Need A Rx For Trailing Arm Assy...

[Patrick T.]

Last winter, I rebuilt the entire rear suspension on my '67, new torque arms, bearings, SS brake shoes, the whole 9 yards.

Yesterday I drove the car to work, and while driving through the garage with the top down, I could hear a clicking, scraping noise coming from the rear tire. My first thought was one of the new bearings is roached. Got it home, still clicking, pulled off the tire, and the whole wheel well was covered with a metallic dust. The caliper and pads looked OK, so I just dropped the whole trailing arm with the spindle still in and noticed when flipping it upside down that a sliver of the new brake pad had sheared off (about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide, up to the first rivet. Also the chunk sheared off was still inside the rotor.

From what I can see and test, there is nothing wrong with the bearings and that the metallic dust was from the pad shearing off. I really hate to press the bearings off and disassemble the whole spindle just to check them.

Should I go ahead a disassemble it or just put it back in the car and see if the noise is gone? Why did the parking brake shoe shear off? Should I have the rotor turned? It's been a while. Any advice would be appreciated. Patrick

[Joe L.]

Re: Need A Rx For Trailing Arm Assy...

Patrick-----

At first, your post had me wondering. You mention that a piece of the brake "pad" sheared off. Fortunately, later in your post you describe the problem as having to do with the parking brake SHOES. In brake parlance the term "PAD" generally refers to DISC BRAKE pads and the term "SHOE" refers to the arched shoes which are used in conjunction with a drum brake type system (or Corvette parking brake system).

In any event, the situation which you describe is something that I have never experienced or, even, heard of. My strong suspicion would be that, somehow or other, you got the parking brake shoes installed improperly when you serviced the trailing arms. While parking brake shoes can be replaced without removing the spindle, albeit with difficulty, in this case I'd recommend removing the spindle so that you can determine just what went wrong and inspect other parts for damage. Also, if an assembly error was involved, and you made the same mistake on both sides, you'd probably best check the other side, too.

[Mike Schardt]

Re: Need A Rx For Trailing Arm Assy...

I would check to see if the parking brake shoe return spring broke. This would allow the shoes to fall againest the drum. The broken pieces of spring might be digging into the drum and causing the metaic dust.

[Patrick T.]

Hey Joe...

Thanks for the heads up on the bearings. I hope your don't take this the wrong way, but you kind of remind me of Mr.Spock on Star Trek. Even when the Starship Enterprise was in the most dire straits, he always remained cool, calm and rational. When the ship was facing certain, impending doom from a Klingon Warship, he always provided Captain Kirk with a logical plan of action which ultimately saved the crew, at least on TV. Regards, Patrick

[Roberto L.]

Fascinating... (ntx)

[Jerry Clark]

Disgusting

How Joe manages that isn't it, I throw things personally.

jer

[Iron Duke NCRS #22045]

Joe is Sprock and Jerry is "Bones" (ntx)

ntx

[Joe L.]

Re: Hey Joe...

Patrick-----

As a matter of fact, I've always admired Dr.Spock-----he's my kind of guy.

[Joe L.]

Correction

Oops! I should have said MR. Spock, not DR. Spock. Dr. Spock's another guy that specialized mostly in babies, as I recall. I know he was against the Viet Nam war, though, so, in that sense, he's my kind of guy, too.

[Call Me Doc]

Dem Bones

Duke:

The comparison is apt however, if I could just recreate his instant diagnosis device I'd go into practice and buy all the 67 BBs in existence.

jer

[Patrick H.]

Re: Dem Bones

Jerry,

I want the medical diagnosis device for myself, or at least a replicated one. It would make my day go SO much faster if I knew what was wrong with some of these patients....

Patrick Hulst, M.D.


Dad's 72

[Patrick H.]

Re: Correction

Don't really go for Dr. Spock's stuff myself, but you've got Mr. Spock right.

Over the years we have found more and more of Dr. Spock's stuff to be useless...

Patrick Hulst, M.D.