Guys,
I need to draw down on the forum knowledge again please....
I have started to rebuild the front and rear ends, the car is up on jacks, and all coming apart gradually..... trailing arms are ready to come out but I want to ask if there are any C3 tricks on here that will allow me to refit the T arms (more specifically the bolts that hold them in place), zero room to move and a ton of obstacles that are going to cause problems.... I guess one option is to lift the body but that will bring another set of challenges so I'm trying to avoid that unless anyone can advise on the way to do a partial lift (High enough for me to slide T arm bolts back in place (and replace the fuel lines whilst its up!) I have the bolt 2/3rds the way out on one side but I have hit pause until I work out the next steps.

any advice?

69 427 side pipes

 

Most folks have to cut the bolts out with a sawzall....Get a good carbide-tipped blade. Easiest way to get the bolts back in is using the fishing line trick. Youtube has a few very good How-To's. It's my understanding if you want to go back with original fuel line the body does have to be raised. I'll look for the youtube video and post it if I find it again.

Brian

You Tube

The quality isn't that great but the info is....He has several watch them all.

 

My thread has a Table of Contents if you want to look at photos.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...e-project.html

I'm not positive but I think you can remove the T.A. bolts without lifting the body.
I bought an economy-grade oak 4" x 4" x 6 ft. long and cut sections 6" long. (you may have to notch one end of each section)
I raised the body slowly being careful with ground wires/brake line brackets/distributor bumping firewall/fuel line connections/rear drive shaft u-joint connection/E-Brake bracket near differential/Etc.
I place the blocks between the body and the frame.
I ALSO supported the front/nose of the car--Very Important.
I had plenty of room to redo fuel lines/brake lines/remove-reinstall trailing arm bolts

 

Trailing arms get removed and installed without lifting the body all the time
I had to cut the bolts ("torch" blades, when they stop cutting just change/shorten them don't fight it)


here's the way I re-installed mine
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...long-post.html

M

 

Reinstalling bolt I used long nose pliers.Pull trailing arm outward(no shims) use long nose pliers to put bolt back partially thru bearing,Then push TA back all the way and bolt will now be sticking thru for you to grab.After reading all the horror stories on this Ifound this trick. Easy

 

I can only share my experience, I read up a lot on this before doing mine and from all the post it seemed quite involved but it was really not to bad. I have a transmission jack from Harbor Freight which I rolled under the arm to take the weight, it was quite easy to get the bolts out and to tape up and identify which shims belonged where. To reinstall I tied a string to the end of the bolt and threaded it through the chassis holes, then I used the string along with long nose pliers to get the bolt through the first hole enough to hang the first set of shims, removed the string hung the shims and next went on the trailing arm supported on my trans jack, just rolled it into place. Used the long nosed pliers to push the bolt through then inserted the second set of shims. I did not remove or lift the body but I did move the fuel line and brake lines out of the way. I did measure across the bushings on the arms before replacing them and the distance with the new bushings installed was greater. I split the difference in half and reduced the shims accordingly. This will do sufficiently for me to get it the a shop and get it all set up by professionals who have the gear. Good luck, get something to support the arms that can roll and be adjusted, it made it so much easier.

 

I got a pair of offset TAs from Gary Vosberg. He brought them to Carlisle for me, and I picked them up from him there. He has good videos. Very happy with the quality of the TAs.

Use stainless steel shims and cotter pins, etc. I am fortunate to have a single column lift and used a transmission jack, wood blocks, and the cotter key with a string trick to get the bolts in.

Do be careful with the brake dust shields, I did cut thru my sweatshirt into my shoulder a little from it.

Good luck and have fun.

 

Many thanks Brian! appreciated!

 

Great write up and I love the pictures. Ok I'm confident I can get this all sorted now! appreciated!

 

Thanks for pointing me to the thread. lots of great intel on there! thank you!

 

thank you!

 

thanks for the valuable tips! keen to get them removed tomorrow and sent off for a rebuild!

 

The hardest part of the job may be removing the trailing arm bolts and the shock bottom mount. My 66 spent its life in southern CA. I had to cut the trailing arm bolts off. The shock mounts came off with one wack of a hammer. My 68 spent its life in NY. The trailing arm bolts came out without any problem. I had to use a 50 ton press to remove the shock mounts from the arms. You won't know what to expect until you get into it. I used poly in the trailing arms and had to replace them within a year because they crumbled. My son and I had both arms out in 90 minutes. It was so fast because everything was new, we have a lift and air tools. Jerry