The last price I saw to do the rear bearings was around $299 from Van Steel
in Florida, Baer in Pennsylvania, and there is another shop I can remember
right now. They advertise in most Corvette magazines. That is $299 per
trailing arm.
For comparison, if you mess up the spindle while trying to remove the
bearings on your own, the new spindle is $140.
The bearings and seals are $60 for both sides about the best price anywhere
and if you buy them local, expect to pay about $75 per side.
You will need a spindle press. The bolt-on ones sell for around $150 and
usually work if the bearing hasn't melted as far as getting the spindle out.
IE, you are doing preventive maintenance, not repairing one gone bad.
Then there is set up. It is critical. You really need a setup tool so you
can put bearings in with shims, check, then re-shim until you have the
proper clearance.
Getting proper clearance is an art. I could tell you, but I would write a
book with directions. It is time-consuming.
You really need the trailing arms out to do it right, so by the time you get
them out, you might as well send them out to be done right by the experts.
However, if you are an above average mechanic, you can do it. I'd recommend
going to the Corvette Forum and searching on wheel bearings. One guy had a
very detailed and photographed journal of his trials.
BTW, ignore the grease fittings installed in the back or between bearings
option. It doesn't work. It is a recent fad by some places claiming you
never have to take them apart. There was a guy here who figured that out 30
years ago, and never took a patent, since it didn't work. You know that if
it had, he would have because of the money in Corvettes and Corvette ideas.
Good luck.
>> i can tell u its quite a job
>> easist way is with a axle press to get them apart.
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> it was the usual thousand bucks which seems to be a constant if/when you
> take the car to the shop.
WayneC - 08 Apr 2006 18:40 GMT
> The last price I saw to do the rear bearings was around $299 from Van Steel
> in Florida, Baer in Pennsylvania, and there is another shop I can remember
> right now. They advertise in most Corvette magazines. That is $299 per
> trailing arm.
I agree that they aren't worth doing by yourself unless you are willing
to pay dearly for the experience.
Without the proper setup tools you must assemble and disassemble the
pressed-in parts multiple times to
get the clearances right, and the chance of damaging the new parts
during that process is very high.
Not worth it unless you are going to be doing them as a business.
Let Van Steel do them:
http://tinyurl.com/o3uc7
http://tinyurl.com/pbyat
http://tinyurl.com/s6smo
Tom in Missouri - 09 Apr 2006 01:37 GMT
Here is a link on Corvette Forum to a guy doing it now.
63-64 trailing arm
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1359359
C3 trailing arm
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1229686
>> The last price I saw to do the rear bearings was around $299 from Van
>> Steel in Florida, Baer in Pennsylvania, and there is another shop I can
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> http://tinyurl.com/pbyat
> http://tinyurl.com/s6smo