whitehause

Went to install SS parking brake hardware on my 68 BB and found a horrible sight. The main parking brake bolt hole on the caliper bracket was cracked all the way through....arrrrrg. That means removing the spindle to replace it, which obviously starts the whole " well while I have it apart AKA damage my credit card time".
I've heard all the trailing arm removal horror stories, so I was prepared for the worst, but i was greeted with almost perfect bolts and nuts at every stage of the removal. I was able loosen the arm nut and take it off with my fingers, and tap the arm bolt right through and pull the shims out by hand!! Keeping my fingers crossed the spindle comes out as easy.

...Roger...

Lucky , Lucky , Lucky , where was your car from , surely not Pa ?

dburgjohn

So living a good life really works? Congrats, most dont go that smooth.

whitehause

Actually bought it from a guy in NY. The guy claimed garage kept, no rain or snow, all the usual claims from someone looking to sell. The more I'm under it, the more I think he wasn't BS'ing. It looks like the rivets were drilled to get the rotor off, but he never knocked the rivets all the way out and one backed out and hit the parking brake bolt cracking the bracket. I have a press, I'm just hoping that will work on the spindle.

sly vette

On a car of that vintage I'm thinking that they may have been replaced at some time before, if they came out that easily.
At any rate you got lucky and were saved a bit of hard work...Congrats!

69 Chevy

Mine originally came from New Jersey...although my title says 'out of country' but I believe that was a clerical mistype...and my trailing arm pivot bolts and shims came out equally as easy as whitehause's. Not everybody drives their Vette on salted roads. I know for the past 39 years I never did. I once got caught in a freak early season snowstorm but PennDot didn't use salt in '72.

...Roger...

I think I've had maybe 4 arms total come out like whitehause's did, 2 were on a 5K mile real L88 car. The rest were cut outs,I hate salt.

RobbSalzmann

Erg! I h8 you and your stupid car and your dang nuts and flippin bolts and easy shims....
(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

I spent a weekend with the torch, sawsall, pneumatic hammer and PBBlaster getting mine out. Notice I didn't mention anything about wrenches or sockets or finger tight anything....

garage-ghost

My car spent most of its life in PA and mine came out very easily. Not all PA cars are rust buckets.

whitehause

Yep....that would be the kind of horror stories I was talking about.
I'm pretty sure it was the original hardware. It came out easy, but wasn't real clean or new looking. The cars odometer reads 46,000. I'm starting to think that might be real too.

scottyp99

The mistake I made was escalating thru everything up to the sawz-all, which finally did the trick. Next time..........I'll start with dynamite!!!!


Scott

another-user

you guys are going to hate me.... my rust buckets bolts came right out with a wrench, socket, and hammer to tap it out. the cars been in michigan for 40 years, 20 of those years stored in a damp garage. i did have to use heat on 8/16 half shaft bolts...

BBCorv70

So far as I know my car has spent its whole life in Connecticut. I don't recall any unusual issues getting my bolts out either.

gbarmore

Please tell me that you bought a lottery ticket that day because it was your lucky one!

wcsinx

Lucky you! I used an air chisel to pivot my shims up and down a few times to open the clearance a little. Then I hooked a slidehammer into them and gradually beat them out. (Didn't feel like burning up $40 worth of sawzall blades)

...Roger...

That's the way I do it,focus on 1 of the big shims,once that big shim is out the bolt is easy to cut.

wcsinx

Yep, I just yanked on the biggest one. Once it was out, the rest just fell out, and the sawzall went through the rusted bolt remnants like butter.

aussiejohn

G'day,

I've just gone through the TA removal process. The very nice '74 vert I bought in eastern Washington in June this year arrived in Melbourne in August. I picked it up the evening before my scheduled hernia operation on August 19.

Ten days later, when I could drive a manual comfortably again, I took the car to a friend who does Roadworthy Certificates. He advised me that the rear wheel bearings were past it and let me take the car home and remove the arms myself to save some money.

Well, those TA bolts were buggers to remove, so were the shims, but I did it. My friend George then found that the left stub axle was stuffed, there was rust where the inner bearing was supposed to be on tightly.

A new axle cost AU$295 plus $20 overnight air freight from Sydney, but George finished them the following day, last Wednesday. On Tuesday this week, another friend came over and we put the TAs back. I had spent four days on and off trying to get those bolts in, but finally came up with a plan.

I put a "hook" in the end of a short length of welding wire and attached a length of fishing line to it and pushed it through the holes where the TA bolt goes. I tied the fishing line through the split pin hole at the end of the bolt and more or less pulled the bolt back through the holes.

After that was done, we had the brakes on and bled in a couple of hours and I drove it back to George's yesterday for him to sign off on the Roadworthy Certificate. Now I'm just waiting for the number plates and window sticker to arrive so that I can take it for a drive.

What other methods have you guys used to get those pesky bolts in?

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

wcsinx

You pretty much described the accepted standard method.

69 Chevy

I know a few folks in past threads used, like me, a long-handled needle-nose pliers. But neither bolt found its hole on the first try. Akin to old granny trying to thread a sewing needle...easier said than done.