C3w4sp

Any and all,,

I have not spent much energy on my 75 vette over the last couple of years. Well, other than drive it occasionally in the summers, I'm at an empass here. The trailing arms / rear wheel bearings and side yokes are literally the only mechanicals that have not been rebuilt / replaced and or upgraded. Their condition is not the worst I have seen but they are in need of attention.

I've had the car about 15yrs and have always known this was coming. With the values what they are I would never recover the cash (heck thats blown already the way it is) if I decided to sell it.

The reason I'm considering spending the money would be to improve the way it drives. I guess my real question is to those who have recently actually rebuilt trailing arms / bearings / and side yokes. Is there an appreciable improvemnet in the way the car will drive? What can a guy expect? It's not like the car drives bad, but you have to pay attention to what you are doing, It's just not tight, if ya know what I mean.

Any insight as to how anyones car was improved would be appreciated.

Thanks!

TedH

I started my rear trailing arm rebuild process when my left rear t/a seized.. had to tow it home for $75. After, (living in Tampa, FL), I delivered my left-rear bearing assembly (being cheap) to Van Steel in Clearwater, FL. Artie and his son Danny are THE best bearing assembly rebuilders for the C3.

If I were you and I had disposable funds aching to be spent, I would pull the rear trailing arms from my C3 and ship them to Artie @ Danny @ Van Steel in Clearwater, FL. Once you install them, you will drive easy. They are the best in my opinion.

Also, if your half-shafts have not been attended to, I would recommend you have them rebuilt also... and, if you have not refreshed your rotors or parking brake assemblies.... well, they have done well by me... no issues since near the turn of the century!!!

jim2527

Danny completely rebuilt mine as well, I hand delivered it and picked it up a few days later.

It's one of those things you dont realize is bad untill you have it rebuilt.....

C3w4sp

How was the driving improved, is it noticably better??

The money is the problem, no matter how you go about it working on the rear of these cars will get spendy. The question is weather or not to do it. I'm just looking for what folks thought about how their cars felt after they completed the work. I more than likely will, then I will worrie about how.

Mike Ward

I rebuilt all of mine and it didn't change the handling one bit- there again there wasn't much wrong with mine, just old. Wish I hadn't used poly, that was a step backwards.

Tom454

There is a long list of things that contribute to the C2/C3 chassis being sloppy. The rear wheel bearings are just one. Unless you've repaired/replaced the entire list except for the rear bearings (and yokes etc), and the chassis is still loose, there is no way to say if a fresh rear end will help stabilize the car. There are too many variables. Upper A-Frame bushings, lower A-frame bushings, upper ball joints, lower ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, steering adapter, steering gear box, front wheel bearings, worn front spindles, uneven front springs (mine has these), steering column rag joint, stabilizer frame bushings, stabilizer end links, and I'm sure I forgot a few. Instead of guessing, test the bearings and yokes. It doesn't cost anything to jack the car up and yank on the tires.

69 Chevy

Short answer, NO. Unless your Trailing arm and strut rod bushings are totally shot. I replaced my OEM power steering with a Steeroids power R&P. That one single change made all the difference in the way my mouse motored Vette drives. And using alignment specs for modern radial tires.

If you're saying it's vague, wandering, twitchy; that sounds like the way my steering operated for 65K miles. But no more.

C3w4sp

Thanks for all the insight.

69 Chevy, frankly that is what I expect and it is the reason I asked the question. I have not looked at the steeriods much. It seemed like a couple of years ago there was quite a bit of chatter that the steeroids had been guys some problems.

Tom454, I wouldnt call it sloppy, all the suspension components you mentioned have been replaced or rebuilt, including all the power steering components. I would describe it as 69 Chevy did vague, wandering, twitchy. I have driven quite a few C3's and some are better than others. I guess my hopes are that it will tighten it up some.

jim2527

Everything on mine was shot....bushings, bearings. So yes, there was noticieable difference.

I suppose its all going to depend on what your starting with.

jmp

TedH, why would halfshafts need att?

texas jim

Let's face it, if you have worn components in the rear suspension, the car won't operate/handle/drive the way it's supposed to/to the best ofit's ability, whether it's a minimum or maximum amount. If you're going to keep the car, and you neglect replacing/repairing the component(s)/problem, then you're asking f/ further wear and possibly wear on other components that do not yet have any wear.
I know what you mean when you say that you have to pay attention when you drive the car. I've had afew cars that had slop enough in the suspension, steering, etc. and I had little problem driving them. But I have to say that as far as my Corvette goes, I want it to perform to it's fullest f/ a number of reasons.
IMO, if you're going to keep the car, fix what the car is in need of, and if not, sell it before anything else goes wrong and/or before any more wear occurs on the currently worn components.
In any event, good luck with it. Sincerely...

C3w4sp

I decided to go ahead and rebuild the rear everything. I guess I'm not willing to give up my C3 just yet. As big a pain in the a$$ these cars can be, to me, there is nothing like them. If I got rid of it I would just go looking for another one.

Now my biggest fear is myself, I get the "while your in there" deal goin and go nuts, thats how my engine rebuild ended up a stroker 5sp.

Oh well,,,,

63mako

The same reason as the TA's and differential. The OP has a new stroker engine and 5 speed. All the steering and suspension components in the front end have been rebuilt or replaced. Now he is looking at doing the same to the rear components. He is disassembling everything. Repacking rear wheel bearings and setting up the rear spindle endplay is a service item that has more than likely never been done. While this is disassembled it is also best to go over the rear parking brakes and replace front TA bushings. Not much more money and cheaper now while it is apart. Same with the differential. He is replacing the sideyokes. Not much more expense and work to replace the bearings and clutch pack and reset up the backlash while it is out and disassembled. Since the half shafts are out there is no better time than now to put new spicer solid u-joints in. They will be about $100 and a couple hours labor to do. U-joints wear once there is some wear you get tiny metal fillings in cavity in the cap housing the bearings. Once this happens and you are running a lot more torque and power though them they will fail sooner than later. These are tiny roller bearings that are subjected to a lot of pressure. They are also over 35 years old and a lot of times as the tiny roller fail there are no noticable symptoms. These do fail and if you have ever seen an outer half shaft u-joint come apart and the carnage it causes to the fiberglass underbody I can tell you it is not pretty or cheap to repair. Once this work is complete the OP will have a rear assembly that will be much more capable of handling the extra power that it is now subjected to in the long run and a four wheel alignment will stay in spec longer and improve handling and safety.

C3w4sp

Exactly, but it really doesn't end there. Which is why I was contemplating this at all. One of my problems is severe wheel hop under WOT, which I'm sure has accelerated the demise of any remaining life in rear drive. So, I will also be pulling the diff carrier and replacing the bushings to help hold the diff still. I'm also considering the traction bar device to cure that. At this point, since the diff will be out, only a fool doesn't buy the best side yokes possible, I don't want to do this again for a long time. My only real hope to save any cash will be the diff itself. Over the years I have replaced a few of the rear components, spring end link bushings, diff front carrier bushing, adjutable strut rods and shocks. So, since its apart, and here we go,,,, my shocks are service replacements and will be replaced with some bilstines and I will more than likely be sourcing a new glass spring. Install new stainless steel parking brake components blah blah blah. The rear calipers slowly cavitate some air in the lines, (which is another symptom that has got me to this point) they are tired, it's apart, so why mess with it, new "O" ring units are next with SS trailing arm brake lines and new flex hoses. And,,,, since one of the objectives is to shore up the braking, depending on rotor condition I may replace rotors altogether to get the best brake pedal possible.

The U joints on the half shafts are just a glancing blow in the scheme of things.

When you look at this deal and go gee 800 bones to rebuild trailing arms???? Hardly, This could easily hit 2G's by the time I'm rollin again.

bobbarry

I did this myself last Spring; actually, I ordered the rebuilt arms from Bairs, and shipped the cores back in the boxes the rebuilt ones came in.

Aside from it costing money, I'm very pleased I did it. Mine weren't totally shot, but growling noise in the turns and the worry of siezing up a bearing 100 miles from home weren't fun accessories to take with me every time I drove to a show.

I replaced the arms, strut-rods and spring bushings, found one U-joint that needed replacing, and then generally detailed the whole underhalf of the car, painting the framerails (which were perfect; not what I was expecting), wire-brushing and POR'ing the rear part of the frame next to the gas-tank and the rear crossmember (surface rust), and generally making sure everything was right under there.

It didn't handle bad before, but now I'm confident any time I take the car through a sweeping on-ramp that the wheels are not going to fall off, so I'd say I'm happy I did the job.