I have the two trailing arm assemblies from my '79 sitting in front of me off the car. When a Corvette friend of mine and myself checked the rears before I took the car apart the rear bearings appeared to be just fine with no unnormal movement or noise. I need to take them apart to clean, wire wheel and POR 15 them and get a better look at the condition. I'm still trying to figure out how it all comes apart with my factory shop manual but when I do get them apart, will I be able to just re-assemble the innards as they were or will I have to buy replacement seals and stuff just because they were apart? Also, I'm a little confused upon reading some of the bearing threads. Do I need a special tool to take them apart or only if I'm replacing parts involving the bearing setup?

Thanks

 

I just recently took apart on of the trailing arm assemblies on my 72 (think it's a TA from a 73 though). Rust had gotten to it along with being deformed/twisted as the snap ring on the differential yoke spline sheared off allowing the half-shaft to come out. I didn't follow any manual either, so my method may not be correct. It was a bear to disassemble.

First I was lucky in that the rotor rivets had already been drilled. If they're not, I think you gotta do that. Next I took the parking brake assembly out, two tension springs at top/bottom and the two holding the shoes, twist them so the pins release. Remove the 4 nuts from the studs behind the brakes. After that I removed the rear cotter pin and castle nut. At this point I thought the spindle/hub should just come out but no. I had to wack the ever living life out of the back thread on the spindle. Do yourself a favor and buy the thread protector or make something, don't use the castle nut flush with end of spindle. After attacking the crap out of that, I knocked something loose but the darn spindle/hub still wouldn't come out, just was now loose. So next thing I did was separate the bearing support from the control arm. This basically involved lots of swearing, heat, beer, flat-blade screwdrivers wedge, old wood chisels, crow bar, swearing, PB blaster, beer, sweat, and a little blood. It seems like the studs are rust-welded into the through-holes of the bearing support. Once I got that loose, the control arm was separate from the bearing support I believe. At that point, now that I had some edged to grab onto, I used a gear puller to push the spindle/hub out of the bearing support. I have yet to tear into the actual bearings still in the support, but it's all contained in there I do believe. People use the fake spindle setup tool to make re-assembly easier so you're not pressing bearings in and out to adjust. I plan to send my one whole TA and all my good parts of the other disassembled TA to someone for rebuilding along with a new bare control arm. Hope this helps. Did it 2 weekends ago, sorry if I'm a little foggy.

 

You can remove the bearing hub/support from the T/A without disassembling the bearings/spindle. If you just want to clean it up cosmetically, that's what I'd recommend. AFAIK it is not possible to get the bearings off the spindle without damaging the bearings, so leave them on there.

 

That is really what I want to do. Get the dust shield and all that off. What is the procedure for that?

 

From memory, you remove the rotor and p-brake shoes. You can then remove 4 nuts that holds the hub to the T/A.