75 Corvette will not back up

[Bill F.]

Re: 75 Corvette will not back up

Gary, that's not really what is happening. The car goes into reverse, seems to engage normally, it backs up 3 or 4 feet in reverse, and without any noise or gnashing it comes to a very firm stop. Put it in drive and it goes forward normally. Unfortunately it is in a carport. Have not had a chance to see if I can put it in neutral and push it out.

[Sandra H.]

Re: 75 Corvette will not back up

Thanks Gary for finally mentioning transmission.......this is exactly what happened to my Chev pickup. Perfectly fine in all forward gears, but no noise, no resistance, and no warning......it also at first would back up a few feet, but that soon went south also. Drove it 100 miles home without a problem. Cheers, Sandra

[Bill F.]

Re: 75 Corvette will not back up

I'm going to try a number of these suggestions this weekend. Think I need to at least eliminate the parking brake as the culprit before I turn to the trans, differential, etc. I can fix/rebuild the parking brakes where the car sits. The trans will be another question!

Thanks for all the good input.

[Sandra H.]

Re: 75 Corvette will not back up

Oops, Bill did I miss something.....you said it comes to a firm stop. Without brakes being applied? Sorry if I mis-spoke. Cheers, Sandra

[Bill F.]

Re: 75 Corvette will not back up

Dave, thanks for asking. I did make some progress.

Put the rear end on jack stands, drilled the rivets out of the rotors, pulled the rotors off and out came broken actuator springs along w/ the rivet remains. I figured Ah Ha, got it! I gutted the parking brakes. Nothing else was amiss but the broken springs could easily be causing the problem. After 33.5 years it's probably about time to do the trailing arms, but short term I should be able to get the car where I can move it w/o them. But there is still resistance rotating the spindle backwards - may be because I have the half shafts in a bind since the car is supported by the frame. Ran out of time, but my next step is to jack the half shafts up to about level and see if the axles rotate freely both ways w/ the trans in neutral. If not, next step will be to disconnect the driveshaft, run the car and try the trans in all gears to see if anything is going on there, and see if the differential/axles rotate freely.

As an aside, I'm taking this opportunity to get the rear calipers freshened up. When I bought the car in 1996 I pulled all the calipers and took them to Carlisle looking for the best deal. Bought a complete set w/ hoses, master cylinder, and calipers from Vette Brake Products. Last year I had a problem w/ one of the front calipers and sent those back to be rebuilt, so figured the backs are about ready also. I'm going to get the rotors turned today.

Thanks again for the interest. I'll let you know if that was the problem, or if the adventure continues!

[Michael W.]

Re: 75 Corvette will not back up

I'm going to get the rotors turned today.

Nooooooooooooo!!!! Please don't. C2/C3 rotors were not designed to be machined off the axle like other modern 'normal' cars. You will very possibly induce a lateral runout problem- the factory machined the spindle and rotor as a matched pair and they should remain that way.

Machining any rotor is a fruitless process anyway. Most rotors are simply gummed up with brake pad residue which can be removed without machining.

If the rotors are physically warped, machining them is only a sort term patch as the damage is already done.

What's wrong with yours?