when reassembling the rear suspension do any of you recommend installing the lower strut before the half shaft or vise versa? I put the half shaft on the T/A first, then the upper strut rod into the bracket on the differential and now I am having trouble getting the lower to line up enough to put the lower shock bolt in. doesn't seem to want to line up perfect even with moving the T/A up or down or working it with a dift pin.

I don't want to beat it with a sledge so I am game for a new plan of attack tomorrow morning with any advise from you guys?

FYI- the strut rods are adjustable ones not stock , T/A's are fresh rebuilds from Zips with the lower strut/shock bolta also new from Zips.

 

The strut rods need to have shims installed...at least on my Tom's Differential strut rods. One side of the strut rod had a different number of shims than the other. Call VBP?

 

For what it's worth

I found it easier to install the strut rods on the outboard end first, The shock mount bolts are a PIA in the first place (tight fit, orienting that flat, etc) without having the struts fighting against the inboard at the same time

Ground a large chamfer on the outside of the old shock mount to use it as a drift to align the strut, then pulled it out and installed the new one.

For the center, it's pretty tight and on an angle (fore/aft).
Raised the TA a couple inches over horizontal and supported it on stands.
Extended the struts until they were into the wider area of the center mount, raised them up and then used the turnbuckle to pull them into place





1/2 shafts in afterwards, loose mounted to the TA then the diff, snug up lightly



The whole story is here
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...long-post.html

HIH
M

 

I did mine two days ago on my 71 bare frame. I still need to install the halfshafts but with the body off it should not be hard. B the strut rods with new bushings are hard to get into the bracket and trailing arm. I used a rubber mallet and beat them into the bracket going from the large middle of it to the outer bolt locations. For the trailing arms I had to use a jack to get the strut rod ends between the trailing arm mount and to get the shock mount bolt through.

 

the problem with the strut rod ends not fitting was due to the overall size of the rod end and the machining on the strut rod mount on the trailing arm.
the casting is a new one that Zips uses when the recondition trailing arms, they are machined for stock strut rods ends the do not allow for the larger diameter aftermarket adjustable strut rod ends. the machined shoulder stops the larger end from moving on center. I ended up carefully using the end of a new 4" grinding wheel upside down to cut back the machined shoulder, then deburred & smother the area with a 2" cookie wheel. i also found burrs on the machined surface's where the strut slides into that needed to be eased and the new lower shock mount needed a larger chamfer where the flat is machined to be able to line up and slide in better?
once I did that the strut rod end went right in and lined up perfectly.
so in the end here is my process:
1 - install the half shafts to the rear differential
2 - bolt the strut rod center bracket to the differential with one end of each strut rod installed .
3 - put trailing arm in loose no shims just the bolt
4 - put the trailing arm at ride height with wood blocks
5 - bolt up the half shafts & locks hand tight
6 - bolt up the lower strut rod into lower mount with shock bolt
7 - bolt the shock in the top mount then install on the lower mount
8 - with T/A at ride height tighten and or torque all bolts to spec
9 - Install new 8" leaf spring bolts & bushings
10 - clean up the shop and go drink beer while watching Nascar!