was at it's maximum adjustment. The only way to get close to aligned was for Bubba to heat and bend the strut rods. Send a pic of these, especially where they connect to the differential in the center


After: I replaced the original fixed length struts with adjustables so the eccentric cam was removed.




Try to get these pix. Work around your spare carrier and exhaust if they are still in place.

Enjoy, Steve

ed1655

whoa! great pics, thanks

i'll try my best.

mpett1

Wow bro how much did you put into your rear end of your car. Looks great!!

Wuttin

I'm thinking about a grand for the rear ($400 spring and struts, $300 refurbed half-shafts and u-joints, $200 yokes, other...)? The trailing arms were already done when I took over.

I ended up doing the same to the front with a full new set of brakes all around. Got it aligned and it's been a whole new car ever since and outdrives my DD.