Trailing Arm Rebuild

While in the process of rebuilding the steering box my trailing arms arrived back from the shop. If you recall I sent them out to be reassembled. I wanted to be sure the job was done right, especially considering the tight tolerances for the rear wheel bearings. Since I was unsure that local shops would take the time to do the work the way I wanted it I shipped the down to Gary, a.k.a. “gtr1999” on The Corvette Forum. He has a reputation for doing very nice work and it was no surprise when the trailing arms came back looking great. I definitely recommend him to anyone looking to have similar work done (he also does a bunch of other Corvette specialty stuff like differential and steering box rebuilds). Below are a few photos of the rebuilt trailing arm assemblies. The parking brake shoes and hardware are all stainless steel to prevent corrosion.

Left arm…

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
Right arm…

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
Gary was even nice enough to send along some photos of the rebuild process. Here’s the new spindle I needed to buy. If you recall the old one had been damaged by the previous owner using a torch to remove the rear wheel bearings. We were unsure how this affected the strength of the steel so we choose to be safe and replace the spindle.

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
Here the splash shield, bearing races, and parking brake hardware have been installed.

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
New outer bearings installed and packed with Mobil1 synthetic grease.

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
Outer bearing seal installed.

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Here we’re looking at the back side of the trailing arm. You can see the inner wheel bearings, spindle, and spindle retainer nut have also been installed.

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
Almost ready for installation on the car. First though I need to install the rotors, check their run-out and shim them as necessary to ensure the rotor run-out is within spec. More on that in a future update though, I had to order a dial gauge in order to do this and am still waiting for it to arrive…

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In the meantime I decided to install the gas tank. Here I’ve placed some roofing felt over the frame where the gas tank will rest to prevent squeaking.

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Tank, straps, and tank shield installed. Yeah, the trailing arms are on the car here, this was just a dry run to be sure everything fit up properly while waiting for that dial indicator to arrive… (any day now…)

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
More of those little pieces. Below are the tranny mount and shifter bracket installed on the frame.

Copyright - Tim Cote 2007
More to come soon! Oh, and if you get bored while waiting for the next update, you should stop by the forum to say hello. I enjoy hearing about and seeing photos from all of the other projects going on out there!