Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

[Randall M.]

Pulled the half shafts off the rear of my 1963 Corvette yesterday and found spindle nuts on both sides were finger tight held in place with cotter pins. The previous owner had a Corvette shop install new torque control arms with disc brakes in 2005. I am concerned that the shop just took the torque arms out of the box when new and installed them on car without checking to ensure everything was torqued properly and verifying bearing runout. The other possibility is the Corvette shop was lazy and just did a buba install job without installing the bearings properly and only finger tightened the bearings on purpose because they were not shimmed properly. I don't know how far the previous owner drove the car like this and I have driven the car about 2,000 miles since purchase. I haven't noticed any unusual noise or vibration in the rear end while driving. Today, I am going to tighten the spindle nuts to 100 ft pounds and measure runout. I will also check to see if there is any noise or resistance once they are tightened properly. I don't have any of the specialty tools required to remove the spindles and would rather not remove the torque arms from the car unless abosolutely necessary. Any advice on what steps I should take to ensure these rear bearings are safe and functioning properly as I check the runout later today? Is it common for buba mechanics to install the rear bearings only finger tight to save time during installation? How concerned should I be about this whole situation? I do drive this car on weekends - it doesn't just sit in the garage.

[Michael W.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

I'd measure runout prior to torquing the nut, then progressively work towards the 100 ft/lbs in increments of 25 ft./lbs. measure the runout (edit, should say end play, not runout) at each step. If it drops below the minimum, stop there and plan on having the bearings shimmed properly.

I've seen bearing assemblies with NO shims in them, done by Bubba who can single handedly out-engineer all by himself.

[Randall M.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Michael, thanks for the advice. I will follow it a bit later today and will post the results. I was surprised to find them loose since the work was done by a reputable Corvette shop in Maryland for the previous owner.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Randall,

Check the archives for more information but the 63 spindles, spindle flange, washers under the spindle nut and half shaft flanges were changed in production. It may be possible you need the thicker washers because something was changed and there is a mixture of 1963 and later parts.

I am not saying that is the problem but get familiar with the changes made in 63 to these parts before you start tightening the nut. The nut may be bottomed on the spindle and not tight to the spindle flange.

[Dick W.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

As you tighten the but, make sure that the spindles still turn freely. Tapered roller bearings do no do well with preload

[Gene M.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

As you tighten the but, make sure that the spindles still turn freely. Tapered roller bearings do no do well with preload

This is very very important. Also make sure that bubba seated the bearing ring races in the castings. Verify the bearings and races have not blued and without any surface degradation. Is this assembly all pressfit or was it modified for slip fit bearings. Pressfit makes bearing clearance more troublesome. To do it correctly you should disassemble each spindle and set up, and torque with the special spindle tool that slip fits bearings.

[Joe L.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Pulled the half shafts off the rear of my 1963 Corvette yesterday and found spindle nuts on both sides were finger tight held in place with cotter pins. The previous owner had a Corvette shop install new torque control arms with disc brakes in 2005. I am concerned that the shop just took the torque arms out of the box when new and installed them on car without checking to ensure everything was torqued properly and verifying bearing runout. The other possibility is the Corvette shop was lazy and just did a buba install job without installing the bearings properly and only finger tightened the bearings on purpose because they were not shimmed properly. I don't know how far the previous owner drove the car like this and I have driven the car about 2,000 miles since purchase. I haven't noticed any unusual noise or vibration in the rear end while driving. Today, I am going to tighten the spindle nuts to 100 ft pounds and measure runout. I will also check to see if there is any noise or resistance once they are tightened properly. I don't have any of the specialty tools required to remove the spindles and would rather not remove the torque arms from the car unless abosolutely necessary. Any advice on what steps I should take to ensure these rear bearings are safe and functioning properly as I check the runout later today? Is it common for buba mechanics to install the rear bearings only finger tight to save time during installation? How concerned should I be about this whole situation? I do drive this car on weekends - it doesn't just sit in the garage.

Randall-----


I think you're going to find that there are no shims (or spacer) installed. My guess is that someone has set the rears up the same way that front wheel bearings are set up. The problem is that the rears aren't supposed to be done this way.

If you tighten the nut to 100 FT/LBS and there is no shim (or spacer) installed, you'll completely lock up the assembly and ruin the bearings. No real matter, though, because if what I suspect occurred here is actually what did occur, I would not reuse the bearings anyway.

[Jim T.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Randall another difference with the 1963 Corvettes is that the bearings are a slip fit on the spindle. I have never worked on a 1963 and do not know how much effort is required to remove the rear spindle to inspect the bearings and verify there is a spacer and shim between the two bearings. Do not know if all 63's were like this or if a production change was made.

[Cecil L.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Just a little info here:

[Cecil L.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

And the big one:

[Patrick H.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Michael, thanks for the advice. I will follow it a bit later today and will post the results. I was surprised to find them loose since the work was done by a reputable Corvette shop in Maryland for the previous owner.

Have you by chance contacted the shop to see if they recall how they did the job?
That may help quite a bit.

[Randall M.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

I followed Michael's (2nd post) instructions and incrementially torqued the nuts up to 100ft pds while reading the runout each 25 ft pds. The bearings spun freely all the way to 100 ft pds and had less than .003 runout on each side. I think I caught the problem in time and both sides seem okay without damage to the bearings. Also, for those that commented, this car is not a stock 63', it had later newly installed torque arms on it - I should have stressed this in my initial post. They still had stickers on them from when they were new. I think "Buba" just forgot to tighten them when he installed them for the previous owner. I won't say the name of the shop, but that it is in Maryland. Thanks for all the assistance.

[Michael W.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Glad it worked out OK.

[Jim T.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Cecil you posted some real good documentation for the 1963 Corvette. I enjoyed reading the Technical Service Bulletin documents.

[Cecil L.]

Re: Loose rear spindle nuts on C2

Thanks,
I've been trying to complete my collection of TSB's and Chevrolet Service News for some time and recently acquired a large quantity which gives me near complete library covering 1954 up to 1975.
There's a lot of good info in there.