Brake shield replacement

[markiemyster]

Every time I get under my car I have these ugly rusty brake shield staring at me. Overall it's pretty clean under there. I have a no rust painted frame with relatively new suspension parts, but the brake shields are a mess.
How big a deal is it to change them.
A few years ago I had never worked on a car before but after I got my 65 with the help of you guys I've tackled dozens of things I never would have attempted. Now I enjoy it.
It looks like I would have to do a lot of unassembly to pull them.
I would also assume that rear is harder than the front.
Any tips or proceedures would be helpful.

Thanks, Mark

 

[BarryK]

A few years ago I had never worked on a car before but after I got my 65 with the help of you guys I've tackled dozens of things I never would have attempted.

i know that feeling well............

sorry, I haven't starting working on the underside of my car or the brakes so can't answer your question but rest assured plenty of others who know will chime in soon.

 

[JohnZ]

The fronts are fairly straightforward - remove the calipers, rotors/hubs, and bearings/seals, and remove three bolts attaching shield to knuckle (the lower two also attach the steering arm on the other side of the knuckle). Re-assemble in reverse order.

The rears are another story - they require complete disassembly of the spindle and bearings to get them off, and you don't want to go there; they're best replaced during a complete trailing arm/spindle rebuild.

 

[BarryK]

Mark

based on John's answer neither the rears nor the fronts sound like a lot of fun

maybe you can just mask off everything else around the shields, clean them up and paint them where they are on the car?

 

[speedmaster4]

back when we road raced those we left the shields off entirely ( i think its mentioned in the 'chevy power' manuals)

 

[markiemyster]

I hear ya Barry

I definately won't tackle the rears.
Maybe sometime during the next few cold months I'll take the front wheels off and see how scary the front ones look.

As usual thanks guys for the input.

Mark

 

[tigernut]

Mark,
As usual John Z nailed down what you need to do.

I'd recommend rebuilding the front end while you have it apart (new bearings, seals, bushings, etc).

It is a fun and rewarding job, especially if you start with a mess like I did.

Here is a picture of the shield before removal and one of everything cleaned up (note my lack of concern for "correct" detailing. :L ):

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1040213/FrontSuspensionAfter5.jpg

Doug

 

[BarryK]

Doug
that's a nice improvement on the clean-up job!! Incorrect appearance or not, it looks a LOT better

 

[IH2LOSE]

Here is mine

The best thing I can tell you is dig in,Youll learn alot and you just need commen sence for this one.

 

[IH2LOSE]

PS I hope John Z will reply to this ,with a recomendation

When I did mine I did the wheel bearings and seals also. I remember getting local bearing that were incorrect and had to re-order them thru Paragon reproductions.

 

[JohnZ]

Some parts guys mis-read the book and order the wrong bearings; '65-'68 all used the same spindle and inner/outer bearings, but the spindle diameter was increased for '69-up, which changed the bearings too, and sometimes they miss that when looking them up and ordering them (especially the yo-yos at AutoZone with all the piercings and spiked orange hair)