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You will need an alignment. There is no way the shims...even if installed as how they came out is going to guarantee the toe setting on the rear is correct.
You will need an alignment. There is no way the shims...even if installed as how they came out is going to guarantee the toe setting on the rear is correct.
DUB
Ok thanks.
What controls the thrust angle on the rear of the car? As in what do you adjust?
I had the car aligned last year so I am fairly confident that the front is correct, so I will probably set the camber and toe in the rear myself, but thrust angle adjustment confuses me.
EDIT: To clarify, it seems like the trailing arm shims are the only thing that could affect the thrust angle. But if you also use them to adjust toe, how do you maintain your thrust angle? Example: I set my thrust angle first with the shims to make sure my wheels are all pointing the same way. Then I measure the toe and need to add/remove shims to get it right. Won't that then change my thrust angle?
EDIT 2: Ok I think I was thinking about that the wrong way. I'm guessing I set my rear toe, and then match my front end alignment to achieve the proper thrust angle?
Best of luck in you aligning the car yourself. I will not do that due to I need to provide a print out on how the car was aligned for records...so..I use the screen on the alignment machine to tell me all I need to know. Hope your venture turns out well.
The thrust angle is basically the direction the rear wheels are pointing. With independent suspension it's a line drawn from the center of the rear axle through the middle of the rear toe angles. Obviously, you want it to be 0 or inline with the car so the car goes straight. So, you need the toe on each side to be set as equal as possible.
Last edited by lionelhutz; Jul 24, 2018 at 09:06 PM.
Excellent read, and this has come at a perfect time for me. I was out in my 74, only had it a couple of weeks, and was experiencing a rear wheel steering sensation, on inspection, I found excessive bearing play in the LH wheel. I’m in the U.K., so spares and garage services are a pain, with long delays, high shipping costs, and the dreaded 20% vat on all purchases from the USA
trouble I have is it’ll be 2-3 weeks until the kit arrives, and I don’t want the car off the road for long. Is it a total no no to drive the car in this condition?
If I wait 2-3 weeks before stripping it down when parts arrive, chances are I’ll find additional parts, spindles etc that will need replacing, thus delaying the rebuild. Should I just bite the bullet and get to work now?
I’m hoping to do the work in situ, ie on the car, trailing arms bushes are all recently new, is this really viable?
Lastly, when pressing in the parts, do you use an assembly grease?
Appreciate your thoughts, and again, been a great help reading this thread.
Excellent read, and this has come at a perfect time for me. I was out in my 74, only had it a couple of weeks, and was experiencing a rear wheel steering sensation, on inspection, I found excessive bearing play in the LH wheel. I’m in the U.K., so spares and garage services are a pain, with long delays, high shipping costs, and the dreaded 20% vat on all purchases from the USA
trouble I have is it’ll be 2-3 weeks until the kit arrives, and I don’t want the car off the road for long. Is it a total no no to drive the car in this condition?
If I wait 2-3 weeks before stripping it down when parts arrive, chances are I’ll find additional parts, spindles etc that will need replacing, thus delaying the rebuild. Should I just bite the bullet and get to work now?
I’m hoping to do the work in situ, ie on the car, trailing arms bushes are all recently new, is this really viable?
Lastly, when pressing in the parts, do you use an assembly grease?
Appreciate your thoughts, and again, been a great help reading this thread.
Tim.
I would reccomend starting to take it apart now. Reason being, it will probably take longer than you think. The trailing arm bolts are a PAIN! I spent a few hours taking things apart (mostly from being stuck on the trailing arm bolts) before deciding to sawzall it out. Then once it's out, I spent a LONG time cleaning everything up, wire wheeling and sanding off old rust, and then priming and painting. And once you do all that you can see what you need to replace (I noticed that kit you bought doesn't have trailing arm bushings?? Definitely get those unless yours are in excellent shape, you DON'T want to have to go back and do this job again). And you may need a spindle or (in my case) a caliper bracket. So yeah, get to work ASAP!
Hi, yes I think you’re right.
The rear ends all quite new, trailing arm bushings, control rod bushings, all been stripped and painted very recently, so don’t want to strip it all down. Hoping to literally just remove the half shaft, press the spindle out, clean it all up and refit with new bearings.
Hi, yes I think you’re right.
The rear ends all quite new, trailing arm bushings, control rod bushings, all been stripped and painted very recently, so don’t want to strip it all down. Hoping to literally just remove the half shaft, press the spindle out, clean it all up and refit with new bearings.
Do not use a spindle press tool on an older install- it could break the caliper bracket and then you're into a lot more money and shipping. All you need to remove a spindle is the knocker tool and 5 lb mini sledge hammer.
That is a lot of play in the axle bearings, I wouldn't drive it like that. You might get some time on it but is it worth the risk?
Do not use a spindle press tool on an older install- it could break the caliper bracket and then you're into a lot more money and shipping. All you need to remove a spindle is the knocker tool and 5 lb mini sledge hammer.
That is a lot of play in the axle bearings, I wouldn't drive it like that. You might get some time on it but is it worth the risk?
Hi, so I’m ok to use the knock out tool in the kit ( left hand tool) above to remove the spindle, but don’t press it back in with the tool on the right?
Hi, so I’m ok to use the knock out tool in the kit ( left hand tool) above to remove the spindle, but don’t press it back in with the tool on the right?
I assume you are planning on removing the arms from the car? If so I use a press for the install- once the bearings are correctly setup. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread I never use that install tool either. One piece of advice is to start your own thread on this so it won't get over looked if you ask for help. This one will slide away soon and I don't usually go looking for threads.
Hi, understood. I’m hoping to leave the arms in the car, but we’ll see how well that works out! If not, I’ll remove the arms.
I’ll start a thread if I have more questions, hopefully it’ll go smoothly.
Yes I agree with DUB, that bearings can be replaced on the car and the spindle install tool would be the one to use, along with the aforementioned spindle press. Would I recommend that, especially for a first timer? no. My thought is if you're going to replace the bearings why not pull the arms, check them for being bent, rotted, and replace the bushings? They can be prepped and painted or extra welding can be done to the stitch welding if wanted.
If you are going to really dial them in, you have to sure your indicator is tight and not going to move while checking the endplay. The book spec is very wide at 001" -008" you can feel movement at 003". If that is all you are concerned with then you shouldn't have a problem, your new shim kit will get you into book spec. If you want to dial them in, most likely you will find those shims are too wide and I'm not talking about machine fitting them like I do. Just be sure of where your setup is before you press them on.
With that said I think I have covered what I wanted to get across for this thread so I will move on and no longer respond to it. Good luck you can do it.
AS like GTR1999 mentioned....taking out the trailing arms does has a benefit.
Some advice to you is you should start a thread and link it to us in PM if you do so.
Because...I can tell you that ....a few extra detailed photos from you in certain area will aid us in letting you know if you have more problems than you might feel you have. Mainly in your trailing arm bushing and also how the inner bearing/u-joint flange looks in relation to the hole in your trailing arm.
I can tell you that on many of the cars I have worked on... when I look at the trailing arm bushing and then detach parts from it to allow me to try to twist it in and out. I can tell just by 'feel' that the trailing arm bushing is shot. By doing this...it has allowed me to confirm what I felt once I get the trailing arm out of the car and the trailing arm bushing is badly worn.
Then ...when I have installed the trailing arm with new bushing and shims that are tight and test 'feel' it again...I know how a new good bushing feels.
Cheers fellas for the help, most appreciated.
My Borgeson sterling box has arrived today , so I’ll fit that first, then the bearings in a couple of days hopefully.
Got both trailing arms back in the car and re attached my shocks, rear spring, half shafts, etc... eyeballed the alignment to make sure it was at least in the ball park so I could run the car around the block (it hasn't run in a month or two since that wheel bearing went). Car drove great! Got back and used the string method to check my alignment and found that my thrust angle is off by a bit, and I am toed out about 1/16" (yikes!). Didn't have much time to play with it last night, but I got all the old shims out and checked their thickness with a digital caliper and matched up the new stainless shims as a base line. Then I took an educated guess and moved about .15" of shims from the inside of the passenger rear tire to the outside (according to my thrust angle measurements, the passenger tire was pointing "out" a bit more than the drivers). Put the wheels back on and dropped the car to the ground, but didn't have time to take it around the block and remeasure. I'll do that tonight!
But it felt good to have it back down on it's own 4 wheels so I could roll it out and wash the dust off of it (my wife has been doing some carpentry projects in the garage so the vette looked like it had been stored for a couple years because of the layer of dust!)
Glad to read you have it back together. I know you must feel great about that.
As for trusting a piece of string for accuracy...I guess you trust it way more than I would.
DUB
Thanks, and thanks for all your help.
Yeah I realize the string method isn't optimal, but I set it up very meticulously, and so far it has been pretty repeatable (at least for thrust angle checking). Good enough for me for now since my car doesn't get a TON of miles on it!
When I do cars like yours I have to get them aligned on a machine so I get a print out. And I can also check the tires and how hot they are getting....and to make sure the tire wear is good so they do not get eaten up due to an improper setting.
Granted I can not tell how the tires wear in few miles.....but that is why I get the customer to bring it back in after they have had sever hundred miles on it so I can see or they can feel them and tell me.
