Spacers on '67 Trailing Arm - Question

[Kirk M.]

Someone blacked out my entire engine compartment at some time in the past. I am working to clean things up. Unfortunately, the spacers have been sprayed black and obviously I can't easily get to them to clean them off. Can I just partially loosen the bolts holding them in place, pull them out, clean them up, put them back, and re-tighten the bolts? Just want to make sure I'm not missing something before I mess with it. Hopefully, it is an easy answer. Thanks.

[Joe L.]

Re: Spacers on '67 Trailing Arm - Question

Someone blacked out my entire engine compartment at some time in the past. I am working to clean things up. Unfortunately, the spacers have been sprayed black and obviously I can't easily get to them to clean them off. Can I just partially loosen the bolts holding them in place, pull them out, clean them up, put them back, and re-tighten the bolts? Just want to make sure I'm not missing something before I mess with it. Hopefully, it is an easy answer. Thanks.

Kirk------



????????? The title of the thread is 67 TRAILING ARM The first sentence of your text talks about someone blacking out the ENGINE COMPARTMENT. So, I have no idea what "spacers" you're talking about. There are no "spacers" on the trailing arm I can think of.

Now, let's assume that you're talking about the caster/camber ALIGNMENT SHIMS between the upper a-arm shafts and the frame brackets. If you're talking about those shims, then you can loosen the nuts, remove the shims, clean them up, replace them, and re-tighten and torque the nuts. Make sure you get the same shim pack returned to each position, though.

[Joe R.]

Re: Spacers on '67 Trailing Arm - Question

Hi Kirk:

Assuming you are referring to the alignment shims on the front upper A-arms, yes, you can loosen (not remove!) the nuts and remove the shims. You may need to apply a pry bar to the cross shaft to eliminate the pressure on the shims.

You can also purchase a set of reproduction shims that have fresh cad plating. Just be sure to match the thickness of the shim packs exactly, or you will alter your front end alignment.

Lastly, there are alignment shims on the pivot end of your rear trailing arms too, and these should be unpainted cad plating. However, getting these out can be a very big job if they are the original style, and I recommend you simply try to clean them in place if they have paint on them.

[Kirk M.]

Re: Spacers on '67 Trailing Arm - Question

Thanks Joe. You guessed correctly. Had a bit of brain fart when typing last night. Corrected it this morning to A-arm. Must admit that I am still learning/refining much of this terminology, so I tend to still make newbie-style mistakes. Thanks for reasoning it out though. Kirk

[Rob A.]

Re: Spacers on '67 Trailing Arm - Question

Kirk...

I had the same situation with mine. I loosened both nuts(on the same A-arm), removed the shims from one side at a time, cleaned and replated them and re-installed them. Doing one side at a time will require you to only slightly, if at all, pry the cross shaft inwards to remove/replace the shims.