MakoJoe

Well another Tech experience with my 1977 Corvette.

After replacing my entire front suspension I am going light for projects this year and only replacing the Strut Rods on the rear suspension so I can take it in for an alignment.

I really wanted to do the work on a 4 post lift today but it was in use so I will do it at home.

This is not an easy job off of jack stands.

Before anything happens you should remove the spare tire and carrier to make room for crawling under the car.

So I pulled the rear end up on ramps



Dropped the spare tire. If anyone wants to know what a 37 year old spare tire looks like on a 1977 Corvette here are pictures. Blueing on the RWL has never been washed off.



this is a little blurry



Before starting work I have to drop the spare tire carrier then remove the cover over the Rear Differential and Strut Arm Assembly.



As you can see my rear suspension needs lots of work but for this winter I am just going to replace the Strut Rods with adjustable Strut Rods so I can drive it next year.




Cover has been removed and will be media blasted and painted in future.



more to come as I replace the Strut Rods

Torqued Off

I sent you Private Message, check it out.

mds3013

Try cleaning the cover. On my '77 it was not painted. mike...

Big Block Dave

I did a full rear suspension rebuild last winter. One thing that I recall was that the adjustable poly set that I bought absolutely refused to fit into the shock mount. I ended up going with heim joints instead.

If you run into any similar nonsense, this is the easiest route to go.

68/70Vette

The rear end suspensions on my 68 and 70.

The strut rods are from Tom's Differentials with Heim Joints.

The 41 pound transverse iron springs have been replaced with the 8 pound composite springs from Vette Brake Products. Since I have offset trailing arms, I ordered the composite springs trimmed down 1/2 inch at each side to accommodate larger width tires. My 68 has offset trailing arms from Vette Brake Products, the 70 has offset trailing arms from Tom's Differentials.

The composite springs are so much easier to install than the iron springs.

MakoJoe

Thanks for all the input going to tear it down tomorrow morning. Lifted the car today and got it up on jack stands and soaked all the bolts with PB Blaster this evening.

I have the plate soaking with Engine Degreaser on it to clean it up also this evening. Had to beat the crap out of with a 3 LBs BFH on a chunk of wood to straighten it out to remove all the dents in it that people in past used it as a jacking point.

MakoJoe

Found an article and a video on the Rear Suspension I will share.

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/tech...t-replacement/

MakoJoe

My buddy Jeff came over this morning to assist with removing the Shocks and attempting to remove the Strut Rod Mounts. The Strut Rod mounts are Rusted frozen so these are going to take some work. I will probably break out my Sawzall and just cut them free. I got the springs lowered also today.

When lowering the springs the safest way is to use a large C=Clamp to hold the jack in place. I had to use a few blocks of wood also since my low profile jack would not lift high enough. It does not take much lift to release pressure on the springs if did I would have borrowed a jack that lifted higher.

MakoJoe

Took Mike's Advice and I used a butt load of elbow grease after letting the bottom plate soak over night in Engine Degreaser than used Purple Power to remove the rest with a 100 Grit Scotch Pad and Wire Brush. Freaking took me about 1.5 hours to get it cleaned up it had dried on oil and road grime. Thanks dude it looks great now after it with a 3 pound BFH hammer and cleaning it up.

Brcmpbl

Just curious - the strut rods don't look bent, are you replacing them just to get new bushings in there?

If so, consider sticking with the stock rods with new bushings - they're just as good as any adjustable ones you might find, for a street car. Maybe better.

LS4 PILOT

Can you add or take out shims to align the rear. To me that's the starting point . Which usually ends up doing everything to rear suspension to,get the result of a proper factory as new performance spec.

Many idiots back 30 years ago would bend the rods on purpose .

We did mine about year ago . On a lift . It was actually pretty straightforward when you can walk up under the car and see what your doing.

MakoJoe

Thanks again for the additional suggestions.

Everything on the car is very rusted and the bushings on the original Strut rods are shot than also have not been removed or moved in 37 years old. This car sat for a long time up in Michigan and only has a little over 47,000 miles on it.

I have bought the Adjustable Strut Rod Kit and new Toe Adjustment Pin/Shim Kit so no turning back now

My next problem is getting the Shock/Strut mounts out of the car. I have been through 2 Sawzall Blades attempting to cut the Mount flattened the teeth on the blades. Before buying the new blades read the reviews and people were cutting cast iron with them

So I broke out the Air Chisel and the side I am working has not budged yet. I flattened the tip on the Chisel and it drilled a nice round hole in the mount as I was Flattening out the Tip. Amazing what 37 years of rust will do to parts

Guess I going to need to buy a couple of Diamond Sawzall Blade to cut them out.


The rear suspension is not going to come apart any easier then the front suspension and will require more work than it should.

MakoJoe

Do not have any pictures yet since I have not dropped the passenger side Strut Arm as of yet still need to pry it out.

It took me an hour to cut through the Passenger Side Strut/Shock mount with an $11.00 buck high carbon steel sawzall blade and it did not dull out like the less expensive $3.00 buck blades. Do not think I have it in me to cut both sides today.

Will take some pictures when I have something to show. Until then I will keep banging out till it is done.

LS4 PILOT

Your having the corvette experience .

Rebuilding the rear suspension is sort of a initiation. ....

Welcome to our world

MakoJoe

Thanks, I love working on old cars and not my first project car.

The front suspension took me about 2 months to rebuild. The rear is not proving to be any easier actually harder to do with more moving parts. Wish I could have used a lift cannot since the car would have to be out of the shop on Sunday. I am attempting to refurbish as many of the parts I can so it is more time consuming. I am just going to do the Strut Arms and Spring this winter then do the drive train next fall.

MakoJoe

I went ahead and dropped the Center Leaf Spring mount the bolts came out slow at 80 PSI on the Impact Wrench. I lowered the pressure so I did not snap them off and wanted them to come out slow. It is just too freaking cold in the garage to go much further at 29 degrees. I will need to drop a couple of Exhaust System Mounts to get it out of there as you can see it is holding it in place.

MakoJoe

Well it only took about 10 minutes to loosen up the Exhaust System Mounts and only needed that extra 1/2 inch to slide out the Mono Spring this evening. Even though is freezing Snow ***** Cold in the Garage at 29 Degrees. Cannot wait to have heat in it next winter after I upgrade the house to a 200 AMP Panel and finish installing the 100 AMP Sub Panel on the garage.





Now just need to finish cutting out the Strut/Shock mounts next weekend.

I can get another year out of the half Shafts and will recondition those next fall and finish the rear end rebuild.


Now you guys have a closer look at the Factory Strut Arm Adjustments and understand why I am replacing them. Alignment Shop in summer of 2013 would not even touch them to do a rear end alignment in the fact they were afraid of breaking the adjustment bolts.

MakoJoe

Success I have removed the Strut Arm !!!! Could not use the cutoff wheel I borrowed from Jeff this morning but when I was out and about bought another Carbide Sawzall blade. Took 3 beers and 2 hours with lots of breaks to get it out. Also used the suggestion of lots of oil on the blade and did not turn this one blue. Also used the suggestion to get it up to ride height so it would not bind with a 19 inch 2x4. Thanks for all the suggestions Dudes!!!! Now all I have to do is pound out whats left of the old mounts and install the new Strut Arm Assembly.

AboveTheLogic

Good job! I experienced similar pain earlier in the year when I did my street and slalom suspension installation. Soaking everything in PB blaster for days was helpful.

MakoJoe

All the PB Blaster in the world was not going to help this one out. I soaked it for 2 weeks in PB Blaster trying to beat them out with a BFH.

The Shock/Strut Arm mounts were so rusted in place so I had to cut them out of the trailing arm assembly. I tried many different blades until I started to use the Carbide Sawzall Blades. On the passenger side I fried the blade and turned it blue learned from my mistake and used 3n1 Oil on the drivers side and saved the blade to be used another day.

Also found out the Carbide Blades work better than the Diamond Blades and worn out one of these on the Drivers Side before going back to the Carbide Blade.

I am just happy I can start to put it back together again soon