Rear lower control arms "dog bones"
 

I have a 85 Corvette and my rear passenger tire has a camber issue due to blown out bushings on the dog bones......so I purchased a used set up ( 2 dog bones and a bracket) I don't have any power tools so I went to my buddies and we couldn't fit a impact in the area to get the bolts off of the dog bones......what is going to be the easiest way to change the dog bones and keep the existing bracket??

Are you talking around the center section? Drop the spare tire carrier and you'll have plenty of space. IIRC, 1 bolt by the rear bumper, 2 on each side mount and it's out.

Are you talking about these?

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/jpYAA...dQf/s-l300.jpg

Those have nothing to do w/camber.

No it's the rear right....I know what center section your talking about....but the dog bones I'm talking about are almost hidden with the rim on

Yupp that's exactly it

Those aren't the camber trailing arms???? What's going to need to be replaced ??

The two rods that go from the center of the differential out to the bottom of the spindles both right and left sides.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...3a6e71ac6c.jpg

That, and/or one of the halfshaft u-joints. On C4s, the halfshafts serve as the upper lateral control arm, and the camber arm in the picture is the lower lateral control arm.

The "dogbone" trailing arms keep the spindle upright located in the fore-aft direction, and they restrain it from rotating in the same plane as the wheel (but in the opposite direction) when power or brakes are applied. They are still important, but they won't cause camber to be out of adjustment. It could be that the bushings in your camber arms (see the picture) are bad. But camber is adjusted with a cam bolt and washer on the inner mounting end (under the diff), and it's common on C4s for that cam to rotate even if the bolt is nice and tight. So it could just be out of adjustment.

If your bushings in your trailing arms are actually bad, it's still a good idea to replace them. I'm not sure why it would be all that hard to get to any of it, though. Remove the wheel, remove the bolts on each end of each trailing arm, and remove each arm separately. You should not need to replace the bracket - just the arms themselves. If you find it hard to turn a wrench on the nuts on the inside of each arm end due to space limitations, then just hold the nut still with a box wrench and turn the bolt instead. It shouldn't be very difficult.

If you look at this picture you can see where the two larger diameter black bolts (just above the exhaust pipes) with the index markings along the outside perimeter. You loosen the nut in the back and then turn the bolt and this adjusts the rear camber. Now let me be the first to say that this is a pic of my 95 and so you 85 may be slightly different.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...3167987452.jpg

When you remove the forward "dog-bone" bolts, put some duct tape over the holes in the frame right behind the nuts. It's easy for those nuts to fall into the frame when you remove, (or when you re-install), the bolts.
Jack up the rear hub a bit. Those dog-bone bolts should all come out fairly easily.