What do I need to know BEFORE I attempt rear wheel bearing service?
10-06-2015, 09:25 AM
#21
Burning Brakes
I am just finishing a frame off rebuild and am very capable. Saying that, I decided to send these out to be done by the guys who do them all the time and do them with care. SO that get's my vote.
I used Gary and he only did the bearing setup for me, so I did the disassembly and then reassembly to save on shipping all that weight.
If you are looking to stay close, Gary is in Connecticut, so shipping might be a bit cheaper, but you won't find anything bad written about either Mike or Gary's work, they are top notch and you won't go wrong with either.
I used Gary and he only did the bearing setup for me, so I did the disassembly and then reassembly to save on shipping all that weight.
If you are looking to stay close, Gary is in Connecticut, so shipping might be a bit cheaper, but you won't find anything bad written about either Mike or Gary's work, they are top notch and you won't go wrong with either.
10-06-2015, 11:54 AM
#22
Burning Brakes
I can attest to tracdoggs generosity with his time and help. He spent a good 4 hours with me and my pop at his house explaining in detail and helping me with the initial stages of my trailing arm rebuild and my differential rebuild, and several more hours on the phone sharing his knowledge. He has even offered to loan me his shop and expertise on assembly when I'm ready to put everything back together! Awesome dude, he is! I've been so busy traveling for work that I just haven't had time. Just a few more weeks, Mike! I'll be callin ya!
-Stroke
-Stroke
10-06-2015, 05:00 PM
#23
Drifting
Thread Starter
So can anyone give me a ballpark estimate? I dont want to go calling these guys for a quote and find out I need to budget my expenses for a few months to save up for this.....
10-06-2015, 06:20 PM
#24
Race Director
Member Since: Apr 2007
Location: South Western Ontario
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Go to the websites of different Corvette companies and see what they sell rebuilt arms for. Some of them have been listed in this thread already.
From what I've seen, you can't do anything that could be considered commercial here unless you're a vendor so the only prices you'll get would be the same as you can find on the net already.
From what I've seen, you can't do anything that could be considered commercial here unless you're a vendor so the only prices you'll get would be the same as you can find on the net already.
Last edited by lionelhutz; 10-06-2015 at 06:23 PM.
10-06-2015, 07:09 PM
#25
Pro
I for one can say that I have had mike stay on the phone will I have done many rebuilds to my 69 trialing arms for one rebuild my orginal starter and many other projects on my car way to many times to mention hereYou did a good job on the video. I wish you had included the part about having to have the other pieces machined. I'm not worried about stepping on toes, what concerns me is when it doesn't go smoothly. Too many videos don't show it or ignore it.
I am all for people doing their own work. It is a great sense of accomplishment for them. Maybe some of the people that I have helped will reply on this thread. I have spent hours and hours on the phone, all hours day and night, from people in many countries, walking them thru rebuilds, repairs and general questions. It would be so easy for me to say "you can't do it just send it to me". For people that want to do their ta rebuild themselves but can't set up their bearings, they send me their bearing supports and I set up the bearings for them. They get to do all the rebuild work and take all the credit for it. Sometimes I get thanked on the forum, sometimes I don't. Just recently a local forum member brought over his a-arms and I spent a couple of hours removing his bushings for him. Not even a thank you.
The problem comes in when someone watches a video, tries to do it they same way, and it all goes wrong. I don't like telling people that they have to do it all over again and re-purchase the parts they just bought. They get mad at me for being honest and truthful.
Here's a quick breakdown of my workload. 50% is custom builds, 10% is stock/restored, 10% is corvette owners that tried but for some reason couldn't finish, and 30% from corvette owners that just had the work done somewhere else.
I am all for do it yourself videos. But you have to show the bad with the good.
I am all for people doing their own work. It is a great sense of accomplishment for them. Maybe some of the people that I have helped will reply on this thread. I have spent hours and hours on the phone, all hours day and night, from people in many countries, walking them thru rebuilds, repairs and general questions. It would be so easy for me to say "you can't do it just send it to me". For people that want to do their ta rebuild themselves but can't set up their bearings, they send me their bearing supports and I set up the bearings for them. They get to do all the rebuild work and take all the credit for it. Sometimes I get thanked on the forum, sometimes I don't. Just recently a local forum member brought over his a-arms and I spent a couple of hours removing his bushings for him. Not even a thank you.
The problem comes in when someone watches a video, tries to do it they same way, and it all goes wrong. I don't like telling people that they have to do it all over again and re-purchase the parts they just bought. They get mad at me for being honest and truthful.
Here's a quick breakdown of my workload. 50% is custom builds, 10% is stock/restored, 10% is corvette owners that tried but for some reason couldn't finish, and 30% from corvette owners that just had the work done somewhere else.
I am all for do it yourself videos. But you have to show the bad with the good.
10-07-2015, 09:46 AM
#26
Burning Brakes
Member Since: Sep 2008
Location: Naperville Illinois
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vTech charges $320 per arm, Bair's charges $375, Zip charges $399. You send them the money plus a core charge ($300-ish), they send you a set of shiny rebuilt trailing arms. You do the R&R, send them your old arms, they refund your core charge. Your car is off the road for considerably less time than if you pulled & rebuilt your own arms, you save money over taking it to a shop, and you get to do (some of) the work yourself.
I have rebuilt 2 sets of these, it's a fun and satisfying job but I already had a press, bearing splitter, micrometers etc.--all I had to buy were the bearing setup tools. If I were starting from scratch I'd have one of the above vendors do them, no question.
I've never used one but I don't think the greasing tools could work. You might be able to get some grease to the inner bearing but you'd have to overfill the hub before any grease would reach the outer bearing and where would the old grease go?
My 2c.
I have rebuilt 2 sets of these, it's a fun and satisfying job but I already had a press, bearing splitter, micrometers etc.--all I had to buy were the bearing setup tools. If I were starting from scratch I'd have one of the above vendors do them, no question.
I've never used one but I don't think the greasing tools could work. You might be able to get some grease to the inner bearing but you'd have to overfill the hub before any grease would reach the outer bearing and where would the old grease go?
My 2c.
10-07-2015, 12:34 PM
#27
Drifting
[QUOTE=Rally68;1590645294]
I've never used one but I don't think the greasing tools could work. You might be able to get some grease to the inner bearing but you'd have to overfill the hub before any grease would reach the outer bearing and where would the old grease go?
QUOTE]
The greasing tool will work....on just the inner bearing, the one that never goes bad. If you pump enough grease into the bearing support (about 7 oz) it will grease the outer bearing. But like Rally said the old grease has to go somewhere. The old grease will push the outer seal out of the housing and all you'll end up doing is filling the inside of the rotor with grease. (In case anyone wanted to know WHY the tool won't work.)
Mike
I've never used one but I don't think the greasing tools could work. You might be able to get some grease to the inner bearing but you'd have to overfill the hub before any grease would reach the outer bearing and where would the old grease go?
QUOTE]
The greasing tool will work....on just the inner bearing, the one that never goes bad. If you pump enough grease into the bearing support (about 7 oz) it will grease the outer bearing. But like Rally said the old grease has to go somewhere. The old grease will push the outer seal out of the housing and all you'll end up doing is filling the inside of the rotor with grease. (In case anyone wanted to know WHY the tool won't work.)
Mike