I began disassembling part of the rear end of the car in order to replace the rear wheel studs (one broke, some are starting to strip etc). Anyway to catch you up to where I currently am... here we go. I pulled the wheel off, pulled the brake line off, pull the caliper off, pull the rotor off, remove the four half shaft bolts, un hook the sway bar on both sides and that is where I am currently at. Now that I have gone that far... I realize I may be in for more than I anticipated. I am having a hard time moving the half shalf out of the way so I assume I must unbolt the caps on the other end to remove it (if necessary). I removed the cotter pin in the castle nut. Now that you are caught up, here are my questions

1. Is it going to be as easy as just undoing the castle nut and the rear hub should pull out, or is there more involved than that. If it is more involved, please explain what needs to happen.

2. Should I remove the half shaft to gain better access to the nut?

3. What size is the castle nut. 1" doesn't fit. 1-1/8" fits but doesn't feel right. I don't have metric wrenches or sockets that big so I will need to pick up the right size.

4. While I was in there I also unbolted the shocks. What does the forum recommend for shock brand for replacement.

If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post up. Also the car is a 74. Not that it really matters, but just in case.

Thanks in advance,
pctgreg

 

Here's a couple of threads on the removal.

Gary

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...placement.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...ear-wheel.html

 

If only changing the wheel studs, you've gone too far!

Follow the procedures in the previous post links.

 

No need to remove halfshaft,sway bar. Just caliper,rotor,parking brake shoes. Use penitrating oil then pound the old one in(be carful you need to rotate each one towards front to clear backing plate) Push new one in and pull it in with nut with stack of washers or somthing to take up the extra space. Repeat....
I had to do this with a new spindle. First time I put wheel on one stripped in flange. Drove once then went to replace the one,LOl... when wheel was going on another stripped, then I replaced the rest. Replacing the cheap ones that came installed in the new spindle.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the links. Since the back end was not going so well last night... I decided to move to the fronts. I knocked all of them out no problem. (Why can't the back be as easy ). Anyway I followed the instructions so Im going to post some pictures to show you what I am working with, and also to see if someone can help me identify this piece that fell out on me.


Heres the car


Here is my dremel work... doesn't look as good as the one in the link, but hey... it does the job.


Here is the piece


Here is the piece (opposite side)


Here is where I suspect the piece connects too.


Thanks for the help guys thus far. Just need to know about that piece, and how it goes in.

 

Part is off the parking brake mechanism. Looks like a good time to rebuild the parking brakes with a kit. ZIP has them as well as any of the other supporting vendors.




Or Willcox;

http://willcoxcorvette.com/product_i...ducts_id=25200

Go to the link and click on the picture!

 

(original message deleted)

EDIT - On second glance, it looks like the part is broken when compaired to the one in the link. :/

 

Maybe $30 to your door. If You don't repair it you will have to remove the pieces or have them flop around and drag, damaging the brake surface.

 

Very true... Will be contacting willcox corvette (thanks for the link) on monday I guess. I would order online with quick shipping, but... aparently they don't offer quick shipping to first time customers????

 

I need to do this soon on my 76.

 

Well I called a corvette dealer early this morning to see if they had the brake hardware kit and sure enough they did, so I drove 45 minutes to get it, then hit the parts store on the way home. Picked up 20 studs and a set of monroe shocks for the rear.

I installed the front 10 studs, and re-assembled everything. Just waiting on my dad to get lugnuts so I can put the front on the ground.

To the passenger side rear!... PITA! Stud install was not a problem for those 5, but i'm having one heck of a time with the rear parking pads on the passenger side with the spindle on. I removed the pin/spring things on both pads when I was installing the studs and wow was that a chore to re-install. Not to mention trying to install the piece that broke (idk what you call it). I finally thought I had it all back together but with the new parking brake piece installed the rotor won't fit back on over the parking brake pads. Even with the star adjuster all the way in (the way I removed it, and the way I installed it). I compared the old star adjuster length with the new one and they are identical, same pads were used etc. Only thing I can figure is... the ebrake cable is pushing the pads out. Where is the adjustment located for this so I can loosen it up?

Oh, I also replaced the cotter pin in the spindle castle nut, and installed the bolts in the half shaft. Still have to torque them tomorrow when I can get some help holding the hub.

 

I feel your pain on the parking brake shoes. What a great design! I spent 5 hours to get the last top spring on. There were a few times I had to walk away and COOL Down... I know some people just eliminate the parking brake. That is pretty dangerous though if you have a brake problem and need to stop.The parking brake adjustment is under the car below the driveshaft at rear.Good luck.

 

Yeah im not quite sure what to do. I'm going to go back out this afternoon and see what has to happen now that i've had a break from it. I know my dad said the parking brake never worked since he bought the car so now that I bought the hardware kit for $60, I kind of feel obligated to fix it no matter how much of a PITA it is for me. It took me about 5 hours as well to get all the hardware repositioned correctly.

EDIT. Yep, that was the problem. I crawled underneath and found the adjuster nuts were pushed to the max. I loosened them probably about half way and went to check the pads. Sure enough the rotor slipped on so thats what was holding me up last night.

 

I gave up on that. I didn't see anyway to get that rear p-brake pad on correctly with the spindle still installed. Ultimately I plan to fab up a bracket and install some independent manual calipers (Audi style).

 

Yep... it's been a rough day, but still successful.

As I mentioned this after noon I loosened the adjuster under the car, which allowed me to get the rotor on.
I then put the caliper, pads, pin, cotter pin etc, oh and the bolts to finish up the passenger side
I torqued the half shaft bolts down on the passenger side finally.
I Installed shocks on both sides and re-torqued the lower and upper hardware.
Reinstalled the sway bar end links on both sides that I disassembled in the beginning.
Cut the dust shield on drivers side, removed old/installed new studs on drivers side.
Installed the new parking brake piece on the drivers side (interesting... both sides were broken)
And FINALLY attached the shoes with the pins. Took 3 hours on this side.... All I can say is... I will never do that again without removing the spindle. I guess the stud replacement itself wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have to replace the broken park brake pieces. Live and learn... Anyway after I got the pin's attached.. I called it a night. I'll throw the adjuster and spring in tomorrow, and finish up the rest tomorrow. Almost there... Thanks for the guidence guy's

 

E brake.... long gone, useless junk to give you problems.Like these cars dont already have enough....Brakes are for pu$$ys anyway.

 

Useless....What if you all of the sudden lose all your brake hydraulics like I did? Sure be nice not to run a red light and get killed or rearend someone. You must have ***** of steel!

 

Ever ridden a motorcycle?

Q. What happens when you try to come to a stop using only the rear brake?

A. Not f'king much.

Most of your braking force comes from the front brakes, and that chintzy manual drum setup isn't going to apply much braking pressure anyway. I'll get more engine braking just by going to 1st gear.

Now there are cars that actually use the normal rear calipers for a p-brake, and those are marginally useful in an emergency. My old Integra was setup this way, and I actually could lock up the rears and slide with the p-brake. But even then you'll slide for a looooong azz way. You just don't realize how little your rears have to do with bringing you to a stop. Now the ****-poor drum in disk setup found on Corvettes et. al. is freaking useless for anything but parking IMHO.

 

Any tricks on getting the upper and lower springs on. I bought a stainless steel set of springs for both sides. Both of the springs broke on the right side so I thought I might as well replace both sides. It's too cold in the garage now, but I hope I can do it next week.

 

Im going to be honest... With what I just went through doing the kit I would definitly go the route I started too in the beginning by removing the half shaft and pulling the hub instead of attempting to do it with the hub on again. I had 8 hours alone (5 hours on passenger side, 3 on drivers side) just trying to get the pins/locks together with the hub on. I just came inside a bit ago to update the thread.... and all I can say is I am so glad I am done. New rear shocks, new studs all around, and new stainless parking brake kit installed. Just waiting on the new cragar lug nuts to come in and she will be back on her feet.