When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have a multitude of different trailing arm alignment shims for my 63 SWC
The ones that came on the car are the ones on the left
Other styles I have from other cars are to the right
and here is what I just got from a supplier
Are all interchangeable?
Do I need to drill a hole in the frame for the later ones?
Glenn, I'm not a '63 specialist, but I can tell you that my '64 came with the shims with two holes in them. I decided to use the newer style with the slot and the hole in order to make the alignment process easier. I did drill the hole in my frame for the retaining pin. If you go that route, I recommend using one of the shims for alignment when marking the hole to be drilled.
That is exactly what I had done to my car. If you plan to drive the car it makes it a ton easier to align the rear toe-in later on as the bolt doesn't have to be removed. Some will tell you even with the slotted shims if they are in tight (like they should be) and tucked down in the frame pocket they will never come out even without the cotter pin but I'm not that trusting...
If the car is ever judged the cotter pin can be removed and some black dum-dum temporarily put in the hole...
FLYNAVY30's pictures are the best I've seen of this mod and going in my "tech library" of photos!
That is exactly what I had done to my car. If you plan to drive the car it makes it a ton easier to align the rear toe-in later on as the bolt doesn't have to be removed. Some will tell you even with the slotted shims if they are in tight (like they should be) and tucked down in the frame pocket they will never come out even without the cotter pin but I'm not that trusting...
If the car is ever judged the cotter pin can be removed and some black dum-dum temporarily put in the hole...
FLYNAVY30's pictures are the best I've seen of this mod and going in my "tech library" of photos!
I can tell you that for its PV back in 2013, my blue 63 had all the correct shims packed in tightly and tucked place. This winter, with perhaps 500 miles since, I put the car in the hoist because it was handling funny, and found that most of the shims were gone. Must be the squirrels in our neighborhood building a sturdy nest....
You know how difficult it is to get ‘63 shims? Forget it...
My slotted shims never came out, of my 63 even when my poly trailing arm bushing crumbled into ground pepper ... Pretty impressive but I still added the cotter pin. I NEVER want to experience that rear end dance again, when something goes amiss in the trailing arms.
Nearly 60 years driving classics and I never experienced anything quite like that carnival ride...
Glenn, I'm not a '63 specialist, but I can tell you that my '64 came with the shims with two holes in them. I decided to use the newer style with the slot and the hole in order to make the alignment process easier. I did drill the hole in my frame for the retaining pin. If you go that route, I recommend using one of the shims for alignment when marking the hole to be drilled.
Is it just me, or does the trailing arm bushing look strange?
I can tell you that for its PV back in 2013, my blue 63 had all the correct shims packed in tightly and tucked place. This winter, with perhaps 500 miles since, I put the car in the hoist because it was handling funny, and found that most of the shims were gone. Must be the squirrels in our neighborhood building a sturdy nest....
You know how difficult it is to get ‘63 shims? Forget it...
GW, the shims with the "tongue" on one end in the left in your pic are early (63 only?) service shims. They're in one or another of the vendors' catalogs. They have a big advantage over the other shims (the two hole square end and the slot/hole square end) in that you don't need to drill a hole to lock them in place. The "tongue" fits below the edge of the opening for the trailing arm so they can't be rotated out of the opening. Convenient.
The best way to get the shims to fall out is to incorrectly install new bushings in the control arms. Works every time. Guaranteed to fall out as you are about to have your car judged. There are a few discussions on this board about this problem.
If the bushings are installed correctly, the shims will NOT fall out. If not, they WILL fall out.
. I NEVER want to experience that rear end dance again, when something goes amiss in the trailing arms.
Nearly 60 years driving classics and I never experienced anything quite like that carnival ride...
Without me knowing it, my shims fell out and I nearly got hurled into another lane of traffic a few times, very dangerous.
But kudos to this forum for helping me figure out what the problem was.
This thread isn't TOO old, so I don't mind bringing it back instead of starting a new one (especially because of the great pictures). So I'm in the middle of reinstalling my rebuilt trailing arms (Bair did GREAT work), but what is the trick to getting the shims tapped over the bolt? I haven't put the car's weight on the suspension to actually torque anything properly, but it's all snugged up pretty well except the pivot bolt and the cam bolts at the inner end of the strut rods. I ran out of daylight before I got to run through my entire rolodex of swear words, but I having a hell of a time getting this done...the trailing arm doesn't budge at all along the pivot bolt. I can't even get a 1/4" shim on the inner side of the passenger arm.
Will getting a jack under the arm help? Or am I going to have to just loosen everything up to get some slop to work with? Like I said, I just didn't have enough time to try everything, but tomorrow's my last day to work on this before it's back to work for 10-12 hr days thanks to this covid nonsense, so I'd like to get as much done as possible.
Last edited by Godholio; Apr 19, 2020 at 11:34 PM.
Great question.
I have my trailing arms installed and the front of the trailing arms are sitting inboard on both sides
Mine don't want to move either, although I have not applied any leverage on them
Goholio, if you figure it out please post the solution
I ended up disconnecting the spring from that trailing arm, and was able to cram the 1/4 and 1/8 shims in there. My plan was to set it up how it was prior to dismantling everything, but there's no way I'm getting 4x 1/32 shims in there too. Can't even get one. So I'm basically going to do what I can, then when it's resting on the suspension I'll see if I can add any more, then just carefully get it to the alignment shop.
For whatever reason your rebuilt bushings and sleeves are longer than the ones removed. Not a big deal. Put in as many shims as necessary to be a tight fit.
I ended up disconnecting the spring from that trailing arm, and was able to cram the 1/4 and 1/8 shims in there. My plan was to set it up how it was prior to dismantling everything, but there's no way I'm getting 4x 1/32 shims in there too. Can't even get one. So I'm basically going to do what I can, then when it's resting on the suspension I'll see if I can add any more, then just carefully get it to the alignment shop.
Because you state that you can't get even close to the original shim packs back in, I have to wonder if you compressed the bushings in place properly.
Dennis
Question about trailing arm alignment shims
