brokentee

Hi, can anyone help with a 73 rear alignment?

One of my trailing arms was badly rusted. I had to cut the trailing arm bolt out with a torch. I have another trailing arm and new bushing, shims, strut rods, . . .etc. Basically everything is going to be new. I just need help with how to install the shims correctly and installing the strut rod camber bolts.

Thanks.

Alan 71

Hi BT,
I think all you can really do at home is do a rough measurement of tow-in and caster/ camber. That should be good enough to drive to the alignment shop.
There is a page in the AIM , UPC 4 Sheet A7 ( in my 71 AIM), and in the Chassis Service Manual, that has the specs for the rear suspension.
Regards,
Alan

Duke94

I'd try to center the arm in the opening, that should be a good place for your alignment shop to start. Be sure that you go to a shop that does Corvettes or they might not even know how to do a rear alignment.

brokentee

Thanks.

Hey Alan_71, what is:

I'd like to see that if I could. I know a guy that does them himself and I'd really like to get into it enough so that I can tweak it just the way I want it but I'd like a good starting point. I'm also very interested in finding out how the trailing arm should be set.

Thanks again folks.

Just throw in what you know and I'll take it all into consideration

Thanks

7T3C3TTZ07

I went through the same thing on both sides. I used a local tire shop that maintains my other cars. They complained a little but did a superb job. I supplied them with a bag of new shims. The desired camber was -0.5 deg. and the desired toe was +0.09". There are other settings for racing etc. Before pulling my trailing arms the camber was -0.9 deg left and -1.2 deg right. The before toe was -0.08" left and 0.53" right. After replacing the trailing arms the camber was -0.9 deg left and -0.8 deg right; the toe was 0.04" left and 0.05" right. The shop complaints came from the shop having to completely tighten and loosen the bolts when changing the shims. As it was explained, tightening the bolts changed the toe dimension. This shop seemed to put a little extra effort into a collector car.

birdsmith

It sounds like you only removed one T-arm.....if that is the case and you had a known good alignment before you can reset the new arm using factory toe specs (I believe it to be 1/8" toe-in but not quite sure as I don't have a manual in front of me right now). I would begin by zeroing the arm in its frame pocket by placing an equal amount of shim on either side, then adjust it accordingly to obtain the desired setting. After that set the camber with the eccentric on the strut rod, then recheck the toe (as long as you have a level garage surface you can get pretty close with a 'SmartCamber' or one of the other commercially available caster/camber/toe gages that are out there. I think I paid $159.00 for mine and it has paid for itself about five times over in the year or so that I've had it). The most important thing here is to have a level surface (for camber) and to make sure that any toe measurements are take from a fixed surface on the wheel rims, i.e., not on top of the trim rings if you have those. Good Luck!

1nicecorvette

not to jack this but--- do you guys think that a regular GM / chevy dealership would be able to work on an older vette if he didnt have a corvette specialty shop nearby?

69autoXr

Able to-yes, but i don't think they'd spend the time to free up rusty shims to set the rear toe. If everything was in good condition, then i think they would.

Alan 71

Some Chevrolet Dealers sponsor a local Corvette Club. A Dealer like this would be more likely have people in the service department that are familiar with older Corvettes. You could call dealers and ask around.
Regards,
Alan

brokentee

Wow, thanks for all the replies.

I'm going ahead and replacing both trailing arms. I got a great deal on them and although the right side isn't that bad I am looking at a bushings and bolt that have been there for 36 years. I have all new rubber and shims for the rear end and will be going at replacing it this weekend.

Here's my next question: I'm trying to keep my car stock. I don't race around so I'm really not interested in all the fancy aftermarket performance stuff. I'm not against it but I look at my car as a small piece of history and would like to keep it that way. Sorry, on to the question. Is there some great benefit to the adjustable struts. I'm not dropping $400 on Smart Struts but there are adjustable struts for around the same price as the old style. Should I just stick with the older style and keep it looking stock or is there a huge benefit to the adjustable type and would my corvette enthusiast friends look down at me for not keeping it stock?

Thanks again. Like I said, I'll probably be doing as much as possible this weekend so I'll probably be pulling off the gloves and posting more pleas of help.

69autoXr

The stock strut adjuster eccentric cams can slip, losing the camber setting. The adjustables have square lock plates in place of the camber cam.

Now, the adjustable have jamb nuts at either end, and I've had these loosen up too, but only once.

birdsmith

If you're not gonna do a lot of high-speed cornering and the bolts securing the eccentrics on your strut rods are in good shape there's no reason to change them. The Heim-ended ones are cool but not necessary for anything other than heavy-duty use.

jnb5101

when i took my 70 rebuild into a chevy dealer (after calling to be sure that they could align it) they refused to work on it. they kept yammering about setting the camber on the rear wheels, and believe it or not, they said they didn't have the shims for the front! truth is, they didn't want to spend the time on it. they could do 10 toe adjustments (at $90 each) in the time it would take to do a 4 wheel on the vette.
i took it to a local tire store and got the same line of bs. finally persuaded them to allow me have them put the car on the rack and get the computerized read-out and allow me to bring it back several times to recheck the readings. took it home, changed the shims using the shop manual for rough estimates, and after 4 trips it's real close. i learned something about suspension geometry also.

Jim_Harrison

I do all my own alignment work cause I couldn't get it done correctly at any shop. Problem is, it takes a lot of time to get it right and time is money. Setting the rear toe isn't that difficult but takes patience. I use a ruler and support if off the front spindle balanced on a jack stand, the grease cap works OK. Then use a straight edge with a cheap laser taped to it across the rear tires, (Wheels would be more accurate) and point it at the ruler. Also use straight edges with two tape measures on both sides of both rear tires. The idea being setting a little bit of toe in 1/8 or less for the street and then check to see if the laser points about the same on the rulers set at the front grease caps. Camber needs a checker which is easy to set with the right tools...but the car has to be balanced.

Guess I need to take some pictures to show you all how I do it.