Trailing arm shimming
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Bowtie, Pennsyltucky
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15,'21
Trailing arm shimming
When starting with no shims at all, I guess I would start with TA bushing in center of pivot bolt and shim equally on each side? Should I torque pivot bolt with spring and strut rods removed to assure free movement of TA? Any opinions or tips would be appreciated.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2008
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From: Stratford Ontario
I shimed mine after the whole rear of the car was back together. Somewhere on here is a thread on how to align car. I shimed the rear wheels while setting camber as well. I ran strings down side of car front to back and the front of rear tire touches string and the rear of the tire had a specific distance. The shims should be piled in there tight at that point. It is critical that the front of the rear wheel points outward slightly as under load it will pull in. You do not want toe in on rear or You wont be able to steer car under hard acceleration.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Bowtie, Pennsyltucky
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15,'21
Thanks for reply. I'll need to find that thread because I'm starting from scratch after frameoff and need to get wheels at least in the ballpark to drive the 25 mi. to the alignment shop. Yeah, I should have kept record of the shims that came out.....
Melting Slicks
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From: Detroit MI
Last edited by 69autoXr; Nov 11, 2010 at 12:44 PM.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Bowtie, Pennsyltucky
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15,'21
Okay, so I need to shim so the front of rear tires are toed in, correct? Negative camber would be the top of the tire will be in further than the bottom as adjusted with strut rod,right? Toein for driveline torque, neg. camber for lateral load?
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2002
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no
You want about 1/8" rear toe-in with the car at it's normal ride height. The wheels will want to go more toe-out as the trailing arm moves up (or simply outside of level).
Team Owner
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Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2008
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From: Stratford Ontario
Sorry about the toe I was just trying to give an idea of the link from memory. There is another good thread from a guy on here who sets his own alignment in his garage. Just make sure You have the shims firmly in place.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Bowtie, Pennsyltucky
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15,'21
I followed Duntov procedure and all is well. It will definitetly get me to the shop now. One more item checked off the list. Thanks to all. If we weren't in cyberspace I'd buy beers all around
Team Owner
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Just one note though. I wouldn't bother taking it to a shop for an alignment unless it's one that specializes in Corvettes. Most techs and/or grease monkeys are going to go cross-eyed looking at the C3's rear. I have done my own alignments for years now using nothing but strings, an angle finder, straight edges, and a dial caliper. And everytime I've had it cross referenced with modern equipment, my alignments have been spot on.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Bowtie, Pennsyltucky
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15,'21
Luckily there is an old alignment shop about 25 miles from me. The same guy has been doing business there forever and eager to do it. He said it's been a long time since a c2 or c3 had been there. He actually had rear TA shims. Thanks again
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: McDonough GA
Any info on string alignments for the front?
Glad it worked out for ya.
Just one note though. I wouldn't bother taking it to a shop for an alignment unless it's one that specializes in Corvettes. Most techs and/or grease monkeys are going to go cross-eyed looking at the C3's rear. I have done my own alignments for years now using nothing but strings, an angle finder, straight edges, and a dial caliper. And everytime I've had it cross referenced with modern equipment, my alignments have been spot on.
Just one note though. I wouldn't bother taking it to a shop for an alignment unless it's one that specializes in Corvettes. Most techs and/or grease monkeys are going to go cross-eyed looking at the C3's rear. I have done my own alignments for years now using nothing but strings, an angle finder, straight edges, and a dial caliper. And everytime I've had it cross referenced with modern equipment, my alignments have been spot on.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
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From: Bowtie, Pennsyltucky
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15,'21
It's actually kinda easy, just take your time and make sure the car is level. I followed the Duntov procedure from the link above and worked well to get all four wheels really close.
Team Owner
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Castor I don't mess with.
