| C4 Corvette Chassis |
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| 1957 Corvette RestoMod Project - Page 9 1995 Rear-End Disassembly My father taught me many things, and one was every job gets done much easier with the proper tools. So despite my limited budget for this project, I had to break down and buy two new tools. One was very expensive and one was economical. On page 5 of this story I explained how I removed the transverse leaf spring from the 1996 Grand Sport front end assembly - without using the special tool made for that process. Well, the Kent-Moore J-33432-A tool finally arrived at my house (after 3 months on backorder) and was an expensive purchase. And after using a shop press at a local shop to press in the lower ball joints, I decided the other "pressing" jobs to be done needed my own shop press - and it was not very expensive from Harbor Freight Tools. In this edition of my project, we will explore the disassembly of my 1995 Corvette rear end assembly. |
| Pictured right is the J-33432 tool. It compresses the Corvette's leaf spring so you can safely remove the spring bolts in the rear assembly. Bought from the online tool vendor HandsOnTools, it's over $700 new. I tried to buy a used one on eBay, but was shut out on the bidding at the last minute. Word to the wise: if you really want something, let eBay do the automatic bidding for you. |
| I am taking all the suspension and steering apart to repair and/or replace the parts that wear out. Remember, this is a 14 year old rear-end assembly. From the outer parts of the whole assembly it contains: rotors, calipers, pads, hub, knuckle, axle shafts, U-joints, tie rods, spindle rods, and differential carrier. The rotors will be replaced with slotted and drilled new ones, pads obviously replaced, U-joints wear out too so they will be replaced with new ones (that's why I needed the shop press), and all the bushings will be replaced with new Energy Suspension polyurethane pieces. And remember the Dana 36 differential? That will have all new gearing and bearings with the ratio going from 3.07 to 3.54. |
| At left is the J-33432 tool installed on the leaf spring. It's easy to install and use - no wonder it costs so much! The rear assembly is pictured just as it would be on the car. The tool pushes the spring upward, compressing it so the lower spring bolt retaining nut can be easily removed. That done, just loosen the compression by turning the tool bar (at bottom of tool) and voila! no more spring tension! I need to use this tool again, especially on the front end when I test fit the front and rear suspension to the frame |
| Below left is the spring bolt, spring, tied rod and spindle knuckle. The spring bolt and bushings are attached to the spring at the bottom. At top, the bolt goes through the spindle knuckle. Along with separate axle shafts, this comprises the independent rear suspension. Which is nice! Pictured below right is the lower spring bolt with the spring compressed. You can see it is easy to remove the lower cotter pin and nut now. Before compressing the spring, I removed the sway bar. It had no load on it and was in the way. |
| Once the transverse spring was de-compressed and removed, I removed the tie rod assembly. This is mounted on top of the differential and tie rod ends are attached to the spindle (see directly above). At right, I used my trusty tie rod puller from PowerBuilt to remove the right tie rod. The left one just fell out - do you think it needed replacing? Below is the old tie rod assembly (bottom, as if you couldn't tell), and the new one supplied by Newman Car Creations. Newman's is adjustable and made from aluminum. It will mount from under the spindle with longer spring bolts to lower the ride height by about 1 to 1-1/2 inches. The front is also lowered by Newman by trimming the width of the front spring. |
| This part was easy, but always take pictures and a lot of notes - you have to put this stuff back together some day! Better yet, if you buy my book, you won't need to do any of that. |
| Pictured right is the inner right axle shaft yoke and U-joint. The U-joint is pressed into the axle shaft (aluminum) and is held in the differential yoke by bolted straps. If this comes apart while you are driving, bad news. That's why the strap bolts are tight and Loctite was used. Needless to say, they were really tough to loosen - especially when I could only use a 1/4 inch drive ratchet. A breaker bar ratchet would have been better - Oh well! |
| At left are both hubs/spindles, axle shafts, and spindle rods. The green tape on each piece identifies which side it came from; and for the axle shafts, which direction is outward. The hub and spindle/knuckle assemblies can be disassembled later (my compressor switch quit on me so I am waiting for a replacement). You'll need an impact wrench and Torx sockets to remove the spindle from the hub. |
| It took about 4 hours to get to this point - the rear carrier (differential) assembly. Of course I was taking pictures and keeping copious notes too! You can see the partial frame from the donor car has been removed (remove the upper shock plates first!). The C4 has a rear carrier cover that also includes mounting bars, sometimes called a "batwing". At the end of each bar are bushings (black, round) that need to be replaced with my new polyurethane ones. Again, this "pumpkin" will have new ring and pinion gears and bearings installed. I was originally going to do this work myself - but I'm not sure now. Read on, I may just be stubborn enough to tackle it! |
1957 Corvette RestoMod