1963 SWC rear susp problem help please

[19sebringsilver63]

ok so here is the deal, i am the proud new owner of a 1963 sebring silver 327 300 4 sp corvette, numbers matching and all original, and unrestored with 90,000 on the clock. drove it home from point of purchase (like 50 miles) car drove perfect, stopped great, no problems at all. well had it out letting my son drive it gingerly. and the right rear wheel ocked up on him. i thought it was because he wasnt used to none power brake cars.

well my son and i took a cruise on sunday and i was driving. and it did the same thing to me, accept everytime i hit the brakes. so we get home and pull the wheel to check the brakes. all looks good, so we pu the drum back on to see if it was hitting anywhere for out of roundness, but what we discovered was a whole new ball of wax.

when spining the drum it would get to a certain point and stop. so my son spun it from the drivers side wheel to get the whole thing to turn, but what happened was that the

torque arm came up, and then went back down!!! it was hitting a spot that was so tuff that it forced the torque arm up, so we removed the drum and duplicated the problem. we have come to conclude that we think it is the half shaft being bent.

anyone out there had this problem? and could this be leading to my brake problem, as the shop manual says that the rear leaf being fouled up could cause the lock up.

also to not the leaf on the passanger side(same side as the problem) has ripples in the leaf spring on the 2,3,4 (from the top) individual leafs.


any help is appreciated.

 

[JohnZ]

With the car jacked up and the rear suspension hanging free, you WILL get the situation where the trailing arm moves up and down slightly as you turn the half-shafts; that's the outboard U-joint trunnion interfering with the flange it's attached to as it rotates (that bolts to the spindle flange). You don't want to do that, as the flange and U-joints can be damaged by the interference; the trailing arm should also be jacked up near normal ride height in order for the wheels to turn without outboard U-joint interference.

The rear brake locking up is probably related to poor adjustment (too tight to drum), loose/worn rear wheel bearing, deteriorated rear frame-to-trailing arm rubber flex hose acting as a check valve for the fluid, weak or broken shoe retracting springs, or improperly-adjusted or frozen parking brake mechanism.

 

[19sebringsilver63]

so what is happening is normal

 

[67HEAVEN]

so what is happening is normal

If you're referring to the action while jacked up, JohnZ covered that in his first paragraph.

If you're referring to the braking problem while driving, JohnZ covered that in his second paragraph.

Welcome to C2's and to

 

[19sebringsilver63]

was refering to the action while up. thanks

 

[ctjackster]

so what is happening is normal

well, there is normal to the rest of the world, you know, people who own reliable late model cars that actually fire up when the key is inserted (without having to disconnect a battery charger), that operate without incident and never overheat, never stop dead mysteriously in the middle of I-95 at 10:00 at night, never spew unusual amounts of oil out of some unknown source, never have a radio that works just fine some days and then, on other days, refuses to even emit static - to name a few things that my 65 has done in the last few years and still does.

welcome to 40 year old car ownership, never a dull moment, and never, ever, leave home for a drive without your cell phone - your car has a built-in sensor that detects that exact point when you are furthest away from home, and then it sends a "start sputtering now" command to the engine, or electical sytem, or fuel system, or cooling system, or braking and suspension systems, or all of the above.

still, you will love every minute of it!

 

[67HEAVEN]

well, there is normal to the rest of the world, you know, people who own reliable late model cars that actually fire up when the key is inserted (without having to disconnect a battery charger), that operate without incident and never overheat, never stop dead mysteriously in the middle of I-95 at 10:00 at night, never spew unusual amounts of oil out of some unknown source, never have a radio that works just fine some days and then, on other days, refuses to even emit static - to name a few things that my 65 has done in the last few years and still does.

welcome to 40 year old car ownership, never a dull moment, and never, ever, leave home for a drive without your cell phone - your car has a built-in sensor that detects that exact point when you are furthest away from home, and then it sends a "start sputtering now" command to the engine, or electical sytem, or fuel system, or cooling system, or braking and suspension systems, or all of the above.

still, you will love every minute of it!

Truer words were never spoken.

 

[19sebringsilver63]

oh yeah i agree, i also own a 1972 nova ss, of which i am the original owner. i restored it to original specs and finished it 2 years ago may, when i first got it done had a few snags with it, so my hats off to the folks who build these vehicles, but with age a timeless classic gets better, but that doesnt mean it will drive the same. thanks for all of the help from everyone who has responded.