Hi everybody, first time Corvette owner. Picked up a 1968 convertible 427 4sp. Jacked the car up and I can grab the rear wheels and move them about a good 1/4" in every direction. Where should I start?

 

have someone else do the moving while you look if the play is in the trailing arm, or the wheel bearing, or the yoke coming out of the differential.

 

The first thing you need to do is take off both of the trailing arms and send them to Van Steel. What you are experiencing is worn out wheel bearings. Do both at the same time and save yourself the trouble. The bearings are not easy to replace and should be done by somebody with the proper equipment. It might be worth it if you can afford to have Van Steel rebuild the trailing arms at the same time. You may use anybody you want but I have had tremendous success with Van Steel and my wheel bearing are working great 24 years later.

I hope that you are good with your hands and tools or this car will cost you some bucks to get fixed up. Taking the trailing arms off is not too bad if you are good with your hands.

I bought my 1968 Convertible 427 with 4 speed in 1991. Wow, I was in for a lot more than I had expected. The first year I went to Carlisle PA to the Corvettes@ Carlisle there was a torrential downpour and the roads were really bad. This is when I realized I had wheel bearing issues as the car would not track straight, the rear was steering the car all over the turnpike so I had to slow down to about 25-30 mph to be able to be in control.
Whatever you do DO NOT drive it hard or in the rain until you fix the wheel bearings. It is very unsafe to have four wheel steering on a old Corvette.
After fixing my trailing arms and wheel bearings my Posi unit started clicking going around turns and there went another $1300. Unless you are a decent mechanic these old Corvettes can break your budget in a hurry.

The 1968 Corvette is a very unusual Corvette, it has many items that are "one year only" items. Mine was made in early October of 1967 and several parts under the hood are from the 1967 production line leftovers. I have been going to Corvettes @ Carlisle for 24 years and the other thing I learned is that nobody likes the 1968 Corvettes as far as collectors go. I have dubbed them "The Rodney Dangerfield of Corvettes" as they get no respect. My family and I will celebrate my cars 49th Assembly day real soon. The hardest part is keeping the keys out of my 20 y/o sons fingers....

Keep in touch and I might help you out along the way with particular 1968 issues. I have a learned a lot in the time I have owned this car. The best part is listening to my 12.5 to 1 Compression ratio L-88 replica engine I have in it.

 

www.vtechcorvette.com is where I had my trailing arms completely rebuilt....bearings & all....I did EVERYTHING else on the rear as well as all of the rebuilt front end suspension. Gary & his crew do a GR8 job.....you can see his work on you tube.

 

This summer I chose V Tech Corvette as well for my 65 worked out very well for me.
Good Luck
C

huck
65 327/350 4 speed 3:70 gear<br/>49 K miles

 

Reagan, there are two mechanical things on these cars that can hurt you and/or cost you lots of money (and leave you stranded) to repair.

#1 is the brakes. Pretty straight forward and not too difficult to address. Lots of threads here on the forum for that.

#2 is the rear wheel bearings. They are somewhat unique to these cars and your average mechanic and/or dealership is no longer familiar with performing maintenance on them. A good mechanic however, with skills and time can rebuild them, but it requires some specialized tools and did I mention skill. The safest solution if rebuilding is called for (and more often than not the cheapest) is to remove them and ship them to one of the rebuilders that do these on a regular basis. It is a decision you wont regret and you will have peace of mind. If it isn't done correctly, you will be doing it again... soon. Vansteel, or Bair's are excellent choices for starters.

I purchased my 1963 Corvette from the original owner in 1969 with 25k miles on it. The first thing I did was take it to the original dealer that sold it new, to check it out for me. One of the items was a noise in the rear end that I couldn't identify. A few days later I picked up the car and specifically asked about the noise in the rear. "Nothing to worry about, all is good," was their response. The next morning on my way to work, the left rear wheel locked up and slid the tire for about 100'. When all was done it cost me $300 (back then!) to fix everything. They had to use a cutting torch to disassemble it. Today it would cost about a grand to do it. The dealer was "kind enough" to not charge me to have it towed back to the dealership!

Good luck... GUSTO