pop23235

Having slept on this, I seem to recall the original shims in 63 came with a slot on one end. Apparently experience taught these were somewhat prone to falling out. That jives with the 63 service manual. A solution to falling out was the shim with one hole. Don’t recall the year change, but service manuals would likely give a clue as the bolt would need removing. Obviously these were too difficult to work with and with C3s a slotted shim returned, but with a hole in the outside end for a large cotter pin to prevent falling out. At least that is my recollection.

CADbrian

Yah, I can totally see this happening for sure, and it would be difficult at best to get the bolt through all those holes.

CADbrian

^^^^^^^^^^
THAT is what I needed - the procedure to perform the toe-in adjustment. The CSM obviously left a few things unprinted probably because it was written for mechanical professionals who know what is needed even if it's not written. Thank you soooo much! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

mrg

Doing a driveway rear wheel alignment regular unslotted shims were used. On the side that was being worked on the leaf spring end was lifted and unloaded with a floor jack.
Only then was the trailing arm bolt loosened.

Depending on ‘feel’ in how the bolt was behaving, I.e., tight or loose in the pocket the floor jack height against the leaf spring was adjusted accordingly.

Ideally, the bolt became loose enough to slide out of the pocket using a small wrecking bar claw and/or finger pressure. It took a few tries using regular shims to dial in the toe in but eventually all worked out good.

For safety’s sake……safety first whatever you decide to do.

GTR1999

You're very welcome, good luck, unload the spring.

CADbrian

Does anyone know for sure if the spring can be unloaded with undercar exhaust in place?

67:72

Unloading the spring just means lifting the end off of the trailing arm bolt so that it's not pulling down on the end of the arm — only needs to be jacked an inch or two. The exhaust shouldn't interfere with this at all.

GTR1999

If I was doing this job I would unload the spring and remove the spring bolt nut so I don’t need to be concerned about any accidental movement while working on the front bolt

CADbrian

Understood. Thanks.

CADbrian

My current plan is to perform as much of the alignment myself as I can, not because I like putting myself in danger (and thanks to you guys I'm safer now) but because I want it done right and in the process of performing the tasks of the alignment I will learn more about my car and what it takes to maintain / own it. And I think what I'm going to do is storybook this process (in a new thread with a different title and I'll provide the link below) with as many pictures as much as possible so you guys can follow along to make suggestions, keep me safe, and keep me from making too many mistakes, etc. Please feel free to criticize my plan, setup, methods, etc. because there may still be one more greenhorn that will come after me wanting to do the same thing, so if this new thread can help someone else then it's worth my effort(s).

leif.anderson93

Why?? For cohesiveness sake, you should continue on with this thread. Thereby, when someone does a search in the future regarding your original title, they will have a beginning and an ending (solution). Make sense??

CADbrian

Here is the link to the DIY rear alignment thread I started.