The trailing arms are back, and that gravelly bearing feeling is long gone. They feel a bit tight, but smooth. They look a lot better as well.

 

I received your email, but there's little I can do to help. I assume you are aware that only the constant rate '63 spring has constant arc leaves in the unloaded state. The '64-'67 base suspension variable rate spring does have some "straight" leaves, but no C2 rear spring has leaf clamps, and the bolt that holds the leaves together must be incorrect. You need to take up these issues with the vendor that sold you the parts.

Duke

 

Where are your rotors?? Generally they get redone with the trailing arms and riveted back in place. If you did not get them done, or are going to buy new..............then you must do run-out checks on them after they are installed. If runout is excessive, air pumping into the brake calipers will result. Runout should be less than 0.005 inches + maybe 0.002 for the new rebuilt rear bearings and trailing arms. Total MAX should be less than 0.007, and ideally about 1/2 of this number.

Larry

 

I opted out of new rotors from Bairs. That might be a mistake, but my rotors look nearly new. I was also concerned about the additional bulk and weight when installing the trailing arm (I'm old) and I didn't want to have to drill out the rivets to pull the rotor. I'll check the runout with a dial indicator when I install them - thanks for the reminder.
Your post brought back an old memory and a chuckle. I bought a C3 back in 1981 that would pump air into the brake system because of rotor runout. My then fiance - now wife - and I got so we could bleed that brake down in just a few minutes - but it was still a PITA.

 

Rear rotors are more difficult to establish acceptable positioning and run-out since you have to match the parking brake adjustment hole in the spindle to that in the rotor. But you may be able to make it work with shimming the two pieces. NAPA used to sell the shims, but not sure they are available anymore. I found a few for another CF member on Ebay.

Gary R has the best/ideal idea for fastening the rotor to the spindle. He does not rivet, but drill and taps the spindle and then countersinks the rotor holes and uses tapered head bolts that fit flush with the rotor. Hex head drive recessed into the bolt heads. I will do this if I ever need to remove the rotor(s) on my 67. If you Google his name Gary Ramadei) , he has videos of his work and this mod.

Larry

 

Thanks Larry - this is my first time working on a C2 and I appreciate all of the help I can get. I wasn't able to find any pre-cut shims for the rotors on Ebay, or anywhere else, but if I don't find any I'll just cut some out of shim stock as I need them.
I'm test fitting some of the parts until I get my leaf situation worked out, and I didn't like the way the struts were mounting up to the inner brackets - at all. As it turns out the strut rods had been installed without the strut rod bushing caps. Of course I didn't even know there were bushing caps until I came in and started researching what was wrong with that assembly. I've got some on order. I'm just glad to have an opportunity to put this rear suspension right - and I'm hoping not to miss anything when I re-assemble it.

 

It's always a good investment to get yourself an assembly manual for the year car you are working on, in my case it has been my go to book first.

 

Tapered shims are NAPA #BA 803-06. These are for the 0.006 inch correction. There was also shims for 0.003 and 0.009..........just change the last digit of the part number for the different thickness (i.e. BA 803-03 or 803-09). Check/Google the internet to try and find some, besides checking NAPA and Ebay.

Having done this work before, I can help and advise you. We have many here that can do this as well. So post up your questions or concerns and we will try to assist. As "tbarb" says, the AIM will be a big help. Also the Chevrolet Factory Service Manual. Paragon, LICS, Zip, and a few others also have the AIM pictures in their parts catalogues along with their part number (when available).

Be advised that the strut rods and trailing arms, and half-shafts, and rear spring do not want to align very well until you raise everything (TA) up to normal ride height. Then they should fit beautifully...........but if left hanging, nothing seems to fit or work. I used a second set of jack stands and the rear shocks to hold things in the "sweet spot" position. And no tightening any of the bolts beyond snug or finger tight until the car is back on the ground on all four wheels. And even then, you should only tighten things when you can get the car at the proper ride height. Then lock it in at this point. The AIM has two dimensions (K and D) that the factory guys used when setting the rear up and tightening the bolts. You should do the same. For some, it means adding a few hundred pounds to the car interior to achieve this dimension(s). Or have the wife and grandkids sit in the car.

Larry

 

tbarb - good advice on the assembly manual. I did receive one with the car, but it appears to be a copy of a copy as it's difficult to see details. I may pick up another and see if it's better.
Larry - Great info - and lots of it. Many thanks. You summarized in a paragraph what took me hours to research - and I'll keep those NAPA tapered shim part numbers for future reference.

After reaching out to Gary R - GTR1999 - I felt comfortable grinding down the round head fastener holding the leafs together. If I had this job to do over again, I would have sent these trailing arms to Gary for rebuild. Everything I read indicated he was at least one of the top dogs in rebuilding these, but I also got the impression he's always booked up with work. I believe he's taking in extra work at his shop now. It's rare to find a person who will take time to help someone who used his competitor for work, but he was as friendly as anything in answering my question regarding the interference in mounting up the leaf spring. The next day he messaged me again after measuring the depth of that pilot hole in one of the diffs in his shop that locates the leaf spring in the differential. That hole was not even as deep as mine.
As I mentioned earlier the round head of that leaf spring assembly fastener was .375" tall and the pilot hole in the diff was about .310". I snugged up the bolts and it installed like this:

I removed the leaf spring and the fastener, held the fastener in a vice and carefully ground it down to about .300" and ground about a .030" chamfer on it. Put the leaf spring back in and it was better, but still interfered. I repeated that process about 3 more times until the screw head height was down to about .240". While the fastener was loose, I laid out the leaf spring on a flat surface on the lift and gently tapped the individual leafs with a dead blow hammer until they all laid flat. I installed it again and it mounted up nicely - finally. Since the fasteners from the old and new leaf spring both measured .375" tall I wonder how many leaf springs have been installed with that interference. If I had received the 3 flat, 6 curved leaf assembly I don't think I could have seen the interference and would have just bolted it up.
I grabbed a Q tip and greased up the holes for the trailing arm pivot bolt and the bolt. Jury rigged a few large cable ties to help hold the trailing arm while I was installing it. Nicely asked the wife to hold a flashlight so I could see and installed the pivot bolt - without the backside flat washer. Insert cuss word here. Pulled it back out, added the washer and put it back in. Long needle nose pliers are very useful to get that bolt in the hole.





I remembered to check the rotor runout before installing the half shafts. I took some scotchbrite and cleaned the inside face of the rotors before bolting them up. As luck would have it, the drivers side runout was .002" and the passenger side .001".


I installed the strut rod bushings in the strut rods after cleaning and painting them. I also got the halfshafts back from Drivelines NW - who were very proud of their work. They said they balanced them so they could spin either direction.


Those will have to wait for another day. For now I'm pretty happy to have the leaf spring, trailing arms and shims back in. I think it's time for some Maker's Mark.

 

Kinda looks like your trailing arm bushing is not peened down enough. Also, shouldn't it be even with the washer?

 

Half shafts require no balancing due to their slow rotation compared to the drive shaft. But if they are balanced, it should be even sweeter.

You won the lottery on the rotor run-out.

 

Good eyes - Thanks. I hope those bushings are ok. Bairs supplied and installed those T/A bushings, I'm going to run with them. The same (magnetic) shims that came out fit tightly back in, then I pulled them back out and replaced them with new stainless shims.

Regarding the rotor runout - I was holding my breath on those. Every once in a while it's better to be lucky than good. Many thanks for your support.

I mounted up the halfshafts with new french locks and fasteners.


That drivers side was tough to torque as the whole trailing arm assembly kept lifting up. I was sitting on the kwik-lift ramp with my head up inside the fender well trying to torque it. In one hand I had a small crow bar in the fins of the rotor to stop the rotation, the other hand had the torque wrench. My chest is still bruised from trying holding the assembly down while torquing it. I'm sure there was a better way to do that, but I'm not always the sharpest tool in the shed.

I mentioned the strut rods were previously installed without the inboard mounting washers.


Unfortunately the inboard mounting flanges for the strut rods were deformed and the strut rods with washers would no longer fit. I used a couple of flange nuts and a piece of threaded rod to expand them back out.



The inner flanges of those strut rod mounts had also been marked up from being tightened down on the serrations on the bushings. I flat filed those out the best I could.
When I test fit the camber adjusters, both of the slots had also been buggered up and the burrs would not allow the adjusters to move thru full travel. I was able to get a small round file in there to remove the burrs and get full travel back for the camber adjusters.

I cleaned up the original shock mounts and attempted to re-use them. When I tried to pull the driver's side tight with a ratchet wrench, the threads stripped out on it. At least it failed on the install and not on the road. I've ordered up a set of USA made shock mounts from Bairs. So now it's another week of waiting for parts. I'm glad I started this project in December and not in April or May. I've seen posts where folks have replaced trailing arms in a day. At this point I'll be happy to get this done in six weeks. But I'm retired and enjoying this project. I just really want to get it right.

 

I pulled the trailing arms off with a stack of shims on both sides of the pivot bushing. Did yours not have or need these shims?

 

Guarantee you there were shims...the front bushing T/A "sandwich" doesn't begin to have the width to span the whole frame cavity:

 

Yep, there were/are shims in there. I installed the trailing arms without the shims because I thought it would be easier. Before I pulled the trailing arms out I pulled the shims, taped them up and marked them inside/outside/left/right.
Probably my least favorite part of this project was installing the new rear leaf. I had purchased a leaf from Bairs - I detailed the problem with the head of the assembly bolt above - but I ended up not using it. Not only was it an all curved leaf 9 leaf spring - it seemed a lot stiffer than the JRS 6-3 leaf that I pulled out of the car. The end of the spring was still a good 5 inches away from the nut going on the shackle bolt when the back of the car started lifting up off of the jackstands. That means if the bottle jack slips on the leaf spring life gets exciting real quick. I clamped one of the Kwik-Lift cross beams down and ran ratchet straps over the diff and under the cross beam to hold the car down. That worked, but I really didn't want the car to ride a lot stiffer, and/or the back of the to be car too high once it was installed. I aborted that leaf install and ordered up a 6/3 from Eaton spring. After only another 10 days it showed up. They're unpainted, but nice. The ends of the leafs are turned up and the height of the assembly bolt head was correct. Of course the new leaf required different length bolts as well. I cleaned it up and sprayed the assembly black for corrosion resistance. Here's a couple of pics of the spring fest.
You can see how much taller the all curved leaf from Bairs is than the Eaton spring

An early setup for installing the Bairs spring - and yep I put the wheels back on in case the car dropped while jacking that spring end up.

Here's my setup for the Eaton spring which was much softer - and easier to install. I'm not sure why, but the trailing arm would lift when I jacked up the spring end, so I tied down the trailing arm with a strap.

Finally got one end bolted up.

This car had some brake fluid showing on the inside of the left rear tire when I got it, so I ordered up the O-Ring pistons for the calipers and installed them.

Put on some leftover caliper paint from a C5 project and installed new pads and bleeders. You can see the brake fluid dripping off the old bleeder - you had to really overtighten them to stop them from leaking.



Adjusted the emergency brake shoes, power bled the calipers and installed the wheels, pre-loaded the suspension with a couple of ratchet straps over the diiff and under the crossbeam and had the wife in the drivers seat. I honestly never got the D dimension, but pulled it down as close as I could and then torqued everything down. It looked a bit high in the back while it was still on the Kwik-Lift.

Had to wait several days for the roads to clear of de-icer, snow, gravel and rain, but finally fired up the car and got it outside for a short drive before the rain chased me back home. I was pretty easy on it, but it felt very solid and drove much better than it did when I got it. The rear settled down a bit after driving it 6 miles or so. I hope it settles down a bit more, but I can live with it if it doesn't. Now I need to pull the front hubcaps and get a dry day for a four wheel alignment.





The '65 got rebuilt trailing arms, new U joints and balanced half shafts, new hardware and bushings, new rear shocks and shock mounts, corrected the shock mounting hardware, installed a new leaf spring, new strut rod bushings, installed the missing strut rod spacers, rebuilt the rear calipers with O-Ring pistons, installed pads - and some other stuff I've surely forgotten about.
One of many things I learned is that I like my Kwik-Lift, but I think it would have been a lot easier on the body to do this on a 2 post lift.
This was a good first project for me on this car, one I probably would not have tried without the information and wisdom I found on this forum. A sincere thanks to all of you for your help.
Bring on the warm weather - for everyone.