GTR1999 posted this 1963-82 trail arm rebuild

[grumpyvette]

now obviously youll be replacing the wheel bearings and races durring the rebuild, on the trailing arms and inspecting the brakes

the damage done ,depending of course on the current bearing and race condition , lube and the distance to the repair shop should be minimal, if its only begining too make noise, if you drive it to the repair shop but the longer in remains in that condition the more damage is likely and the more dangerious it is to drive, but before driving it to a dealership or repair shop ,why not put it up on decent jack stands and remove the whole components, inspect and replace the defective components yourself OR and drive those parts in the trunk of your car or truck to the local machineshop to be reconditioned so theres no need to drive on them.
obviously a great time to get a SHOP MANUAL and a 12 ton PRESS .. a FLOOR JACK, and (4)12 ton JACK STANDS if you don,t currently have those tools in your garage


GTR1999 posted this 1963-82 trail arm rebuild
:crazy: Ok here is one job I get a lot of questions on. First thing I find that a lot of guys are intimidated by this job. Once you understand corvette rear bearings the mystery will be gone and you'll be able to decide if you want to buy the tools and try the job or farm it out. Now the tool cost for a set of arms is more then farming them out so think about what your plans are. If you want to join the dozens of Arm rebuilders out there buy the tools - but do the job right. This post will have pictures of various jobs I did so don't be surprised if the arms look different.

To do this job follow the GM manual procedures. I do some machining to my jobs that others don't or weren't until I started posting pictures on the other place. Some rebuilders I spoke to are about as good at machining as my 8 year old sheltie dog. Take it for what it is and make your own choices. One thing I already know is guys have been asking questions now as opposed to just having the jobs done. Also ask your rebuilder if they supply any job reports on their work.
Ok enough of that prelude crap!:crazy: :laughing:

Here are what your arms may look like once you get them out. I always rebuild them off the car but they can be done on the car. I would never do it that way unless I was stuck out of state on the road.

Here is a 64 arm. Remember the 63-64 and some 65's had drum brakes.

Look them over for rot, being bent, and look at the front bushing for dry rot.

I use one of those spindle protectors and either press or hammer the spindle out. If you hammer them out place something to catch the spindle. Don't worry about the bearings as they will be replaced anyway. If you have one that is really rusted the press and some heat may be the only way to go. Also the spindle nut should come off and the tool thread on without a problem. Many times these have been worked on before and the threads are already shot and a new spindle is needed.

Here we have parts to one arm apart and cleaned up for inspection.

Here I found someone was in here before and installed the outer seal backwards.

Once stripped down, I remove the front bushing

Drill the flare out and use an chisel to remove. I used to put these in a Bridgeport mill but a large step drill works as well.

With the arm apart, I blast them to the metal and POR15 prep and paint them. I top coat with a satin black.

I use only rubber bushings, no poly for me. The rubber have to be compressed and then flared to correctly install them. I have found all kinds of crap work in this area, some have even left them unflared!

Here is the tool I made. Works good. There are a few on the market, some good -some junk.

Here are what mine look like

heres a shop that does that stuff (ITS UNKNOWN to me)

http://www.vtechcorvette.com/TecnicalInfo.html

 

[grumpyvette]

Re: jtr posted this 1963-82 trail arm rebuild

Next look at your spindles. If you have threads like this replace the spindle.

Ok on to Bearings. I use only Timkens and CR/SKF seals. I could debate the fact other bearings are just as good or Timken are not made here anymore. You decide what you want. You can save $20 using imported bearings if you want. The Timkens I have are still stamped USA and I'll pay more for them.

The book calls for .001-.008 endplay in the bearings. I set them to .0015 -.002 +/- .0003" That is correct 3 tenths. Others may tell you otherwise which is ok for them, remember this is how I do them.

Here is the fixture I made to setup the endplay

Now here is the deal on this job. IF you want the BEST job done use a surface grinder to dial in the endplay. If a guy tells you he can dial in .002 endplay with just the common shim kits - walk away. I have never had one shim I could use without grinding it to size. Also you see those kits with the new spacers in them, total waste of your money. Unless the original spacer was burnt by an idiot with a torch they are still good and they do not fail in service. The thing with them is they are not parallel finshed. I always parallel grind them before even setting them up in the fixture. It is not uncommon to find them out .005 or more. This can change the endplay you setup on the setup tool to the final press on install.

OK with the spacers ground and in the fixture. I use a large shim to start. I have one that I use as a setup shim. I torque the tool to 100 ft/lbs and see how much endplay I have. Then grind a new shim to size and double check it. I only use light spindle oil on the bearings- no grease until you are done and ready to install the bearing in the press.

Use a micrometer over a dial caliper for this job. If your guy thinks a mic is a C clamp - walk away. Or even better as reported in a leading corvette magazine- "so and so has been rebuilding rear bearings for so long, he can feel the correct endplay"

When the endplay is set I install the prepped and painted parts on the arm.
It is much easier to install the parking shoes with the spindle out of the way.

Now before you install the spindle you have to remove the outer bearing. This should be done before you get to this point. Remove the bearing, clean the spindle, check the journals, replace the studs and I face the flange in a lathe as well.

Now if the threads are rolled a little you may be able to save them. I have a thread forming tool, thread file, lathe, but you can use the "old school way" of using an old nut and some very fine lapping compound to clean them up. BE sure the threads are good and you use a new nut before you get to the bearings.

 

[grumpyvette]

Re: jtr posted this 1963-82 trail arm rebuild

OK now we are up to assembling everything right?

The spindles are cleaned up, the arms painted, bushings installed,and bearing endplay set. One of the spindle preps I do is to remove the rivets and tap the hole 3/8-24. We'll explore this more when I get to the rotors.

Ok, so grease the outer bearing, I use Mobil 1. Install it in the housing, install the outer seal- I use Ultra Black on the OD and grease the rubber seal ID.
Place the spindle in there - it will be loose. Place the spindle on a support and install in the press and press on the outer bearing. Pack the inner housing with grease but leave room for expansion. Install the spacer and shim- you did have them parallel ground didn't you!:smack

Grease the inner bearing and put it on the spindle. Transfer to the press again and press the inner bearing on the spindle. Bring it back to the bench and install the inner seal- again RTV on the OD. I then usually re-use the shield and loctite it in place. With the yokes, I again grind them, clean them up and chase the threaded holes.

Torque the new nut to 100 ft/lbs and check the hole for the cotter pin. If needed you can tighten some more and install the new pin. If the hole is out a lot I grind the nut face to index it on the spindle. The spindle should spin snug but not tight. If you need two hand to rotate it there is something wrong. At .002 endplay you can feel movement,not much but you can feel it.
If something is wrong at this point you have to start over. Now here again is where the job differs as I have seen spindles so tight they could not be moved and so loose the endplay was over .004" Where did I see these works of art? - on tables at Carlisle for sale.


Now I countersink the rotors and bolt them on to the spindle flanges with 3/8-24 flat heads. Then setup an indictor and check the rotor runout. It doesn't matter if you have original rotors, new USA or new imported they will have runout. If over .002 I shim them to .000-.002" You can go to .003 ok. I wouldn't use anything over .003 and you should not accept anything other then that.

I do not like the procedure of using just the lug nuts to hold the rotors on. The runout can change everytime the wheel is removed that way. Many do it this way, I don't. I want the runout to stay where I dial it into.

OK so what do you think and did I answer your questions? Does the job still seem tough once you have the tools and procedures? Doing it my way will take longer but do you want this job rushed? Be honest with yourself and think it through before starting.

 

[grumpyvette]

Re: jtr posted this 1963-82 trail arm rebuild

I'm doing a 65 now and one arm has locked up spindle bearing. Thought you might want to take a look. The smell was something awful too. The spindle is wrecked but the support may still be good. I'll clean it up and mic the ID to see if the race spun and bored it open.

Here is the inner bearing with the flange off. Looks pretty good huh:laughing:

Here are what's left of the rollers. These were the original Hyatt bearings.

Here is the race. Look and you'll see it's coated with welded on roller metal.

Here is what is left of the bearing, the inner race.

Spindle is done.

 

[grumpyvette]

GTR1999 posted this

Hey guys, I just wanted to pass along some info on the recent grease concern I had.
I did a set of arms like I always do, only I ran out of the Mobil 1 grease I had on the bench after the first arm was done. Not a problem, opened a new case of Mobil 1 and setup the second arm. When I torqured the spindle for setting the cotter pin I found the spindle very tight, it would move but it was not where I set them to. I figured I was off grinding my shim so I broke it down, tossed out the new bearings and setup another set to 0015-002"
Finished it up and was back to the tight fit. This time I broke it down, slip fit the inner brg, washed out the grease, and checked them in my fixture with the spindle, no setup tool- they were dead on the 0015" I set them to. The only difference was no Mobil 1 grease.
I went back to look over the grease and found there is a slight difference in the old & new grease and cap color change. I still had some of the "old" grease so I setup another new set of bearings and used the new "old" grease and they dialed right in.
Now I called Timken to see if there was a concen with the added drag I found with the new grease. The Timken techws very exprienced but couldn't say if it would be a problem, the grease may loosen up or it may not. Mobil was less helpful and couldn't answer my questions, even told me they don't make the grease? So after speaking with Timken again will use their red automoitve grease on the bearings unless I find anymore of the old Mobil. One tech at Mobil did tell me they changed the formulation but didn't know just how it was revised.
I just wanted to pass along this info, if this happened to a DIY for the first time it would have driven them crazy. It almost drove me nuts.