procketus

If I'm reading this right, is the body on the frame? Nothing will be right unless it's on the ground with the full weight on the suspension.

68bigblock

Here is a picture of the problem

loup68

I have 245-60-15 BFG T/A's on my 68 coupe's original 7" rims and do not have this problem. I don't have the parking brake on mine but something has to be wrong with your trailing arm. Are you sure that 7" rim is a corvette rim? Try putting one of your other wheels on that wheel location. Are 63-67 trailing arms different than C-3 ones and could you have one of them? Lou.

68bigblock

I'm sure my rims are 7 inch corvette rims. Once they were blasted you could read the numbers very easily.

BLUE1972

Take a flat ruler, put it on the face of the spindle between the wheel studs and measure from the face of the rim mounting hub to the trailing arm. See if the right side and left side are different.

One arm may have had the bearing assembly pushed in by a curb hit.

68bigblock

What I have now noticed is the bracket on the left side (this side does not rub) is welded closer to the wheel than on the right side. If the right side bracket were welded at the same place as the left side bracket, I don't think it would rub! There is about a 3/4 inch difference in the location.

JC68

68BB

I think there was a pretty wide tolerance that was acceptable for whoever was responsible for welding on the parking brake bracket. It is just at the extreme limit on that side. I once had a 69, that on one side the rim was only about 1/16 inch from that bracket, on the other I had a 1/2 inch.

I'd cut off and re-weld the bracket. Probably not what you want to hear looking at your picture as the trailing arm looks recently restored.

John

68bigblock

You are probably right! The trailing arm has been blasted and powder coated I hate the idea of grinding off the bracket and rewelding.

CheezMoe

It's not symmetrical, something is up with suspension geometry on that side it seems. Fix the actual problem.

I do agree that 235/60 fit well on an 8" rim, it seems unlikely to be causing this issue.





Update: Doing my best Rosanna Rosanna Danna, "Never Mind" . I just read post #26. Good catch!

Big2Bird

Better now. Just do it.

Rescue Rogers

rotate your rims first to make sure its not a rim. Its the least expensive and time consuming thing you can do. Then start measuring the trailing arms. If it didn't rub before it shouldnt be rubbing now even with new tires. cut and weld last but maybe the best solution.

Wee

For those saying it might have something to do with the trailing arm shims....I don't really understand how.....The wheel/tire is bolted to the hub which is bolted to the trailing arm....The shims wouldn't have any effect on the distance from the edge of the tire to the bracket welded to the trailing arm.....or am I missing something....?

Brian

Big2Bird

Your correct. It is irrelevant. It's the bracket location relative to the hub face.

loup68

I worked in an Automotive parts plant for 34 years in maintenance and we also made some Corvette parts. That bracket should NOT have had any "tolerance" to it's weld position. There should have been a jig or something to hold it in position to be welded. That bracket is in a critical position and if wrong could rub something. Lou.

calwldlife

yup, jigs for everything.

JC68

Every part has tolerances, even if it is built by a jig.

I'm sure there was a jig for locating the bracket on the trailing arm during welding. Was the locating jig in tolerance? Was it used correctly? Was the welder freelancing and thinking he didn't need the jig to do his job? Other human error? There are a lot of things that could go wrong to affect the placement of the bracket on the arm.

Form 68bb's picture he either has a major rear hub problem, severely bent rim or training arm, or the bracket is in the wrong spot to cause the interference on the one side. I'm going with the bracket being in the wrong spot.

John

7T1vette

I, too, believe that the tire size is NOT your problem; there is a mechanical issue with the configuration or condition of the trailing arms and/or other suspension hardware. As mentioned above, there are several mechanical things that could be done to the car to alleviate the problem. With the situation you have in your suspension, ANY wider width tire would present the same problems for you.

Bent trailing arm, bad T/A bushing, unbalanced shims could all result in your problem. You need to identify the root cause of the dimensional problem from one side of your car to the other; then the tires will fit fine.

leadfoot4

THIS!!



And THIS!

loup68

I did mention trying a different wheel to him, earlier. Just want to say that years ago I bought a pair of new GM front bumper guards. One side would not bolt up at the top. Turns out a left side bracket was welded on the right hand guard...scrap! That is the one bad thing about people working on "piece work". They sometimes only care about their numbers and not quality. Our plant had to drop piece work because of that reason. Lou.

69Vett

Not factory bracket weld it is sticking out to far,
those lines on the trailing arms look offset like someone has rewelded this area,
as much corrosion as i see i hope you inspected these arms well before powder coat.