Should I reubuld the rear wheel assemblies myself or send them to Van Steel or Muskegon Brake? I have plenty of time and a 6 ton press.

 

I am doing that same thing right now . If you have a press go for it . You can always get help as a last resort and just think how much smarter you will be !!! ha Good luck.

 

I would say go for it on your own, but you will need a lot more special tools then just the press.

 

I hate to say it, but going for it might cost you money. The standard shop press will break the caliper mounting brackets when you try to push the spindles out of the car. If you are going to go for it might I suggest looking in to a spindle press purchase.

The spindle press will use the caliper mounting bracket to push the spindle out of the car. But it will not break the bracket. When you get the trailing arm off the car you will see what I’m talking about. There is not way to support the arm without using the caliper mounting bracket. When you do this and then put pressure on the spindle the cast iron bracket will break.

Special tools make removal of the spindle easy. They also make the installation of the bearings a snap too. If you would refer to the GM service manual on the rear wheel bearings. You will see that the clearance is to be between .003 and .008 thousandths. Setting a arm up out of these specs will result in early failure.

Tools needed to do the job correctly.

Rear spindle press. (If you want to leave the trailing arm on the car get the one with the T on it. The T pass’s through the spindle support and the shock mounting bolt. This will allow you to leave the strut rod on the car and the shock mounting bolt alone) If using this press and leaving the arm on the car, you could have the spindle out in about 30 minutes or less.

If you decide to remove the arm and you want to remove the lower shock bolt. You will need a rear shock bolt knocker tool. But wait.... You will also need to clamp the lower support.
If you look at a lower shock bolt you will see that the teeth on the bolt that bite the spindle support are on the opposite side of the support. Hitting it with the knocker too may knock it loose. But more times than not all it will do is flatten out the knocker tool. The spindle support is absorbing the impact of the hammer blow. Clamping the lower support will eliminate the this and allow the bolt to usually come out in two or three wacks.

Spindle bearing set up tool. The rear bearing have to be set up on the clearance. If you have access to a metal lathe you can turn a stock bad spindle down to just .002 undersize. This will allow you to set the bearings together with the shims and get the clearance perfect before you put her back together.

If you don’t use the spindle set up tool, then you will have to install the bearings on the spindle, press it back together, check the end play. If it’s correct great (won’t happen). If it’s not, then you repeat the entire process until you find the correct shim.

My suggestion to you is to find a local shop that has these tools. Labor time on doing just the spindles and not taking the arm off the car is 2.25 hours. This is just doing the bearings too. Not doing the parking brake, etc.

If you have any questions email me. I'll be happy to assist you in any way possible.

Regards,

Red

 

Wow, great responses guys! I'm actually about to embark on a frame off restoration of my 79. So I'll be taking the arms off the car. Who has the best deals on these special tools?

 

If you have access to a machine shop you can make them, otherwise check swap meets(where I found all of them), place an ad here, or I think there is a vette vendor that will rent them too.
Not to flame Red in anyway,but I have used a press to disassemble the 8 arms I rebuilt and didn't break anything. That's not say Red is wrong,you can very easily break them. I support them ubder the spindle flange with the parking brake shoes out of the way. I use the spindle knocker tool to protect the spindle threads(3/4-20) but I press them out. It takes a lot of force a 6 ton might not do it. Others have used giant slide hammers that bolt to the spindle flange to hammer them out.I have the spindle press too but have never needed it yet. I also heard this can break parts.
One of the hardest parts of this job is the removal of the arm from the car. A LOT of times the bolts are rust frozen to the bushing ID and you have to cut them out with a Sawzall or torch.
You will diffinately need a spindle setup tool don't try this job without one. make one from an old spindle,machine one up,or buy the tool.
I set the end play to .001"-.002".
There is a lot of info on this in the archives,it has been a much discussed topic here the past 4 years.
If you have any questions, ask.
Good luck with your project,
:thumbs:
Gary

 

Vansteel.

They are a supporting vender. Call 1-800-418-5397 ask for Dan, absolutely great customer service and prices. You missed the group purchase from last month, but I would still call and talk to Dan.

It's less of a hassel, you simply unbolt your bad ones then install the new ones. No fuss no muss. Then mail off your old ones for your core charge return.

Hope this helps, Steve.

 

bairs is another good source for rebuilding trailing arms, they did mine (with stainless parking brakes), and they still look like new after two years of near daily summer driving. joe