Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

[Gerard F.]

this is what happened on the way home to Sonora (100 miles):




Somewhat of a serious misalignment. It was a little more than we thought was a noise from parking brake lockup as we left the event. With a little manuvering, the noise went away.

But 10 miles down the road at 65 on Hwy 99, I noticed a swerve in the rear, slowed down to 50 and it went away. But then, the rear left locked up and I was all over the road. I says to my copilot Ron, I think we ought to pull over to the right shoulder as my grommet puckered.

I feel lucky, we came to a safe stop with about a hundred foot skid mark on the right shoulder between on and off ramps. Lucky also that it was on a Sunday evening with very light traffic.

Triple A took care of the rest as we were home in Sonora with the car on a 90 mile carry tow by 9 PM (only 2 hours later than the normal trip back).
But I think I have some major repairs. Looks like the wheel bearings, or the total trailing arm failed. I just had a 4 wheel alignment a week ago, could they have forgotten to tighten a bolt.

Any diagnosas welcome!

But what a great event and a nice setting:



That's me and the Mayor of Sonora, my copilot.

We both had fun, very interesting weekend. Thanks to the Northern California Chapter for a great event.

Having fun, feeling very lucky, but I think I have a major repair.

[Joe C.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

I'm happy to hear of your Top Flight!
Especially happy that you, your co-pilot and CLZIC67 are AOK. Lucky...........chrissakes, it could have been a lot worse! No bodywork damage, either.
Hard to tell what broke, but could have been a snapped spindle. Rear bearings, being press-fit would prevent the wheel from flying off.
May be time to drill those rivets out, and replace bearings and seals. Index them back on, the same way that they came off (if your left side spindle ain't broke).
I hope that you changed your socks when it was all over!

Joe

[Bill M.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Wheel looks like it's located fore-aft (trailing arm OK) and side-side (halfshaft OK), but camber a tad negative (strut rod or bracket problem). Never had this happen, but I would think you exceeded the angularity limit on the u-joint and it locked up?

[Steven B.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

That picture brings back memories of a '66 Milano Maroon convertible about 100 miles west of Denver in '79 or '80. The car looked the same way when it came to a stop. Being a few miles away fom home in Indiana (at that time) towed the car to a one stall service center at the local Chevy dealer. A three days later----it took forever to get a bearing----laundry was done and healthy car was on its way back home.

[Kevin G.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Jerry,

What the heck was in the suit case gold bars?

Congrats on the Top Flight! Lucky for you, it looks like there could have been much more damage!

Kevin

[Mike M.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Tough Luck Jerry.
Whatever the remedy turns out to be, good idea to plan on doing both sides.
Congrats on your TF, again!
HaND

[Gary J.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Looks like some more good Tech articles will be forth coming. Boy you were lucky that it was not worst!

[Michael B.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Jerry,

I was hoping you would make it home alright and have a chance to get that trailing arm assembly rebuilt before that happened. This is a typical rear wheel bearing failure. I wouldn't say the the alignment caused it but surely the tech should have checked the play in those bearings and asked you to repair that before he aligned the car. The rear suspension on these cars is unique and someone familar with Corvettes should be doing the work.

Like I said at the meet, those rear wheel bearings can go away in various styles. I had one go bad similar to your experience with a about 5 miles of grinding sound followed by 5 miles of grabbing and releasing follow by a little brake smoke and then the extreme camber issue. The other side went away a few years later. I recognized the early grinding sounds and checked it for looseness. That time it didn't leave me stranded.

There is no easy service for these bearings. They have to be pressed out and pressed back in to pack them.

If you are going to do some of the work yourself you can pull that trailing arm assembly without too much difficulty and take it in for rebuilding. A press and specialty tools are needed to do the job and it's far easier to let a shop do it.

I'll recommend

Corvette World
3345 Sunrise Blvd # A
Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
(916) 635-5306

They do a good job and can generally have your part back to you within a couple of days. I think they also has exchange units available on the spot if you want to go that way. If you are going to need a spindle ($200) or spindle support $(150) they might even have a used one they will sell you.

Good luck with that Jerry.


Your fellow Top Flighter at Elk Grove.

Mike Brown

[Rick S.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Jerry,
Congrats on the Top Flight (2nd one?). Tough weekend for our 67 roadsters as I went out to the garage and mine is totally dead. Not the battery so I am chasing electrical issues and I believe it is in the firewall connector. Better days are ahead!!!
Rick

[Gerard F.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Mike,

Thanks for your help at the meet.

I don't know what I'm looking at, but here's a few pictures, after I jacked up the car today. It looks to me like the wheel was just about to come off:



Here's looking up that gap between the rotor shield and the wheel:



I guess one would call this excessive runout. You can see the parking brake shoes, which I think were the root of the problem. I've been having trouble with the parking brake for a number of years now and had it on my list to replace them. (Even have a SS kit).

Here's the U joint close up:



So I think I need a new spindle, rotor, parking brake and wheel bearings both sides, maybe a brake caliper. Anyone see anything else in the photos.

After looking at this, I thank my lucky stars.

[Michael B.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Jerry,

It's not too difficult to pull that trailing arm assembly out if you want to tackle that yourself.

You need to:

remove the tire
drop the spring on that side
disconnect the brake line and park brake cable including the casing clip
remove the four bolts at the half shaft /flange
remove the strut rod/lower shock mount bolt (there is a tool for this if you have to pound on it) careful of the threads.
remove the forward bushing bolt
and drop the assembly out

You won't know what you'll need until you get it out, disassembled and inspected.

If you choose to go that route and need some help let me know. I'd love an excuse for a 90 minute motorcycle ride up to Sonora this time of year. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours at the most.

[Ken A.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Jerry, I judged interior on Mike's car, so I didn't have much chance to look at your car, but when we jacked it up and Mike wiggled the wheel, I knew it was in bad shape. I was afraid that if it came loose it would take out the fender. Luckily that didn't happen.

If you should decided to take it off yourself as Mike as discussed, be sure you mark the shims as to their location. They are on either side of the front of the trailing arm. I have never done trailing arms on a mid year, but re-assembling them on a shark can be a real pain and I am sure they are similar. If the trailing arm bolt has a small boss on the end like on my 69 & 72, drill a small hole through it. You will have to thread this bolt through the frame, the shims, the trailing arm, the other shims and the other side of the frame. Tie some fishing line, or light wire through the hole and thread the line through everything. This way you will be able to pull the bolt through. Otherwise, it is nearly impossible as you will find out.

Good luck
Ken

[Alan S.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Hi Jerry,
I'm sorry to read of the problem on your trip home. I'm glad that the THREE of you made it safely home. I had an occurrence similar to yours happen to my 71 in 1971. Yes, under warranty.
If your misfortune results in another of your interesting RESTORER articles then not only will your car get repaired but we'll all learn something from your experience.
Good Luck!!!
Regards,
Alan

[Sandra H.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

My word, Mike, what a totally incredible photo of your car!
Cheers, Sandra

[Michael W.]

Re: Top Flight at Elk Grove, CA , but......

Mike,

Thanks for your help at the meet.

I don't know what I'm looking at, but here's a few pictures, after I jacked up the car today. It looks to me like the wheel was just about to come off:

Jerry,

Not that it's your number 1 priority today, but you may want to replace the long spring-to-trailing arm bolt with one of the correct length before you put the car back on the road again.

In addition to the configuration issue in judging, there's an operational hazard in using one of that length. If your tire were to go flat while driving it's very possible for the tip of the bolt to dig into the pavement and cause the car to veer off track.

This happened to somebody over on the the CF board several years ago.