Thanks for the heads up Red, I called Corvette City and he quoted me $1500 to rebuild mine. Looks like I'll use Van Steel, shipping is going to be around $120 each way.

 

One of my originals was bent so bad it couldn't be saved so when I did the rear suspension I went with Van Steels offset t-arms so one day I can put wider tires on. Build quality is good and they installed just like stock.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'm rebuilding the front suspension and steering right now and will probably have to wait a few weeks to pull the TAs. I've been hitting them with PB Blaster every night so hopefully they come apart pretty easy for me.

 

VanSteel

Drove over, dropped them off. Drove back a few days later to pick them up.

 

Lol.... I wish I was able to do that. Living in Colorado makes that a little more difficult.

 

He does control arms too?

 

Oh yes!

Steering boxes, control arms diffs, 4 speeds etc....There are I am sure lots of folks that can do a quality TA rebuild but I know Gary, he has done my steering box rebuild, I have been to his shop personally AND he only lives 2 hours from me..not to mention his work his superb!

Here is what he sent me last week about the control arms and my potential diff/half shaft issue:

Good to hear from you again, always a pleasure and I haven't forgotten your support.

Ok, so first off you have play in one wheel so you have to check both. If the issue is with the bearings on one then the other isn't any better. The grease used 40 yeas ago is not as good as today grease. I use Timken automotive red grease but swear it's the same as Lucas Red & Tacky. I got to know an engineer at Timken years ago, another car guy only into Mopars and we talked about my setup procedures and greases. I switched to his ( Timken's) grease and never had an issue with it. I used to use Mobil 1 in the boxes and arms but it separates out sometimes and causes a mess. While the grease would never run out of a box it is poor presentation to a customer if it's leaking. Same with the rear bearings.

There should be no play in the bearings either by testing with the tire on, which can sometimes give you a false reading due to the leverage, or by checking at the spindle wheel lugs. I like to grab a wheel stud and see if I can push and pull it and see the axle move. The spec is 001-008 at 003 you will see movement. Sounds like you have excessive movement in yours.

Next look at the diff axles. I know you don't want to pull the diff and I don't want you to but you have to check since the '72-79 axles were soft faced and worn out up against the posi cross shaft. There was no GM spec for the axle endplay, none that I ever found or heard of from some of the "Old Timers". If you have an indicator or even a dial caliper, push the axle in, -0- the tool and pull the axle out. That will tell you what you have for endplay. I set mine up for 005-007" because I polish and tune every posi I build. Going by the factory posi setup with the springs can also give you a false reading but see if you can measure, somewhat closely, what yours are. If there is excessive play we can go over options. The important thing is to see if there is still a gap between axle and housing lip with the axle pushed in. What happens a lot with original axles in the 72-79's is the axle face wears down, the dust gets mixed in the oil, the endplay opens up, this affects the handling of the car, and the axle will continue to grind into the lip until it hits the seal and wrecks it, possibly wrecking the housing.

Once you know where the play is we can address the repair. With arms I take them apart and check all the parts. I make sure all the parts are still good and replace those that are worn. I send out the arm, supports, and bracket to be blasted to bare steel and iron. I used to do them in my blasted but it takes more time then it's worth now. When I get them back I etch, POR15 and top coat them. So here is what I do:

1. Tear down & inspect
2. Figure what part are required
3. wash good parts
4. Blast shop - blast iron parts. Rotors typically should be rust free, if not they might not be worth reusing as new rotors are about $50 for a Good NAPA rotor. I doubt any are made in the USA anymore.
5. Check arms and weld if needed. Also some like the PB cable bracket moved to the top of the arm for wider tires. I can relocate and weld the bracket in place.
6. Treat the blasted parts- etch, rinse, flame dry, POR15, and top coat
7. Install rubber bushings which are better in the arm then poly.
8. install new cable guides & spring cups
9. Install (8) new support studs & nuts
10. Setup USA Timken bearings by machine fitting them. I dial in the bearing for -0-lateral play vs the "standard .002" endplay you read about on the forums. With Tom's 31 spline axles I set them to 5 in/lb preload.
11. Parallel grind the axle spacers and grind in a new shim to size to setup the bearings
12. Check the axles (spindles) for being undersize, damaged threads, etc. clean and polish if still good.
13. Fit new nut to the axles.
14. install new wheel studs
15. Tap the axle wheel flanges and fit flat heads to bolt on the rotors.
16. Recondition the spindle flanges by parallel grinding, chasing, and polishing. Install new shields
17. FIt new SS parking brake hardware and new shoes. Modify the hardware to remove production burrs and lousy fitment.
18. Use CR seals
19. assemble arms, press in axles
20. Install rotors and bolt on. Dial in runout to under 0025" without cutting the axle wheel flange.
Take some time and read over the old arm threads and diff threads I have since they have a lot of pictures in them

 

 

http://www.vetterx.com/

Absolutely first class rebuild!

 

My Father and I Rebuilt our own for just the cost of the Timken bearings,seals,dust shields, park brake assembly, Trailing arm bushings, studs,shims a, spacers and powder coat.A fellow forum member that happened to live near by lent me a the bearing set up tool,and I did have to buy a run out dial tool. Dad's occupation was a Mechanic before retiring and knew the process more than I did although I did a lot of reading about rebuilding them before hand. If I was to take a guess I would say close to $300.00 for both arms.

 

 

They look great!

 

Shipped mine to VTech, about a week ago, they are on their way back to me, anxious to see them. My 'arms' were totally wiped out, knew that when I sent them off.....