Hi and happy weekend!

While the snow pours down over Seattle, I want to pull my trailing arms and remove the rear hubs to get ready for my new Ridetech Strongarm trailing arms due next week. 1968 Coupe. Stock replaced trailing arms (got the complete assembly from Eckler's about 2000 miles ago).
Here is what I have done so far:
1. Pulled the trailing arms out. No problem.
2. Pulled the cotter pin and the castle nut from the back of the wheel hub
3. Pulled off the case and washer off the back
4. Pulled the aluminum cover off the back

According to the videos I have seen, I should be able to just tap the spindle from the back and slide it out. But I have hammered it hard (being careful of the threads of course) and it will NOT budge. It has a tiny amount of play in it (5/100" maybe) but it is a hard stop.
Am I missing some retaining clip I can't see? I am at a loss at this point. The hubs are fairly new as I mentioned. Pictures included to show what I see. Any help is appreciated. Should I have to beat the hell out of it to get it off??????


Here are the parts I pulled off the back.

Semi closeup of the back. I can't find any reason it would not come out.

Wider view

 

I hope Gary GTR 99 sees this and comments. There are two ways to get the spindle out. You can purchase a spindle knocker from one of the Corvette vendors. It screws on the spindle end and protects the threads while you pound out the spindle. You can also do the job with a shop press. It is easier to remove the hub assembly from the trailing arm. Remove the rotor, remove the parking brake assembly, shoes etc. remove the four nuts. The hub assembly will separate from the trailing arm. Using a press, remove the spindle. An automotive shop will have a press and be able to remove the spindle in short order. I am not familiar with the setup you are installing. Do you need to remove the spindle or the hub assembly? Jerry

 

The new trailing arms don't have the hub assembly in it, so I am supposed to take out the hub, the the four bolts that hold the rest (parking brake assembly, dust shield, as one piece and then bolt it into the new arm. I don't need to take apart the bearings or anything like that.

This is the installation video. What I need to do is at 2:15 in the video.

 

If the entire trailing arm assembly (with the hubs) is almost new with only 2,000 miles, there is no reason to pull the hubs out of the spindles. You can remove the entire spindle assembly and transfer it over to the RideTech arms without disassembling it. Just unbolt the spindle/hub assembly from the trailing arm, pop it out, and transfer the whole thing over to the RideTech arm.

Here are entire assembled hub/spindle as removed from stock arms and being transferred right over into the RideTech arms:












Lars

 

Never seen a spindle come out easy. Never mind. Lars has it. 👍
I see why they pulled the spindle to get to the mounting nuts they didn’t want to take apart the parking brake shoes and hardware.
Remove the shoes and you can get to the nuts without pulling the spindle. Putting the shoes back on can be a pita.

 

Yeah I'm trying to not have to pull those shoes. Truly a PITA.
I have to take my half shafts in to a shop to get the u-joints pressed in, so I might as well have them press the hubs out there at the same time.

 

Thanks Lars. Yeah if I take the parking brake shoes out I can do that, but MAN I was hoping to avoid having to futz with those shoes again.
It took me forever to get them dialed in the first time.

I think I will see what the shop says when I take my half shafts in for the u-joints. If they don't have an easy way to do it then I will go your route with removing the parking brake shoes.

I'm just glad I'm not crazy. In that Ridetech video it was like "Doink" with a hammer and they were out. Not so much I guess.

 

FWIW when I did the rear wheel bearings on my '79 for the first time I had to take them to a friend's shop where he has a 50-ton press. I had decided that they were going to come out or something was going to break and my money was on breakage. Long story short, they came out but my 20 ton press wouldn't do it.

 

Now I don't feel so bad for bending the arm on my "big" vice. Ooops

 

Unless you plan on replacing the bearings, Lars is correct- although that axle looks to be aftermarket and not a spencer forge usa made one-I could be wrong but that's another story. Remove the parking brakes, 4 nuts, and the hub assembly otherwise you are going to be doing the job over until you get it right. This assumes the bearings are correctly setup to begin with.

That video shows the axle tapping out of the bearings, That only happens when the bearings are slip fit which any rebuilder would be crazy to do considering the liability concerns. Chevy found out in 1963 when spun bearings caused over heating and sheared the axles. The only thing passing an early 63 was the rear wheel and tire. If it was done just to demonstrate how they come apart they should have mentioned it because you will hammering till the end of time with a mallet and press fit axle. Just another bad video on corvette rear bearings. The arms are ok, I set up some of those a few months back. Kind of over kill because if you are running high power and are going to push the car, the arms will be in nice shape when the 17 spline inner axle snaps at the base of the threads. Kind of like when a con man sells you on a steel cap and then uses a stock crush sleeve on the pinion, if you need one you need the other.

When driving out the axles you are hammering against the inner bearing press fit only- the outer bearing stays on the axle when driven out- if it come out like in the video it is junk, Now some will hammer them out and reuse the bearings, not a wise thing to do , again unless you like do them over. Then there is the outer seal, you just smashed the hell out of it when you drove out the axle and your outer bearing is still pressed on the axle. Are you going to try and use a thin screw driver to press it back in and hope it's not bent or the seal wrecked? So if the axle comes out you rebuild them correctly. There are reasons rebuilding units correctly costs a good amount- Parts, Labor, proper tools and experience. The axle in your picture already appears to be distorted at the center drill hole, looks like the typical hammer mechanic trick- unless my eyes are wrong and it's not wacked. The nut should spin off without effort. The cupped washer will be flat and that should be replaced too.

Just a final note, given the choice between rebuilding 50-60 year old arms that are virgin vs those that have been previously worked on I would take the old rusty ones, with rotors riveted in place- I could write a book on what I found with "rebuilt" arms and a lot of them were plain bad.

I wish you luck.

 

Ridetech might make decent suspension parts, but having that video showing the spindle coming out like that is a complete joke and a disservice to anyone working on a C3 trying to install these parts. They obviously doctored a stock trailing arm and machined the spindle down before hand so it would just slide out.

You have to pull the parking brake shoes to get at the nuts unless you want to re-do the bearings.

 

Ok. You all convinced me. Looks like today's task (aside from helping my older neighbors shovel snow off their driveways) will be pulling the parking brake to get it apart that way. I appreciate all the help and god help me to get those shoes back on!
I also am going to give Ridetech a customer review of their video! :-)

 

Once Corvettes got disk brakes in '65, there was no worry about the wheel coming off due to a failed spindle; the rotor and caliper will hold it together. Many people have had that spindle precision machined so that the bearing is a tight slip-fit with no issues whatsoever. My '67 is one that has been that way since about '82.

 

I took the parking brake shoes off and took the 4 bolts off. A little work with the pickle fork and I have the hubs out.
I just hope to god I can put those damn parking brake shoes together again. :-)

 

Glad you got it apart. Good luck and patience putting those parking brake shoes back on. 👍

 

Van Steel has a great youtube video on how to reinstall parking brake shoes.

 

Thanks for that!
While his camera work will not win any awards, it showed some good tips and I have them all installed now! :-)