I am a new member and I am just now starting a project on a 1971 convertible. I have owned the car for over 12 years now and this is the first year that I have had the time and the money to put into it. The car ran when it was parked, but the brakes were in pieces, and needless to say everything else looks pretty worn as well. I have ordered new Calipers, rotors, master cylinder, and brake power booster from VBP, and new bearings for the front and rear from Ecklers. I decided to do the brakes first for this project so that it can be more mobile. (when I moved it into my garage it was a nightmare not being able to stop when pushing it off the trailer). I am now stuck with what to do about the rear bearings. I ordered them and am now wondering what I got myself into. The local Vette shop said that they would not recommend doing them myself, and that they would charge between 500 & 600 per wheel. This seems high priced to me but I was wondering if anyone out there has attempted this, and if they have any recommendations or cautions to throw out there to me. Thanks in advance.

 

If 500-600 per wheel didn't include the R+R of the trailing arms and the rest of the suspension I would say they are way high. There are several supporting vendors here in the Forum that will do a quality rebuild for much cheaper. Removing the rear trailing arms is not really that hard, so you may consider doing the R+R yourself and sending the arms out for a rebuild. I believe Van Steel provides this service.

 

First did you get Timken bearings or some other brand? Do you have the tools and can you work to tight tolerences? Do you have access to a surface grinder?

I'm not trying to talk you out of this job, if you have the skills I can walk you through it but if you have to buy tools, parts, etc for a one time deal you'll be better served to have someone do it for you.

$600 per wheel does seem a bit high but that includes the labor to remove the arm? For comparision I rebuild an arm for $375 +/- $50 this is a ballpark statement due to possible problem areas that would need inspection. I do know the guy I bought my 75 from paid $1,600 for 1 trailing arm rebuild and it was absolutely terrible. The damage the garage caused was typical of an inexperienced person working on an old corvette. I ended up rebuilding both arms.

Now I'm sure many will respond saying you don't need a surface grinder to do this job. That comes down to just what type of work you want. If you want the best job then find a machine shop that will work with you to grind the shims to the correct size.

If you do a search here I think you'll find the post I ran on doing this job. It will help you decide if you want to do it or farm it out. What ever you decide use TIMKEN bearings and CR seals. Also tap the flanges to bolt the rotors on.

If you want to go over the job in more detail let me know.

Good luck with your project,

Gary

 

Do you know that you need rear bearings? Just because they are old, doesn't necessarily mean that they are bad. If you are going to do a complete rebuild on the trailing arms, then replacing bearings makes sense. Otherwise, just check for looseness or rolling roughness. If none....just repack them with grease and run 'em. By the way, $600 for bearing replacements is way high...unless it gets the T/A's rebuilt.

 

Just finished mine with excellent results. Here's the post that will let you see what your in for

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...=rear+bearings

 

yeah i would say thats high... really high... i got brand new offset t-arms with well... everything that attaches to them, for something like $1800 from Vansteel.

 

shop around! i went to local parts store and an old hot rodder that did mine! itook t arms off and he rebuilt them for 250.00 for the pair. it's all about run out and it ain't rocket science . good luck
'
,

 

This is one job I wont tackle. especially after seeing the other post.

$600 seems a bit steep tho.

This needs to be done on my 79. my RR had too much slop.

 

You cannot repack the bearings unless you remove the spindle.
The spindle and bearings are pressed together.
You cannot just take them apart without special tools.
The labor for dis-assembling for a repack is the same as for a replace.

Repacking is not really an option with these assemblies.
Once you have them apart, it's silly not to installl new bearings.

Also.... since I do this work professionally... I have taken many apart... the grease dries out over time. Age can be a critical factor.

 

I just replaced my right rear bearing in mid December. Bought one of the rebuilt assemblies from from a supporting vendor and did the removal of old/reinstall of rebuilt myself. Took about 8 hours in the garage I share w/my wife's car. Shipped the core back after swap, got full credit. $259 plus shipping and my time.

I've put about 2k miles on the rebuilt unit with no issues (my car is my dd regardless of weather) including a run from Houston to Oklahoma over the holidays.

I will probably do the same thing to the left side later this year since I don't know when it may have been done last and the car has turned 100k miles on the odo.

 

Thank you everyone for your responses. I will attempt to answer the majority of everyones questions here.
1. The price quoted was for if I brought the entire car into their shop and they replaced the bearings. There was no mention of R&R on the Trailing arms, so I would have to assume that is not included.
2. I did not think about removing the trailing arms and having them rebuilt/replaced. This may be a viable option for me. If I bought already rebuilt trailing arms, then the bearings that I already bought would be a waste, but I'll still consider.
3. My bearings are Timken bearings. I'm assuming since you asked that I actually did something right on that part.
4. I do not have the tools (yet) or the know how on most of this. (I'm still mad at myself for not paying attention to my dad when he worked on cars while I was a kid.)
5. I do not know if I really need rear bearings. (saw conflicting opinions on this matter) but I am replacing the front bearings and have new brakes all around. I guess my thoughts here were do it once..... and do it right. The car is 36 years old and I don't know how long it's been sitting. As I mentioned, I"ve had it sitting (in another state) for 12 years. (yes I feel guilty)

I will definately read the post from your experience. I"m still not sure which route I will take. I've got a few friends that I know from work that have done similar projects coming over to take a look at what I've got. Since they haven't done this on a Vette, I am a bit nervous, but I trust them more than I do the local vette shop. This is definately a first time project for me, I am learning EVERYTHING as I go.

 

Well first of all, Congrats on the car and for finding us here on the forum. You will find that there about as many opinions on here about what you should do as there are members.
There are a lot of us in here that have done this job once or twice and a few that have done it a Lot and really know what they are doing. Gary up there is one of the best in here, he really knows his stuff and also does very good work. He did my shims and spacers for my bearings.
Here is my opinion, If you have average mechanical skills, a lot of patience and some fundage, you can do this job. Oh, and a place to work. You will need to invest in some more tools like a sawzall, hammers, bandaids etc..
A couple ways to go, Buy builtup TA's and just swap them out..fast but expensive. You can remove the ones you have and send them out to get done, or you can do some of it yourself. Is basically a Money and time question. I did all but the machine work on mine and they turned out great.
I have a document I'll send you if you want it. Its a copy of all Gary's posts for his rear bearing rebuild thread. I copied it in case the thread disapeared. I also have a paper I did myself on the front beaing rebuild if you want that. Just let me know

 

You can also take a look at the GM service manual... the procedure is in there, although not as in depth as we cover it here on the forum.

One of the "gotcha's" is the GM bearing set up procedure, requiring a set-up tool. The GM procedure allows .001 to .008 end play on the spindle. General consensus is to hold it to no more than .001 to .0015. The shims that are available to set the end play very seldom allow you to end up with the desired play, so you need to modify (surface grind) a shim to do the job correctly.

Another is removal (and re-assembly) of the spindle.... it is pressed together. You can't just pull it apart with standard tools.

Another is removal of the outer bearing from the spindle. It is so tight against the spindle flange that a standard issue bearing puller cannot get behind it without damaging the surface where the grease seal rides... another special tool (or a Bubba hammer and a chisel).

Another-
The arms are held in the frame by a bolt that goes through a steel sleeve inside a rubber bushing. The bolt "rust-welds" to the sleeve making it impossible to remove without using a sawzall to cut through both the toe alignment shims & the bolt.

And another...
The lower shock mount is a press fit into the spindle support. It also rust-welds... and to avoid snapping off the eye from the spindle support, another special tool is used to remove the shock mount from the spindle support.

Etc Etc.

You cannot see any of this by a visual inspection.

Welcome to the fraternity.

 

Hi Teed
I'm also new hear and I do now a frame off restoration on my 72 conv'
I bought for my vett two new trailing arms in Ebay, you can find there
new, rebuild or to send yours to a rebuild or core, you can find there what option you want.(Example: Ebay #120080609994)
On the first one 68 coupe I rebuild the Trailing arm by my self It's was
hard and not much cheaper.
Good Luck, Avner

 

I just had my 81 done .it was $275 to have the trailing arm exchanged.$40 for the shock mount bolt, $10 for the trailing arm bolt.got the shim kit free..$325 labor, so $600 sounds reasonable.. I don't think I would of been able to cut the old one out myself laying on my back in the garage..If your going to do it start soaking the bolts now..

 

There are several providers who rebuild rear hub assemblies and different ways to do it. Hub/bearings only; hubs, bearings, and your rotors. Entire t-arm. Take your pick.

My advice would be not to try rebuilding rear hubs if you have no experience with them. Ship them to the professionals who rebuild them.

 

yes, the more I read about the procedures to do this entirely by myself, the more my head hurts. I'm now eyeballing vansteel's rebuilds. Looks like they R&R the T-A's, and complete the bearings and everything else as well. They also requested that I send in my (new) rotors so that they can adjust the bearing set up procedure (mentioned above) to the speciific rotor. The first lesson I've learned about this project (and this is only the beginning). Take whatever you plan on spending on each part and multiply it by 2. Minimum.

 

That's a good thing...
Spindles typically have runout and rotors typically have runout.

During manufacture, GM riveted the rotors to the spindle, and then turned the pair on a lathe so that the combined runout was minimized. This meant that the spindle/rotor was a "matched" pair.

When the rotor is machined (turned) independently of the spindle (or new rotors are just slipped on), it's a gamble as to whether or not the mated pair will have minimal runout. Runout causes the rotors to pulsate or "wobble" when the brakes are applied.

If the rotors wobble when the car is driven, this causes the brake caliper pistons to vibrate in & out, which in turn (with factory lip caliper piston seals) causes air to be "pumped" into the calipers....which in turn causes spungy brakes. Once around the block is all it takes to mess up a fresh brake job, and the brakes need to be re-bled.

This is why they need your rotors.