Got a 77 with 80K miles. The play in the rear wheels is within specs. Don't know if the bearings have ever been replaced but everything seems pretty tight so I don't know if the previous owner did anything when he replaced all of the u-joints. The trailing arms look original as do some of the other connected parts. Is there any preventative maintenance that I can perform on the bearings. I have read in the posts that there isn't much of an inspection, like the front bearings, without a tear down but can someone suggest what is the next best thing?

 

Just keep them well greased.

 

So I just pull the rear wheels and grease em up ?

 

Yep, grease everything up good, and while you're there, make sure the strut and stabilizer bar bushings are all in good shape. If everything else is loose then it won't be long before it affects the bearings.

 

Chuck
You are right the rear is nothing like the front. As far as geasing the bearings. They sell a rear bearing greaser at best this will only get some fresh grease to the inner bearing and push all the junk to the outer. The only way to do it is to remove the spindle and repack the bearings. And this requires special tools to do it. If you have no problems now I wouldn't bother.

 

Rear bearing setup requires precise endplay setup. Removing the spindle will wreck the bearings so if you get to that point replace them. Those grease tools are a waste of money. Properly setup bearings will last a long time. They can not be removed, greased and reused unless someone set them up for a slip fit in the past. Most shops do not do this including myself. If you have more then .003 endplay I would replace them. The spec goes up to .008 but that is too loose.
PM if you want a link to more info on this job.

 

You can't unless you press everything apart and like GTR mentioned, you'll wreck the bearings.

 

Wow and here I thought they were a useful tool for preventative maintenance. Good to know they don't work.

 

I don't have the tools or the press so I'm thinking I might be better off taking it to someone who has done this before. I'm not having any problems but I just got the car and was going over everything. Would you recommend just leaving alone until I detect them going bad? The car is in really good shape and some of the strut and sway bar bushing appear to be fairly new so I don't know if anyone has been inside the TA or not.

 

At 80K if they haven't been replaced I'd do it. Why take chances?
I wouldn't take them to anybody but one of the specialists.
The bearing assembly is fairly easy to remove and you could just
send them off to Van Steel or whoever.
Van Steel has the removal instructions on their site:

http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...home&pageID=11

 

In 1969, I purchased my '63 convertible with 25k miles. I took it to a local Chevrolet dealer to have some issues addressed that I didn't have time to do myself. I mentioned that the left rear was making a noise, so please check it out. I picked up the car a few days later and they assured me everything was fine in the rear and the noise was nothing to worry about.

I drove the car quite a bit that evening showing off my new acquisition and then parked it for the night. The next morning 5 miles from home the left rear wheel bearings seized and slid the tire a few hundred feet before I got it stopped. I called the dealer and they were "kind" enough not to charge me to tow it in, but clobbered me to replace the left spindle assembly. It cost me nearly half of what I paid for the car.

Needless to say the costs to repair this have gone up exponentially today. You do the math to replace everything along with the labor. Even if you do it yourself it won't be cheap. The first thing I have always done since on any C2 or C3 I purchase, is repack the rear wheel bearings.

Yes as said before, if done properly, they will last a long time. But regardless of the cost, unless you know how the car has been maintained over the years, I would service the rear bearings soon. The peace of mind in knowing that they are "good-to-go" for many more miles is worth the cost and the uncertainty of not knowing.

Good luck... GUSTO

 

I took my original owner 68's rear bearings apart when it had about 80K on it, that was about 20 years ago. I have the Kent-Moore tools to remove the spindles and bearings and dail indicator to set up my bearings. However if I did not have these tools I would just remove my control arms and send them off to PA to have the whole assembly rebuilt by www.bairs.com. For the money spent, they do a lot to give trouble free driving. Most owners will only have to do this once. Check out their web page and look at services and see what all they will do. Bairs is the only place that I know of that will rivet the rotors to the spindles, just like they left the factory with. Bairs will even send you the boxes to ship them in. I let a Corvette repair shop do the rear wheel bearing on the drivers side early in its life. That wheel locked up on me in a parking lot one day. That incident led me to buying the Kent-Moore tools and doing my own work on the 68 and 70. I did have Bairs rivet the rear disc brake rotors to my spindles and true the assembly, best money I have ever spent on my 70.

 

I can rivet the rotors back on too but IMO it's pointless. If you ever have a problem again you have to drill them out. Even if you want to turn the rotor you'll have to drill them out unless you can find a shop with an a machine to do it on the car. If your looking for that original look when you pull the tire off, get some rivets and cut the stem in 1/2, and use some chem-weld to hold them in place. Give you the look without the hassle.

 

I agree on the rivets. If the spindle and rotor are dialed in and bolted on there's no need other then for "correct" appearence. Turning the rotors is not recommended.