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74 rear end rebuild

heman_2

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2017
Messages
5
Location
arkansas
Corvette
1974 coupe
Just to start off , I will probably call some parts by the wrong name so bear with me.
I sent my trailing arms out and had them rebuilt, the look good , no problems there.
The problem I'm having is after i installed the trailing arms the rear springs look to be about 1/2-3/4 inch to far back. (like the arms are short).
The other problem I'm having is the part that the half shaft bolts to coming out of the rear diff slides in and out easily on the driver side, not so on the passenger.( is it supposed to ???)
If its not supposed to move in and out I assume that means something broke or came apart inside the diff?
Any help for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.
 
The spring appearing to be misaligned is normal, everything will line up during assembly.

The piece coming out of the diff is called a side yoke or just yoke. It should not come out of the diff as there is a small internal clip to retain it. Yours has probably worn or snapped off. Now is the time to get it fixed since the suspension is mostly apart anyway.
 
thanks, I was afraid that was what was going to be said ( read a little about other rebuilds and came to the conclusion that it wasn't supposed to move).
The spring not lining up is with the trailing arms installed? Also had a problem with the poly bushings I installed (all 4 have split in several places) supplier is supposed to be working on that problem?
 
The poly bushings were on the spring mounts not the trailing arm. Sorry didn't specify where they were.
 
To answer your question on Differential axle endplay. Starting around 1973 to 1979 the original axle faces were no longer hardened. Most likely cost cutting measures but I really don't know why GM stopped having hardened axle faces. As a result the axles worn down rapidly. This results in axle end play and is a problem for a couple of reasons.
1- The metal dust ends up in the gear oil, not good
2- The IRS will become looser as loading inward isn't a problem but outward movement could be. I felt this on my 69 with worn axles at highway speed driving in sharper curves. I could feel the rear of the car sway. Once I rebuilt the diff and cut the axle endplay down to 005-007 that swaying feeling was gone.
3- If left as it the axle will continue to wear down and will hit the differential housing causing the 1/8" lip at the axle seal to me ground away and it will hit the seal. On cars with U-bolt yokes the end of the u-bolt will cut into the housing or lock up. The result could be the loss of the housing. I strongly suggest you inspect the axle play and the housing seal boss and correct it before you have major issues.
 
Thanks for the replies. Had just gotten all the suspension reinstalled , while adjusting the new adjustable strut rods is when I discovered the yoke sitting out around a inch. So now trying to remove different without removing all the suspension
 
You can leave the trailing arms in place but pretty much everything else has to come off. The biggest challenge is usually separating the crossmember from the frame.
 

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