Help!!! Rear Suspension
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Va Beach VA
Help!!! Rear Suspension
Help!!! I took off my rear wheels tonight to look at my rear suspension. Looking at the shims in the trailing arms I noticed that the shims were not the same on each side. With the tires on, the driver side tire is even with the wheel well and the passenger side tire is slightly inside the wheel well. If looking from the back the driver side shims are on the inside of the trailing arm and the passenger side is on the outside therefore I would assume this is why the tires sit the way they do. The question is can I adjust the shims so the tires sit square under the car and is there any allowance in the side yokes to make this adjustment. Were talking about an inch. Appreciate any input. thanks 
Race Director
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From: Foxfield CO 1970 Convertible
The tires and wheels sit at the end of your drive shafts which cannot be moved more than a few hundreths of an inch (unless something major is wrong). If the TOPS of the tires are uneven compared to the body, the camber is probably out. That is adjustable using the struts that attach to the rear end at the bottom of the shocks and adjust using the cam on the inside end of each strut. The shims you are looking at adjust the toe-in which (if it were out of line) would probably not be visible just by looking. You might have to have the car aligned if it is driving strangely.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2004
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From: Beverly Massachusetts
that is 100% normal. even on new cars the wheels stick out a little more on one side or the other. just take a look at any car and you will see what im talking about. you wont notice it on most cars though till you go and put bigger rims and tires on and fill the wheel well. 
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2004
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Help!!! Rear Suspension
I have rebuilt more than a few rearends. This can only be done correctly on a good 4 wheel alingment machine. This way they can make sure that the car is tracking correctly down the road. I am not sure what year you have, but I would start spraying penetrating oil on the shims, and camber adjustment locations. This will go along way, in helping the alingment shop! I have had plenty of cars I had to sawzall the trailing are bolts out of!
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Va Beach VA
Looking at the rear end differential and the drive shaft I noticed that the shaft is not perfectly centered down the middle of the car, but offset just a little towards the drivers side which is the side that the tire is out of the wheel well. Can this be shifted to the right to realign the tires. It looks like if I move the whole assembly about 3/4in that would put everything back square. There is quite a gap on the right side of the differential compared to the left.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: New Cumberland PA
If the car is aligned correctly, I don't think there is much you can do. The shims set the toe. When the alignment is done the toe should be checked and adjusted for each side individually. If one tire is way from the other, there may be something bent or may be the car was hit at one time or antother.
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From: Foxfield CO 1970 Convertible
Originally Posted by buckethead
Looking at the rear end differential and the drive shaft I noticed that the shaft is not perfectly centered down the middle of the car, but offset just a little towards the drivers side which is the side that the tire is out of the wheel well. Can this be shifted to the right to realign the tires. It looks like if I move the whole assembly about 3/4in that would put everything back square. There is quite a gap on the right side of the differential compared to the left.
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Va Beach VA
After looking at the suspension again I don't think the rear end has ever been realigned since it rolled off the line. The front passenger side wheel is set up like the back, both wheels lean inward toward the body and the driver side is more level and I think the adjustments at both the front and back, 4 wheel alignment, after replacing the strut rod, already rebuilt the front suspension and supposedly had a full alignment but after lookin at the rear end now I don't think they cracked a bolt on the back, can't find good help, this might solve the problem. What do you all think? I appreciate everybodies input
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Race Director
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Buckethead,
I don't think you're listening to what people are telling you. The car was built 'offset' to start with. Most of the C2- C3s were, and it's a toss up whether the left or the right sticks out more.
Playing with the alignment or suspension will not change anything.
Best of luck.
I don't think you're listening to what people are telling you. The car was built 'offset' to start with. Most of the C2- C3s were, and it's a toss up whether the left or the right sticks out more.
Playing with the alignment or suspension will not change anything.
Best of luck.
Heel & Toe
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 18
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From: Port Macquarie New South Wales
Buckethead - I have a 79 and have the same problem - my drivers side is level with the top of the arch but the other side sits about an inch inside the arch. I have thought about this and my conclusion is either that my spring is not centered or that the control arms are incorrectly shimmed or the bushes are badly worn. Perhaps the more experienced members could shine some light on the subject with a few suggestions on how to fix. Regards
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From: Va Beach VA
Aussie yeah if I stand behind the car and look down the driver side the tires sit right in line with the edge of the wheel well. If I go to the passenger side I cannot see any of the wheel. Looking at the shims in the front of the car the driver side has no shim in the front and 1 in the back the passenger side has a ton of shims in it.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2002
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From: I can walk to MA
The shims will not push the tire outward ... just angle it left/right.
The side yoke could wear down and produce a little offset - but
nowhere near an inch - and likely similar driver versus passenger side.
From the description you give of the front versus rear ... sounds
like the camber is off (vertical tilt). You might need to find a
Corvette specialty shop to get the alignment correct. Be prepared
to pay big bucks to get someone in there and loosen/adjust everything.
If - after getting it properly aligned - the tires are still uneven,
then the body "can" be shifted on the frame. This is a bigger
can of worms than trying to get the rear suspension bolts all loose.
Good luck. Maybe you can try to loosen some of that stuff and
make the job easier for the shop to align. I'm sure on a C3 rear
alignment, they will want to charge by the hour.
The side yoke could wear down and produce a little offset - but
nowhere near an inch - and likely similar driver versus passenger side.
From the description you give of the front versus rear ... sounds
like the camber is off (vertical tilt). You might need to find a
Corvette specialty shop to get the alignment correct. Be prepared
to pay big bucks to get someone in there and loosen/adjust everything.
If - after getting it properly aligned - the tires are still uneven,
then the body "can" be shifted on the frame. This is a bigger
can of worms than trying to get the rear suspension bolts all loose.
Good luck. Maybe you can try to loosen some of that stuff and
make the job easier for the shop to align. I'm sure on a C3 rear
alignment, they will want to charge by the hour.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Quincy IL
after buying my 79 in 1996 i realized after about a month that everything suspension wise was screwed up and it wasn't just one thing, the trailing arm bushings were worn, the strut rod bushings to set the camber were worn out, the front springs had "dummies" in them to get some ride height. other things to consider are from 1976 thru 79 the axle yoke ends were not heat treated, so once things loosen up these babies beat themselves into a mushroom. this became apparent when i took the diff out in 2000 for a rebuild, handed it to the mechanic and he told me he could not get the axles out without smoking them with a large hammer. have you checked the rubber doughnuts that hold the rear crossmember to the frame??
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Va Beach VA
yeah I am starting to replace the struts and progress from there with the trailing arm bushings. It just seems to me that the whole car seems set up weird but looking at the frame i cannot see any damage that would suggest an accident that would require someone to set it up the the way it is and i just thought i would start from scrach loosen up or replace all the suspension parts and go from there. mine is an 80
Heel & Toe
Joined: Feb 2005
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From: Port Macquarie New South Wales
I recently replaced my strut rods, their bushes and the camber bolts, then I reset the cambers near to factory specs. My spring is strange, the second longest leaf is not in alingement with the bottom (longest) leaf, but hangs about 1/2" over (rearwards) on the drivers side - I thought this might be the problem - Hows your spring look. Also I intend to do my control arms sometime in the future, but from what I hear it is a bugger of a job. Cheers.
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From: Va Beach VA
My spring looks fine i just did the bushings on it because i noticed my car also had a lean to the passenger side. upon investigation i saw that one of the bushings was missing on the passenger side replaced it and the car sits much more level. as far as doing the control arms the uppers are the big pain. i did them about a year and half ago the passenger side is the real pain if i remeber correctly the problem is getting the clearance to remove them ac comp, etc. overall it really wasn't that bad just time consuming taking the whole suspension apart and reinstalling everything but it was definitely worth doing my shops around my area wanted over 800.00 plus parts to do the job. i think i spent a couple of days on it once you get the stuff apart it is relatively quick to put back together. the main thing on the top arms is patience and figuring out exactly what needs to be pulled or loosened to get the clearance to remove them
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,662
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From: Knoxville Tennessee
The entire drive line from the engine to the differential is offset to the right a little. If you look at the front of your diff. you can see that the drive shaft comes into the diff off center. The reason for this is so that the steering mechanism has enough clearance to clear the engine going to the front suspension area. The differential is perfectly centered in the rear of the car. Each half shaft is exactly the same length. Once again, the shims at the front of the trailing arm adjust the toe in our toe out of the rear tires. More or less shims are added or removed from each side of each trailing arm until proper toe is achieved. The wheel leaning in at the top is adjusted by adjusting the strut rod properly. With everything adjusted just the way it is supposed to be, the clearance between the tire and the body may not be exactly the same. You can't move the body to correct this condition, it just happens. I hope this sheds a little more light for you.
Bernie
Bernie
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Joined: Apr 2005
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From: Va Beach VA
Thanks bernie for shedding some light on the drive shaft and differential setup. I just put new strut rods and new bushings and bolts on the leaf suspension in the back and it seemed to help some.
Thanks,
Jeff
Thanks,
Jeff