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Rear End Lateral Movement on Deceleration
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: Boaz Alabama
Rear End Lateral Movement on Deceleration
When ever I am accelerating and then push in the clutch to shift it feels like my rear end is moving laterally under me towards the right. This also happens if I am in a lower gear accelerating and then let off letting it decelerate. I have rebuilt my front end: new hydrolics, stiffer coil springs and poly everything. Still have the gear box to put in though. I have installed a fiberglass mono spring in the rear, but no poly replacements except for the diff mount. But the car used to do this somewhat before all of these changes were done. It's just getting worse. Also, the car's steering is good when changing lanes to the right, however, when changing lanes to the left the steering is not responsive. It feels to easy. Almost like it breaks over into oversteering. Like it's falling over itself. But when I steer further to the left it gets hard again - in fact too hard in relation to steering to the right. It's driving me crazy.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 22,195
Likes: 4,180
From: Kannapolis NC
Check where your side yokes go into the differential. My passenger side (78 coupe) was worn and the ujoint bolts were hitting the differential. I jacked up the car and used a lever to raise the tire up and down and the yoke was sliding into and out of the differential about an inch. It also made the tire tilt in at the top when on the ground and out at the top when jacked up. I ended up replacing the yoke and yoke bearings and seal. I also replace the strut rods while it was apart, but they seemed ok.
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 16,100
Likes: 17
My bet is on trailing arm bushings...my 78 was doing that exact thing some months ago...when I pulled right side,the bushing fell out in my hand .
..replaced TA bushings and strut arm bushings..nice and tight now...
..replaced TA bushings and strut arm bushings..nice and tight now...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,669
Likes: 3
From: Kingston Ontario
Double check tightness all of the front end components. Check steering, sounds as if front end could be shifting left when unloading drive train. Did you do an alignment done after front end rebuild?
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 114
Likes: 18
From: McKinney TX
Trailing Arm Shims in Place?
I had some of the symptoms you describe – the lateral movement. Mine occurred when I hit a bump or sometimes when gearing down instead of braking.
It turned out that somewhere along the line the long cotter pins that hold the trailing arm shims in place were not installed. The shims on the drivers side had worked their way up out of the arm and had fallen completely out. The training arm would move back and forth on the both the better part of an inch.
Needless to say, some new stainless shims and a good four-wheel alignment fixed my problem.
It turned out that somewhere along the line the long cotter pins that hold the trailing arm shims in place were not installed. The shims on the drivers side had worked their way up out of the arm and had fallen completely out. The training arm would move back and forth on the both the better part of an inch.
Needless to say, some new stainless shims and a good four-wheel alignment fixed my problem.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 156
From: Mid West
Cruise-In III Veteran
I had some of the symptoms you describe – the lateral movement. Mine occurred when I hit a bump or sometimes when gearing down instead of braking.
It turned out that somewhere along the line the long cotter pins that hold the trailing arm shims in place were not installed. The shims on the drivers side had worked their way up out of the arm and had fallen completely out. The training arm would move back and forth on the both the better part of an inch.
It turned out that somewhere along the line the long cotter pins that hold the trailing arm shims in place were not installed. The shims on the drivers side had worked their way up out of the arm and had fallen completely out. The training arm would move back and forth on the both the better part of an inch.
I guess he was fealing lazy that day and didn't put in all the shims for the trailing arm bushing. The trailing arms were loose and you could move them side to side .... nice. Needless to say, I never visited that "expert" again, and I now do my own alignments.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: Boaz Alabama
Thanks for the feedback. I have made an appointment with the alignment people. They are going to replace the bushings in the trailing arms and in the strut rods with poly this Friday. BTW all my tire pressures are good. I will hopefully replace the steering gear box this weekend, then have the front end aligned. I'll post how every thing turns out. Thanks again everyone. 
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
Likes: 6,391
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
There are 3 things that will cause the rear end to "shift" as you describe:
- Trailing arm bushings
- Loose wheel bearings
- Excessive side yoke end play
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: Boaz Alabama
Bushings Fixed the problem
I had the bushings replaced and that took care of the problem. The guy did show me that there is about 1/4" worth of Yoke play on each side of the differential. Is that too much?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 15,176
Likes: 3,994
From: Connecticut, USA
Yes, if that is indeed yoke wear. I have broken down vette differentials with a lot of yoke endplay to find them still good and the posi setup sloppy. Those were usually in the .030-.050 range so it sounds like the yoke ends are worn to the snap rings.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: Boaz Alabama
It cost me $250 but they did the Trailing Arm bushings and the Strut Rod bushings as well. It cost more than I figured. When I called the shop the guy I talked to estimated $50-$100. I knew that was low. When I brought the car up there and talked to the guy who was going to do the work. He said there was no way he could do it for that - it would all depend on how much of a PITA they were going to be. I wasn't counting on more than double - but, live and learn.
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
From: Cranston R.I.
It cost me $250 but they did the Trailing Arm bushings and the Strut Rod bushings as well. It cost more than I figured. When I called the shop the guy I talked to estimated $50-$100. I knew that was low. When I brought the car up there and talked to the guy who was going to do the work. He said there was no way he could do it for that - it would all depend on how much of a PITA they were going to be. I wasn't counting on more than double - but, live and learn.
Don't you wish you could do that in reverse. Hmm, here is the bill for my mortgage, I think I will send them less than half. Oh well glad to hear that solved the problem.
Bill in RI
