Alright guys...update time...as you can see, she's naked now in the rear! So I took the advice from you guys on the rear cross member bushings. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So I went ahead and re-bolted the cross member back up. A couple of you guys said to leave well enough alone so no need to open another can of worms. Today, I got both trailing arms removed. I clamped off both the rubber lines(which I'm gonna go ahead and replace too) that run to the metal lines on the calipers. Removed the calipers, rotors and drove the TA bolt out. I did save the shims that were in there so upon re-assembly, I can try to match those settings with the new SS shims I bought. I marked both sides("inner" & "outer") so it can be somewhat right driving it to get re-aligned. I don't even have a clue where or who to take it to...don't know too many places that do 4 wheel alignments...but that's a whole other topic down the road. One a side note...some jack-leg along the way used some homemade shims on the passengers side. Looks like they took a large washer, cut a section out of it and welded it to another shim and drove up in there.

"Damn Yankee", not to say it isn't messed up, but I did have a whole new rear diff put in probably 8-10ish years ago when I changed the rear end to a 3.70. New gears(obviously), bushing, fluid, the whole 9 and it drives and seems fine.

Great news is that I said before...didn't appear that I was going to have to cut the bolts out...and in fact, took a hammer and a punch and she came right out. Guess I'm super lucky after reading and hearing everyone else's mishaps.



So next step in the process...I bought original GM trailing arms that are supposed to be delivered Monday. And to those who may ask why...honestly, they were fresh powder coated and had the bushing and sleeves already installed. Having to drop mine off to be coated and so forth, it was easier to just get new ones and then after the project is done, clean these up and put em on ebay or the "Parts For Sale" section for a few bucks. Gonna have quite a few leftovers when is comes to parts...Im sure someone can do something with them. That being said brings me to the next hurdle. Gotta get the old stuff off the old trailing arms, get em cleaned up and replaced if necessary and mount to the new arms coming in. Where do I begin? I think I read somewhere along the lines that taking the park brake springs out were a f'n nightmare? I took the cotter pin out of the one side and obviously that bolt wasnt budging. I went ahead and hosed er down with liquid wrench...bout time for another can after this project. My question is where do I begin at to disassemble these old TA's? And secondly, just thinking ahead...is there a way or method of holding these where the back(or front depending on which side your working on) wont spin when trying to break the bolts loose? This is what I'm looking at on my end...


I look forward to hearing back and getting this part knocked out. Gotta work all weekend but Monday is another day off which means the wrenches will be turning.

As always, I appreciate everyone's input and expertise thus far. This has definitely been a learning process for me!

 

Well guys...trying to do a little studying and reading ahead, figured I'd go ahead and get going in the right direction. Forgot to add on my previous post that the calipers I currently have(original delco's), pads and cross-drilled rotors are practically brand new. I'd say no more than 1000 miles on em total. That's equivalent to probably 10 years for my car(last year she saw a whopping 63 miles)! I know, the odometer is about to roll over again. Nonetheless, there's no point in putting on new pads. That being said, I started reading into the park brake a little. Looking at these TA's I've got in the floor w/ all the parts attached, they look all original to say the least. I guess they're buried in 41 years of brake dust and road grime. Instead of buying one of these SS parking brake rebuild kits I've seen...I think I found something a little better. I found a set of back shields w/ the parking brake springs and pads already installed. They were about $40 more than just the rebuild kit. That being said, I don't have to salvage much from the originals. That leads me to the next question I had. I asked about how to disassemble the spindle from the TA. Looks like I'm gonna need some special tools although I'm sure lots of you guys have homemade tools that were much cheaper. I decided instead of running around trying to make my own, just buy the tool and be done with it. Ill probably sell it when I get done with the back(and front) as I don't plan on rebuilding another suspension. That being said, went ahead and bought 2 new spindles for the rear. Hell, why use the crusty old $hit when everything else is new, right? Also ordered a set of SS braided brake line hoses that replace the original rubber ones. So from the looks of it, looks like all I'm really gonna have to do is get the trailing arm spindle support brackets & spindle flanges off the old arms and install all the new stuff on the new arms. Anyhow, I attached a few pics of the goodies ordered tonight. I would still like to hear the process of getting these old parts off and any tips/tricks you guys may have to get this ball rolling...I'll probably practice removing and installing the old spindles prior to going straight to the new ones to get the method.


Spindle Install Tool

Knockout Tool



*Side Note: And now I know why Vansteel completely rebuilt TA's are so expensive. I guess by the time you buy all the parts, put them all on, etc, you'd probably come out about even $ wise and dont have to mess with doing all of this...

 

1 have you got new bearings and grease seals for the axles ?

2 do the new arms come with the 4 main studs that hold the bearing carrier (and just about everything else ?

3 also some shims for the set -up of the bearings - preload and a set -up tool , or can you borrow one ?

looks like Russel's are using a nylon washer on the front brake lines instead of good old copper

 

No sir...no grease seals or bearings on the axels...

This is the new arms...



And lastly, no tools for set up of bearings(I assume you mean for the spindles?).

 

GTR1999 has many threads on T/A set up.Just Google it.

 

I think that's just the shadow of the small part of the frame rail that sticks out 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

It's possible that the bushing/bolt is seized up on the passenger side not allowing full travel. You'll know if that's the case when you attempt to remove the forward trailing arm bolt.

 

Yes , those threads on Digital Corvettes are what I followed when I did my first ones .

 

Well, after hearing about trying to replace the seals and moving parts inside the spindle, I decided to send all my new parts back and ship my trailing arms to Van Steel. All I can say is I'm glad I did. I got everything back from them 2 weeks ago. I shipped the arms out on a Friday from NC. They were in FL on Monday afternoon and they shipped them back to me that same Friday. I had them Monday morning. There was one issue with one of the spindles. They called me to let me know and replaced that one and completely re-did both my arms. What I sent them was a box of junk. What they sent me back looked brand new! I was able to keep my original cross drilled rotors. So anyone thinking about them re-doing your arms, all I can say is good things!

That being said, over the last week, I've been working on re-assembling everything. Before I get knee deep into the issues that have arisen, let me make a few statements that may be beneficial to know. Anyone following this thread may remember I was all stock prior to this and I bought Van Steel's advanced slalom suspension kit. So, the original struts that I took out were put beside the new "smart struts" that are adjustable. I matched them up in length so they were the same and locked the nuts down. Secondly, I removed the original shims that were in the car when I removed the trailing arms. Since they were not rusted, I did not have to cut the bolt holding the trailing arm in the pocket. I unbolted it, pulled out cotter pins and slid the shim out. What I did was take the shims out on the drivers side and marked "Drivers Side Outer" & "Drivers Side Inner" and of course the same for the passenger side. I bought new SS shims and what I did was match the new shims up to the old ones and tape em together so they were the same in thickness just like original(or before starting this project). I did this to ensure nothing changed or moved and that while needing a new alignment, it shouldnt be way outta whack. I got everything back together yesterday afternoon. When putting the tire on, I kept hearing something rubbing. Low and behold, the park brake cable is rubbing on the tire on both sides. I checked the AIM justto make sure I routed the park brake and brake line through the same holes. Park brake is ran along outside of trailing arm while the regular brake line is running through inner hole. See pics below:


Drivers Side 1

Drivers Side 2

Passenger Side 1

Passenger Side 2
The cables were obviously not rubbing before...The way the cables are mounted/clipped to the frame underneath, I dont see where else they could go? Maybe I've done something dumb though...???

Next Problem...With this suspension kit, I was told that the long bolt with the cushions that hang down can be adjusted to change ride height. Call me stupid, but I went on youtube and watched some old VBP videos where they installed a similar kit on his 69 corvette. I remember when they got done, the bolts hung down a little lower which I thought looked a little funny, but did not interfere with the tire. On their setup, when on the ground, that bolt kinda angles inward slightly. According to them, the higher up to tighten the nut, the higher the ride height. The more you loosen the nut, the lower the car sets. To start, I tightened them down as much as I could and figured I'd lower later. Well, if you look on the drivers side, it kinda angles in like theirs and sits about an inch from the inside of the tire. On the passenger side, it goes straight down and sits about 1/4" off the tire(very close with no inward angle). Both bolts are tightened up as much as possible.






As you can see, there's a significant difference. And I was going to try to lower the car. Right now, she sits at 5.5" from top of the tire to start of wheel well. I'm wanting it at about 2.5". So I went to lower it, but I cannot fit a 13/16" wrench in the end of the trailing arm to keep it from spinning b/c of the added sway bar. Neither side do I have access to. So I'm hoping I've got something simple going on here but I've thrown in the towel for the day. I attached a full photo of the rear below. Being centered, you can see the inward bent to the drivers side bolt vs none on the right. I got to wondering if maybe I installed the new monospring the wrong way? But the instructions said nothing about one way or the other and it looked symmetrical to me so not sure on that. Nonetheless, as before, hitting the forum in hopes someone can guide me in the right direction. Thanks guys!

 

Forgot to add in the fact that these are the same wheels/tires going back on the car that was on there before I started this project. Needless to say, they did not rub before...

 

Well one thing that is not setup correctly is that main spring. Have another look at the install paperwork,
the aftermarket rear sway bar is always going to be close.
you are better of with the shortened rear spring. Vansteel has them. there are 1/2" a side and 1'' a side shorter spring available.
If you want the car lower, back the adjusting bolts off a few inches, that will fix one of the problems
Bfit

 

When you say it is not setup correctly, how so? I followed the instructions when installing it. This is the spring that is included in the kit and was the recommended weight as well...

 

I think that aluminum spacer is s'posed to go above the spring, between the spring and the differential. But please have a look at the instructions to confirm.

There should be no tension on the sway bar at rest, so you can unbolt it to get to the tops of the long spring bolts to loosen them. This is what mine looks like, for reference, with a 1" shortened VB&P spring, stock-style sway bar mounts (no swaybar connected), and Energy Suspension spring bushings.

 

Van Steel's spring assembly/install instructions...

 

So I just crawled under the car to take a look. I attached a pic of the hole & nipple I was referring to. And looking further, it appears the rear differential has a hole as well. So it may in fact butt up to the differential and the spring hangs underneath followed by the plate that holds both up. But not sure why theres a hole in the plate. Also, not that it matters but when the spring came in, the ends were bubble-wrapped and the aluminum piece was taped on top of the spring so I assumed that meant to leave it like that for installation. And unless Im mis-reading, it doesnt really say either way on where to install the aluminum piece.

 

I have not seen the block you have under the spring before, all the springs I have fitted have a either side of the spring .
your install has the adjuster bolts all most all the way up which will lift that car up , this is not the normal set up, the photos in post 74 are more the conventional set up for the adjusting bolts
Bfit

 

Yea, I know Ive got it tightened all the way up. I know it definitely needs to come down but just need to figure out if that aluminum plate is supposed to be in there and if so, what order...

Below I attached a pic of how my spring came with the aluminum plate attached...I installed it like this b/c I assumed it was the correct way...I didnt have a reason to remove and swap it to the top.

 

I'd give them a call if the instructions are unclear (which they are, a bit). Perhaps you got one of their high-arch springs, and that is the correct orientation. For what they charge, I'm surprised there isn't a photo in the instructions.

 

Alright...so I called Van Steel yesterday afternoon. First off and most importantly, the aluminum spacer that is mounted under the spring IS in the correct position. They said the spring should be up to the differential, followed by the aluminum spacer followed by the metal retaining plate which bolts to rear diff.

As far as park brake cable rubbing...they were clueless as to why it now rubs since tire size/wheel size hasnt changed and it didnt rub before? I did have an idea...not sure if it’ll help or not...I ran the cable under the trailing arm and then up through the outside mount when reassembling. I think Im gonna run it over the top of the t/a through the outer mount to see if it uses more of the cable(it should Id imagine).

And lastly, the spring bolts not matching. He stated to take all the slack out of the spring bolts to where theres only about 3/4” left sticking out under the nut. Then he said drive it a couple miles and it should settle and be correct. Got a busy weekend but am gonna try to knock it out Sunday afternoon...

 

That's good news! You should be a lot happier once you back those bolts off.

As for the rubbing, I don't know if you can get the cable into the stock mounts if you go over the top, but it's worth a try. You may also try to bend the tabs just a bit, to have the cable run more towards the inside of the car. On my 79, the difference between rubbing and not was just bending the cable sheath itself. On my 80, I had Bairs weld new mounts onto the top of my trailing arms (vs. on the side) when they rebuilt them. If the easy way doesn't work, and you have a friend with a welder, the vendors sell the appropriate bracket.

Good luck!

 

Yea, I tried to bend the sheath but it seems it doesn't wanna be bent. I'd say its sitting about an inch too far out on each side...that was the only reason for the idea of running across the top. Anyhows, thanks for the info on the brackets and I'll keep you posted.