Hey guys. OddBall and I are back to working on his C3 (78). If you don't remember, we decided that we were going to replace the rear wheel bearings while we were repairing the emergency brakes that have a problem. Last time I posted on this I was looking for info on how to get the spindles out. Oh what fun it is....

OddBall is not the type to want to hurry anything so we are just now revisting this after it sitting for the last 2-3 months. We have learned that this is a chore and a half and frankly more than either one of us want to deal with. We have got the passenger side spindle out at last call (just the passenger side) and since have decided that this is probably best done by someone who knows what the hell they are doing as far as setting the tolerances and pressing this stuff on and off and what have you.

Since we have it this far apart, we have decided that we will just take the rear control/trailing arms off and take the whole assemblies to someone who knows what they are doing with this or just buy completed ones to put back on. Man this thing is a pain in the a$$.

Now we have one of the arms completely unbolted EXCEPT the bolt that the control arm/trailing arm pivots on. It's the one that the red arrow points to below:



How the heck are you supposed to get this thing out? Is there an access panel or something that comes out that will let you get to the head of this bolt? The head is in this hole here:



Someone tell me there is a magic trick to getting something on the head of this and or getting it in and out.

All suggestion welcome, good or bad.

 

No magic, just lots of luck..Use a punch to tap the end you see in as far as it goes. Then use a pry bar inside the frame to pull the bolt all the way out. If the shims and bolt are rustted, you may have to torch or cut the bolt out. It can be a PITA. No access plate, I use long needle-nose pliers to put the bolt back in. G/L

 

The simple answer is to use a sawzall and cut the bolt, what happens is the bolt rusts and the metal sleeve of the bushing rust sort of welding them together. If they are new or not rusted too badly you can wiggle the bolt out so you can put shims in. Once the rust gets in there you'll never get it out. The cost for new bolts verses the time to try and work them out will convince you. Good luck though.

 

Wow.... no chit hah? That is what I was afraid of. It is pretty rusted. You could barely make out the head of the bolt. It is still well formed but looks like it is married to the frame. Uggg....should have taken this thing to someone who has done it!

 

dont be shocked if it takes wayyyyy more effort than you thought it would. it took my mechanic a long long time to get them out.. he ended up cutting them off...

 

The rear bearing retainers are removable without pulling the trailing arms.
Remove the axle flange on the inside of the bearing retainer and pry it from the rear of the spindle. Then remove all the brake hardware and unbolt the bearing retainer and remove it with the spindle inside as a complete unit leaving the trailing arm on the car.
Check out VANSTEEL'S website for details. Hope this helps... good luck!