1967 rear suspension questions

[Dave C.]

I'm just finishing the assembly of the rear suspension on my 67, and had a couple of questions, on the lower shock mount, there is a nut with a sleeved portion, but I don't seem to have any other retainer to hold the shock tightly in place , the aim shows something there, maybe I misplaced whatever it was over the winter. Also where the lower control arms go into the differential mounted bracket, they are not a tight fit, the aim shows " caps" on either side, and once again I don't have these, are they supposed to be a tight fit?

[Don H.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Long Island Corvette Supply Part no. 51-57 for lower shock mount hardware.


Long Island Corvette Supply Part no. 51-60 for upper strut bushing caps.


Sorry about the links that did not go to correct parts at all.

[Page C.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

The correct configuration of the lower shock mount is shown on page 211 picture C-66 in the 1967 5th edition Judging Guide. The upper strut rods have a cap # 3791519 on both sides of the upper end. Total of four that are inside of the struct rod bracket with the adjusting bolt passing through the whole assembly.

[Dave C.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Thanks guys, guess I am ordering some more parts, it's strange though, when I pulled the arms off in the fall, I would have saved those caps if they were there, and that part of the car appeared to have never been apart.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Thanks guys, guess I am ordering some more parts, it's strange though, when I pulled the arms off in the fall, I would have saved those caps if they were there, and that part of the car appeared to have never been apart.

Dave------


I think it's been at least partially apart before. The nut you show on the shock is like none I've ever seen before. It's certainly not the one that was originally installed. I have no idea why anyone would have installed it. What you need is a "cupped" retainer (cup side OUT), a split lockwasher, and a HD hex nut (i.e. thick hex nut).

The strut rod ends at the center bracket did have a cap on either side. If yours did not, that's another indication that the rods had been off before.

[Dave C.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Thanks for your response Joe, the one prt of the rear suspension that did appear to have been apart was the shock mounts, the car had every indication of being an L71 , F41 suspension car, exept I checked the numbers on those lower sock mounts and they were not correct for an F 41 car, maybe they are from a later model corvette, the sleeves on the nuts match the diameter of the shaft exactly.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Thanks for your response Joe, the one prt of the rear suspension that did appear to have been apart was the shock mounts, the car had every indication of being an L71 , F41 suspension car, exept I checked the numbers on those lower sock mounts and they were not correct for an F 41 car, maybe they are from a later model corvette, the sleeves on the nuts match the diameter of the shaft exactly.

Dave------


There were only 2 sets of shock mount shafts used from 1963-82. The GM #3820929 and 3820930 for standard suspension cars and GM #3829265 and 3829266 for F-40/F-41/FE-7 equipped cars.

I still don't understand those nuts. There was no sleeve attached to or used with the lower shock nut. The configuration of the nut shown in your photo is not original.

[Dave C.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Yeah , strange, where would someone, even get these nuts from, like I said, the sleeve part is the exact same diameter as the shaft.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Yeah , strange, where would someone, even get these nuts from, like I said, the sleeve part is the exact same diameter as the shaft.

Dave-------


The fact that these nuts are on there sort of implies to me that someone was once-upon-a-time "messing around" with the rear suspension.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Back about the cap washers on the struts.....

I'm on a project where on this 1967 and they previously changed to the larger struts used on later years. I acquired correctly sized struts and also realized I needed the cap washers when I checked the books.

Dave, maybe yours had the larger struts at one time. I didn't take this one apart yet but maybe the larger struts didn't used the caps and that was on your car? I don't see any on this one I have here.

P5250008.jpgP5250003.jpg

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Back about the cap washers on the struts.....

I'm on a project where on this 1967 and they previously changed to the larger struts used on later years. I acquired correctly sized struts and also realized I needed the cap washers when I checked the books.

Dave, maybe yours had the larger struts at one time. I didn't take this one apart yet but maybe the larger struts didn't used the caps and that was on your car? I don't see any on this one I have here.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]61196[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]61197[/ATTACH]

Richard------


The larger end strut rods did use caps on the bracket end. However, the caps were slightly different than those used on the smaller end rods. The caps for the larger end rods were GM #348390. They were similar to the earlier but, as one might expect, had a slightly larger OD at 1.31". These also became SERVICE for 63-74.

Judges need to be on the lookout for this. Folks with the audacity and sheer gall to show up on the judging field with a 1963-74 with the smaller end rods but the later caps. Just absolutely no excuse for this.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Joe....... NOT ME!!!!! There you go joking again? You gotta stop doing that. You scared me. You were joking, right???????


So, this is what I got for the 1967 here. The reproduction parts bag says 63-74.

Reproduction ~1.110" OD. ID is 0.5".
P6050019.jpgP6050020.jpgP6050021.jpg

on car, unsure of origin ~1.120" OD. 0.5" ID.
P6050022.jpgP6050023.jpg

old vs new. very close. I notice more of a lip on the reproduction.
P6050024.jpg

Since you got me curious and I don't have much knowledge on the post-C2 cars, here are some photos and measurement of the early vs the late strut I have here and the bushing sleeves. I just took the struts off and sure enough there were cap washers installed. But I think the early originals.

Early....Bushing sleeve is ~0.880" OD.
P6050025.jpgP6050026.jpgP6050027.jpgP6050028.jpg

Later...Bushing sleeve is ~1.070" OD. It appears they used the early cap washers on the later struts on this car.
P6050029.jpgP6050030.jpgP6050031.jpg


Rich
===

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Joe....... NOT ME!!!!! There you go joking again? You gotta stop doing that. You scared me. You were joking, right???????

Rich-------


Yes.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 rear suspension questions

Yeah , strange, where would someone, even get these nuts from, like I said, the sleeve part is the exact same diameter as the shaft.

Dave-------


This is what the nuts should look like. These same nuts were used from 1963 right through 1982.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-63-64-Corvette-Rear-Strut-Cam-Adjusting-Nut-3691530-1964-1963-/381274730633?hash=item58c5beb089&vxp=mtr

By the way, I've got a lot of NOS examples of this nut but it's a lot easier on my back to use a photo from eBay than going out and trying to dig them out and photograph them.