trailing arm rebuild
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 79
Likes: 2
From: Ft Walton Beach Florida
trailing arm rebuild
Hey guys,
I'm doing my prior planning to rebuild/replace the trailing arm assemblies on my '72. I haven't seen anyone on the forum use some of the other Corvette parts vendors like Eckler's, Riks, or Corvette America. Riks in particular has a very competitive price on their TA rebuild service. Anyone familiar as to the quality of their work? Thanks.
I'm doing my prior planning to rebuild/replace the trailing arm assemblies on my '72. I haven't seen anyone on the forum use some of the other Corvette parts vendors like Eckler's, Riks, or Corvette America. Riks in particular has a very competitive price on their TA rebuild service. Anyone familiar as to the quality of their work? Thanks.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 27
From: Boca Raton Florida
I don't know Rik's work, but a couple things you need to know to ask:
What end play do they set the bearings to? Factory or "Tuned". Factory is .003 to .008 I believe, Tuned is more like .0005 to .001.
What brand bearings do they use? Insist on Timkin
What Bushings do they install?
If you do a search, look for a paper from GTR1999 on the TA rebuild, Lots of good info there. There are also a couple guys in here that do the work, Gary(GTR1999) and Mike (Trakdogg2). Both do very good work
What end play do they set the bearings to? Factory or "Tuned". Factory is .003 to .008 I believe, Tuned is more like .0005 to .001.
What brand bearings do they use? Insist on Timkin
What Bushings do they install?
If you do a search, look for a paper from GTR1999 on the TA rebuild, Lots of good info there. There are also a couple guys in here that do the work, Gary(GTR1999) and Mike (Trakdogg2). Both do very good work
Racer
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 302
Likes: 2
From: Milton Delaware
Trailing Arms
Just how do you know if the trailing arm bushings are bad? Some kind of noise? I have a '73 and everytime I put it in gear I hear a loud clunk. Is it the trailing arm or the bushing in front of the differential. I know it is not the universals. Just how hard is this trailing arm job. Do I have to remove the whole assembly to do this? How about walking us thru this? Does Wilcox have anything on this? thanks
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 4,883
Likes: 11
From: North Easton Mass
I bought a pair of rebuilt trailing arms from Van Steel. Excellent quality and they gave me more than I expected for a core refund for my old arms.
Rick B.
Rick B.
Last edited by crossram; Oct 12, 2009 at 12:29 PM. Reason: non supporting vendor
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 79
Likes: 2
From: Ft Walton Beach Florida
I have a leak at my differential pinion seal, so I have to drop the differential... while I'm at it I'm doing everything in the area - pulling the trailing arms, spring, etc..... I know I'm not going to like it but I'd rather do the maintenance now then unscheduled maintenance later. Also I'm a little jealous after seeing some of the 'after' pics in the forum of members who have done the rearend restoration. To answer your question my rear wheel bearings aren't making any noise, I just feel some slop when pulling on the rear wheels at the 3 and 9.
