Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

[William G.]

Would appreciate suggestions on removal of the strut rod shaft from the lower "yoke" end of the spindle support. The factory service manual says (after removing the shock) simply to pull it toward front of vehicle. The guy that wrote that must have had a great sense of humor. The strongest gorilla in the world couldn't pull that shaft out of the yoke. I'm always reluctant to beat on things with a big hammer. I'd prefer an easier method. It might be possible to use a puller? What seems to work best? Thanks.

[Rob M.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

Would appreciate suggestions on removal of the strut rod shaft from the lower "yoke" end of the spindle support. The factory service manual says (after removing the shock) simply to pull it toward front of vehicle. The guy that wrote that must have had a great sense of humor. The strongest gorilla in the world couldn't pull that shaft out of the yoke. I'm always reluctant to beat on things with a big hammer. I'd prefer an easier method. It might be possible to use a puller? What seems to work best? Thanks.

William,

I agree . . . who ever wrote that must be having a good laugh at guys like us trying to pull the strut rod (might even be on the TDB laughing now)!

I did my t-arms and strut rods earlier this year and by far the hardest task was getting the strut rod off that thing! We used, PB Blaster, heat, and then used a puller and a hammer. The shock shaft is knurled and with 40+ years of rust it can be very hard to get it off. It came off with effort.

Good luck!

[Patrick H.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

That's why you use one of these:
https://www.paragoncorvette.com/p-35...haft-tool.aspx

or another version:

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~dyndetail~Z5Z5Z50000050g~Z5Z5Z5ABAZQ~P17.95~~~~S30A01OEAQ24247142614a~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000050G

Strut rod and spindle/bearing support are still all connected at this point, just like when it left St. Louis..

Remove cotter pin and castle nut from the rear.
Thread on the shock shaft tool, and hit it with your favorite BFH.
It will pound the shaft forward until the lower shock mount pops out of the spindle support and, of course, the end of the strut rod.

At least, it works for me every time.

Patrick

[Joe L.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

Would appreciate suggestions on removal of the strut rod shaft from the lower "yoke" end of the spindle support. The factory service manual says (after removing the shock) simply to pull it toward front of vehicle. The guy that wrote that must have had a great sense of humor. The strongest gorilla in the world couldn't pull that shaft out of the yoke. I'm always reluctant to beat on things with a big hammer. I'd prefer an easier method. It might be possible to use a puller? What seems to work best? Thanks.

William------

You can obtain a shock mount shaft "knocker" tool for a nominal amount from most of the Corvette suppliers or you can just make one up. The tools thread down onto the shaft and seat against the end of the shaft. Then, you can whack away with a 5 lb sledge without doing any damage to the shaft.

However, if your shaft suffers from heavy corrosion, you might find it just about impossible to dislodge the shaft.

[Graeme B.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

Patrick, I love the BFH , but took a while for me to work that out.We call it a FBH in OZ.
Cheers, Graeme from OZ.

[William G.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

Thanks guys. About 18-20 years ago I last worked on one of these (an early C3) and don't recall that I had any problem with this job. Must be getting old.........course now I'm dealing with another 20 years of corrosion. I like the "BFH" term also..........and that is one of the things which keeps me from suggesting to the world that I am a mechanic; just how big a hammer are you "permitted" to use on any given task before you overwhelm the part with brute force and destroy something. Course when your friendly mechanic runs into that kind of problem he merely adds the destroyed parts to your bill. [I swear it is (at least was) fairly common in many garages that the number of parts replaced on a given job was at least somewhat related solely to whether or not the parts department had them in stock.] Of course part of the difficulty with removal of this shaft (which is not unusual) is that a portion of the force of the hammer blows are being dissipated in the "give" designed into the bushing at the front of the trailing arm. Looks like I'll need to add another tool to my collection. Thanks again.

[Larry M.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

When I had my trailing arms redone a few months ago, I was unable to remove the shock mounts from the spindle flange, even with the threaded "knocker tool". Since I was planning to have Bairs rebuild the trailing arms, I called them and asked advice. Ed told me to send the strut rods attached to the arms, and he would remove them at the shop. That is what I did.

Ed said that he also uses the "knocker tool" with a BFH, BUT he also has a second person hold a back-up sledge hammer or other solid metal support, so that he does not crack/break the spindle support fingers that hold the shock mount. The later spindle supports have been reinforced by GM in this area to provide additional strength (I think 1964 or 1965 and later), but Ed said they still could be damaged without using a solid metal backup when hammering.

Since these mounts are D-shaped and knurled, you do not want to try and rotate them in any way during the removal. That will destroy them and the spindle support.

Larry

[Stuart F.]

Re: Rear Strut Rod Removal: C2-C3

As a retired Tech Writer (Locomotive Division), I must admit to having a laugh now and then when describing certain operations as observed on new equipment - having in the back of my mind what It might be like doing the same procedure years down the road with all the accumulated corrosion and road grime. I usually tried to include notes or cautions to this effect, but they were from my imagination and experience as a "hands on" back yard mechanic. Many of my peers had no such mechanical knack and recorded exactly what they saw, nothing more and nothing less.

Stu Fox