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Over time, the rubber coupler inside the torque tube starts breaking down and deteriorating. When left unchecked, it will affect drivetrain performance and also cause unnecessary costly repairs.
Catching issues before they mushroom into something worse is one why inspections are so important. Catching wear items early can help prevent bigger issues down the road and keep your Corvette performing the way it was designed to. Photo is of bushings from a 2019 C7 which had 109K miles and was NOT modified.
One real drawback of having a manual, there is no inspection hole to check on these. Bell housing design with the clutch simply does not have one. It's a real oversight, makes it mostly a game of luck. GM may not list it as a major service (I'm not sure), but to echo your point, torque tubes should be inspected every 10 years or 100k. These guibos get heat cycled into oblivion well before the other components wear out, only more so in hot climates. Most Vette shops will have PILES of very healthy used clutches for this exact reason. Torque tubes might just be the "while you're in there" King.
One real drawback of having a manual, there is no inspection hole to check on these. Bell housing design with the clutch simply does not have one. It's a real oversight, makes it mostly a game of luck. GM may not list it as a major service (I'm not sure), but to echo your point, torque tubes should be inspected every 10 years or 100k. These guibos get heat cycled into oblivion well before the other components wear out, only more so in hot climates. Most Vette shops will have PILES of very healthy used clutches for this exact reason. Torque tubes might just be the "while you're in there" King.
Any shop that works on Vettes and is doing a clutch or flywheel job needs to rebuild the torque tubes since it’s such a pain to do. We always rebuild the them when doing clutches and flywheels
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TPSMotorsports.com Mike Mak 2705 Lafayette Street
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Phone #: 408/898-4632
Email #: MikeM@TPSMotorsports.com
My theory. The positive pressure under acceleration, immediately followed by negative pressure under deceleration is the main cause of this failure. It's worse in manual shift cars, because it's so much fun to bang the gears, up and down. It's also an issue in the automatic cars. People love to bang the gears in them also. I have the A6 trans. I leave it in manual mode all the time. The A6 will only down shift to 2nd gear. 90% of my driving, it only shift between 2nd and 5th. Most in town driving. This cuts the shifting down 50%. When I decelerate I let it down shift by itself. This is very gentle. In a manual car, you can also be gentle when down shifting. If you are willing to replace major parts on your car, shift away.
My theory. The positive pressure under acceleration, immediately followed by negative pressure under deceleration is the main cause of this failure. It's worse in manual shift cars, because it's so much fun to bang the gears, up and down. It's also an issue in the automatic cars. People love to bang the gears in them also. I have the A6 trans. I leave it in manual mode all the time. The A6 will only down shift to 2nd gear. 90% of my driving, it only shift between 2nd and 5th. Most in town driving. This cuts the shifting down 50%. When I decelerate I let it down shift by itself. This is very gentle. In a manual car, you can also be gentle when down shifting. If you are willing to replace major parts on your car, shift away.
This car was driven by someone who did not shift hard all the time... they just drove the car. The shifting has very little to do with it failing
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
Corvette Torque tubes.....🔧
