I have recently noticed a wiggle in the rear of my 92 corvette. At 60, whan you let off of the gas the rear moves to the left, when you add power it moves back to the right. The movement is slight, however quite noticable. I have also noticed a rumbeling in the rear, at slow speeds. I have changed one rear wheel bearing (drivers side) and the other looks to be fine. Any advice would be appreciated.
It IS VERY possible the bearing is bad without ANY play in the bearing. The only way you could truely know is putting the car on a hoist and accelerating. Then using a screwdriver or other listening device, listen for a grinding sound indicating the case hardening has been damaged on the bearings.
Id just try replacing the other one. Typically (Including my C4) when one go's the other one is bad or not far behind.
These cars are notorious for this problem due to indy suspension and pressure on a odd area of the bearing.
Plus even if the bearing looks/sounds fine it probably won't act the same as a brand new one hence your problem Im guesing
I have a similar problem on my '96. When you get on the gas hard while cruising above 40 mph, it shifts to the right. When you let off the gas quickly, it shifts to the left. Problem is the left side tie rod end used to adjust toe. Replacement part is on order so it will soon be resolved.
My 85 did the same thing ...I found out the ujoints on the half shaft on the passenger side were shot. The half shaft acts as the lower a frame for the rear suspension, when they go bad they allow the whole wheel assembly to move hence the wiggle. Best bet is to replace all 6 ujoints on the half shafts and driveshaft to be safe. With basic hand tools this can be done at home. I can give detailed instructions if you like as I found an easier way to remove the rear shafts then is outlines in the manuals.
Thanks for all of the help ! I wll look at all of the possibilities this weekend. I also read that there are some bushings in the rear that can cause the problem, any ideas about them?
Thanks again
Same prob here, yaw's from side to side with gas on and off. I've read all your post's and wonder in which order I should start repairs. U-Joints, tie-rods, bushings??? Any advice would be welcome
Terry
Jack up the rear of the car and place as high on stands as you can to allow for movement of yourself under the car. Remove the tire. Remove the nut holding the shock at the bottom of the wheel assembly. Remove the nut from the rear spring, then remove the bottom bolt for the trailing arm. Mark both ends of the shaft so they can be replaced in exactly the same position it was in prior to removal, remove the caps that hold the ujoints in place at either end. Pull or push out gently on the bottom of the wheel assembly and pull the ujoint loose from differential, lift the shaft up towards the top of the differential. Once you clear the diff pull shaft towards other side of car which will let the opposite end in the wheel assembly come loose. Lower the wheel assembly end of the half shaft down and pull shaft out. Release pressure on wheel assembly.
By using this procedure it is not necessary to have rear aligned due to the fact you have not changed any settings as I purposely tried to stay away from that. It took me all of a half hour per side to remove the shaft. Fifteen minutes to replace the joints and a half hour per side to replace.
The reason I did this was because mine would "dance" when you let off the gas and then gave it gas...I found the rear passenger side was devoid of all needle bearings in both ujoints and was lucky indeed to have found the problem before it did any major damage. This was thanks to Vigman for pointing me in the right direction.
To reassemble just lift the one end of the half shaft in up over the differential and slide the other end into the wheel assembley, then gently push the wheel assembly out away from the car enough to let the other end slide into position on the differential. Make darn sure the half shaft goes back in the same way it came out, end for end and side for side. Then just tighten everything back up according to the correct torque values per the manual.
Terry...the easiest thing to do is jack it up and watch the half shafts while you rotate the tire back and forth, the half shafts act as the lower a frame for the wheel assembly....when the joints go they allow the shaft to move making the rear wiggle/dance as you give it gas or let off...as you watch it will stick out like a sore thumb when you see all the movement in the shaft ends...
Word of warning...do not use any ujoint that has a grease fitting in the rear, because the center of the joint is hollow to allow for the grease it also weakens the joint and it has to survive lateral force as well as up and down and rotational forces.
eagle,
Many thanks for the detailed procedure. I have three service manuals that outlined extraneous fixes for this job, sounding more than simple for the shadetree mechanic. Your fix sounds way too easy!! I hope this helps out others with same prob as well. Any suggestions on brand of u-joint? Thanks again for the great advice.
Terry
Well I have heard good thing about one called Brute force....but....I like the Spicer brand made by Dana. Since changing to them in my Blazer I have not broken one on the trails or in the rocks. And if they can handle that kind of abuse where the OEM's were breaking every weekend...they got my vote. I replaced all of mine with them from NAPA also owned by Dana who also owns Mr. Gasket and a few other big names much to my surprise.
That makes the job sound much easier than antisipated. I did take a look last night, and I can not see any movement in the joints, nor could I feel any loosness. I did notice somthing strange, before lifting the car, I power braked it and noticed the drivers side rear wheel toe in as power was applied. Now I am wondering if it is the tie-rod end. It felt tight, however I did not remove it from the hub. I think I might just replace everything !
I finally replaced the left rear tie rod end last night. I was anticipating having to drive the tie rod out of the spindle like you have to for the front. When I removed the cotter pin and loosened the nut, a light tap from a hammer popped it out. Took very little time to do. I made sure the hole in the spindle was not wallowed out.
My only problem is that the replacement tie rod (from GM) does not have a hole for a cotter pin. The original unit had a washer, nut, and cotter pin. The replacement has a nut/washer combo, and no cotter pin. The washer is part of the nut and is slightly concave. I am guessing this is to help keep it tight. Since there is no cotter pin, I added a little blue locktite.
Yes. With the car jacked up enough to raise the tire off the ground, I could grab the wheel and move it left to right, just like checking tie rod ends on the front tires. Had a helper do it while I looked from under the car, and you could easily see the movement in the tie rod end.
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