ddn

I've got both trailing arms off the '68, and I separated the rear bearing/spindle support thing from the trailing arms. I powdercoated the trailing arms, and they look great, but I'd really like to do the support piece as well.

It seems to me that the spindles and bearings need to be pressed out. What is involved with this job, and do I even want to mess with it? Someone fill me in with this stuff.

Thanks guys!

dogboy

Van steel in Tampa,Fl did mine and they were done right. I wouldn,t mess with them without the tools or know how.

ddn

I should have mentioned this. Van Steel wants $165, at that price I will just not powder coat the bracket and wait till they blow up or something

Jvette73

They make a tool called a spindle knocker. It screws onto the spindle threads tight, then you drive the spindle out with a hammer. To put it back togeather use the spindle nut to slowly pull the spindle back in. It worked for me. With a $10 tool.

GTR1999

A couple of thoughts here. Did you remove the arms to paint them or rebuild them? Since you have then out and are considering pressing out the bearings then you might as well replace the bearings. The cost is minor compared to the work involved. The bearings will probably get wrecked removing them anyway. You can do this with the knocker but it will be hard. I removed them with a 20 ton press that cost about $225 from Harbor Freight. Even with the press they were hard to remove. Once the spindle is out then you can clean and paint everything. It will be more work but worth it. If you have never worked with close tolerances(setting bearing to .001-.002") then you'll be better off having a shop like Bair's or Van Steel do the job. Good luck.
Gary

78Vette-SA

This is what it looks like coming back from Van Steel. I had them do the bearings and turn the original rotors. I then installed stainless steel parking brakes and sand blasted and painted the T/A's.

Paul L

Does anyone know if re-built units as shown are available at Carlisle? What companies? If yes, are the prices hyped up? Do they bargain? Would a Sunday purchase be advisable to get a bargain: vendors unloading goods.

GTR1999

Paul,
I saw a lot of vendors selling them last year.The problem I saw with that was I never heard of some of these guys before so if you have a problem with the install thenwho knows if you would be able to find them again.
If you think you're going to need the bearing assemblies I would call Bair's or Van Steel to see if they are going to have any there to purchase or exchange. That way you will save on shipping and if you do have a problem with them then you'll know they will take care of it.
Gary

ddn

I just spoke with Art from Van Steel. When he told me the price for rear wheel bearings at $167, I said "Thank you", and he said "You don't sound too comfortable with that" He was very nice and explained everything I needed to know about the rear bearings/ta. He told me he'd do my rear trailing arms and bearings, the works, for $225 each. This still seems like a LOT of money to me, and as far as I know, the bearings and spindle are just fine.

Is this something I really should do, or should I put it back together and do it in the future? Who knows, maybe they're just fine the way they are.

gerry72

All things are relative when it comes to a C3. If you try to do the job yourself, you'll probably wish you had spent the money with a professional. I did mine. I purchased the spindle press, the set-up tool and the installation tool. It's not that the job is beyond the abilities of a skilled mechanic, but I'm sure having a lot of experience with C3 rear bearings, like VanSteel, means that the job is done right. Sounds like Art was giving you a very reasonable quote...especially when you consider everything that they do.

As to your plan of action, what do you feel comfortable with?

69Myway

David,

I did mine using the brass knocking tool ( I think I spent $16 with shipping from Mid America or somebody like that).

I bought off set trailing arms. I talked to Van Steel, and while there is no doubt they are the experts in this field, I don't care for anybody that wants to "scare" me from doing my own work. I agree, the $225 per side is steep in my opinion.

Here is what I did. I bought the shim kit from Van Steel. I then got another spindle that had been turned down in a lathe. The purpose of turning it down is so the bearings slide on and off.

I then assembled one side at a time using the turned down spindle as a guide. I kept changing spacers until getting the desired endplay. It is true the average guy can not measure .oo2. This is actually tighter than factory spec. After getting the correct space at torque, I swapped in the original spindle and torqued it all down to spec.

Total job took a couple of hours and I have the pride of doing it myself and saving hundreds of dollars. Total price was around $150 for bearings, seals, shims, spacer tube, and knocker tool.

You can do it. Don't let them scare you!

BTW-I do have a 50K hydraulic press. That made things a little easier. I only used it to press the bearing races into place.

Good luck.

Jvette73

Like I said above, I used the spindle knocker with hammer. I will admit it was not easy. You need a big hammer and you need to hit it hard again and again. I was sweatin for sure, phsically and mentally. :lol: I was thinkin, man im gonna have to buy whole new arms after I get done with these things. But I kept movin forward. I got the job done. I just repacked my original bearings as the were in good shape. My bearings were a tiny bit loose when I started the job. So I just remnoved a spacer and replaced it with the next thickest(or thinnest,i cant remember which it take to tighten them up) spacer from the shim kit. You can buy the shim kit alone. By reusing my bearings and not disturbing the current setup, it gave me a good reference point. All I needed to do was take up a bit of slack. I used a thin washer to protect the spindle splines as I carefully drew the spindle back in with the spindle nut itself. Lucky for me(since I did no actual measuring) the slack was taken up and the bearings still spun freely. Bubba gets a pat on the back again, while my hard earned money can go somewhere else. :D

69Myway

JVette73,

Yes!!!!!!! That is the ticket.

A friend of mine races vintage and Solo I with a 69 four speed. He did the same thing you did. So far, no defects and no problems being pushed to the extreme. Another friend of mine road raced a 68. He had his axles machined down for a slip fit and did not run a spacer tube or spacers. He had zero defects, it ended up being just like your front wheel bearings with adjusting the nut to the desired run out.