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I more or less finished my 63 last summer but I have been fighting a vibration that's like a wheel out of balance the gets severe after 50mph since then. Checked drive shaft, u-joints, wheel runout, wheel bearings, had the wheels balanced twice, etc. Everything checks out good. Spent many hours and a number of dollars doing all this.
I was ready to SELL it. I was moving the car back a little by hand today when I heard this sound like something rubbing on the right rear. Have heard it before but decided to take the wheel and drum off to check it out. Found this in the picture. The idiot that assembled the brake shoes and springs, etc didn't get the wheel cylinder piston rod notch to engage it the shoe! It was jammed behind it and the piston was mostly out of the bore and cocked and jammed. And it didn't leak because the seal was still held
in the bore. What are the chances of that?
Took it apart, cleaned (deburred) the edge of the piston, put it back together and took it for a ride and son of a gun, the vibration's gone!! The moral of the story is no matter how many times you've done a job there's always the chance that you'll screw it up if you don't pay attention. The spring is off to show what it looked like. Maybe a sticky on idiot moves?
We’ve all messed up like that, some won’t admit it though. You have to keep digging at stuff like this until you find the issue. Sometimes it’s about perseverance and not mechanical aptitude.
Take it easy on yourself - we've all been there, and done stuff like that! I chased a high speed vibration in the rear of my '66 for @ a year. It only showed po @ speeds above 65 mph and was very frustrating. I found the cause literally by accident . . . it turned out that the center of the right rear wheel wouldn't fit flush over the hub as the hub had a very small lip that prevented the wheel from sitting flat against the hub! Filed out the center of that wheel - all is right with the world now!
I Glad you got it solved, now go enjoy the car even more frequently!!
I have never done drum brakes before, and mine worked great. I knew how to adjust them, but last winter when I was doing my suspension clean up, I went with disks all the way around and totally skipped learning how to do drum brakes.
The only ones who've never screwed up while wrenching are those who've never done it. If I were to list all of mine, it'd be a mighty long list. And a few of my screw-ups were big 'uns.
Pour yourself a cold one, and pat yourself on the back for having solved the problem yourself. As others have noted, you got to it before you sold the car.
If you've never either screwed something up or missed an obvious problem - it's because you've never worked on your car. We've all done it, and probably will again. So no, you're not an idiot . . . you're a guy who works on his own Corvette, and there's every reason in the world to be proud of that.
JB,
Having made numerous mistakes as bad or worse than yours, I won't comment on the mistake. But I will comment on your search for the solution that tempted you to sell the car. When I have exhausted all the likely causes for a problem without finding the actual one (e.g., can't find the keys I always leave in the same place), I think back to the quote by the lengendary fictional detective Sherlock Holmes: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth ..." That's when I start looking in the refrigerator, the trash can and other places where keys should not be. Cars are just machines and there is always a reason why they do things the way they do. We just have to keep looking and keep our minds open to ALL possibilities that have not been rigorously considered and eliminated.
Not me……Never made a mistake…Key word is “A” as in single….but many many times have screwed up. I hate when you take something apart, repair and reassemble only to find left over pieces (bolts, cotter key, wires, screws, gear, etc.) and have to start over. As stated above if you haven’t had these mistakes you’re not working on your car.
Whenever I start a project, I know I’m going to have to do it three times. Don’t know why, just the way it works out. Used to get frustrated by it but I’m used to it now and plan for it. I’m lucky if I only have to do it twice.
Those who never made a mistake are boring because they did not have enough gumption to try anything challenging.
So why did your brake cause the over 50 mph vibration? I would think it was out of play and not causing an issue when your brakes are not being applied.
I more or less finished my 63 last summer but I have been fighting a vibration that's like a wheel out of balance the gets severe after 50mph since then. Checked drive shaft, u-joints, wheel runout, wheel bearings, had the wheels balanced twice, etc. Everything checks out good. Spent many hours and a number of dollars doing all this.
I was ready to SELL it. I was moving the car back a little by hand today when I heard this sound like something rubbing on the right rear. Have heard it before but decided to take the wheel and drum off to check it out. Found this in the picture. The idiot that assembled the brake shoes and springs, etc didn't get the wheel cylinder piston rod notch to engage it the shoe! It was jammed behind it and the piston was mostly out of the bore and cocked and jammed. And it didn't leak because the seal was still held
in the bore. What are the chances of that?
Took it apart, cleaned (deburred) the edge of the piston, put it back together and took it for a ride and son of a gun, the vibration's gone!! The moral of the story is no matter how many times you've done a job there's always the chance that you'll screw it up if you don't pay attention. The spring is off to show what it looked like. Maybe a sticky on idiot moves?
I hope you don't consider this a hijack--I have a similar vibration in my '63 after 50 mph and after hard braking at that speed. I looked at my pictures to see if my idiot card was parked there-must be somewhere else... But I did notice a difference in the spindle (?) (top picture) or where the wheel and tire mounts. What say the experts?
Here is the right rear on my original 63 (May) car; I don't know if the shortened "snout" on the different hub pictured above could cause the wheel not to mount centrally and cause a vibration or not, but its something to consider. I also don't know why everything in the aforementioned picture looks like it was sprayed with gray Rustoleum primer:
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; 08-30-2018 at 08:59 AM.
So you are an idiot. Welcome to the club . I used an incandescent light to illuminate my task of changing out a fuel pump. Everything was clamped off and I still created a puddle of fuel that traveled very quickly to the light. The car was jacked up and I was under the car. I pushed the light away in the nick of time. I guess it could have been worse, I could have used a candle. Suffice to say I now use a LED light and a lift for repairs. Jerry
08-29-2018, 06:57 PM
I am an idiot
Dennis
. I used an incandescent light to illuminate my task of changing out a fuel pump. Everything was clamped off and I still created a puddle of fuel that traveled very quickly to the light. The car was jacked up and I was under the car. I pushed the light away in the nick of time. I guess it could have been worse, I could have used a candle. Suffice to say I now use a LED light and a lift for repairs. Jerry