"Dad" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> "uncle_vito" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Glad both you guys are OK. I had a close call in my 69 about 1994.
>> Romped on it on a freeway on ramp and car began to go tail out. Not a
>> skid but as if the rear suspension had shifted. Car went tail end first
>> across the freeway then stopped. All cars on the freeway stopped except
>> one driven by a kid. She hit me at 60 mph on the left rear quarterpanel
>> and spun me around almost 360 deg. I was fine and she was fine and no
>> one was hurt. In the body shop they found that the rear suspension in
>> the center (holding the transverse spring) had only 2 of the 4 bolts. One
>> of the two bolts had broken allowing the assembly to rotate. This then
>> canted the rear wheels to the right, in this case.
>>
>> I looked at the receipts the previous owner had given me. While at
>> Corvette Mikes, a new rear end was installed. Seems they thought that
>> only two bolts where 4 were needed was good enough. Lucky no one was
>> killed. I determined that car was 'hexed' and sold it a few years
>> later. Those 'old' cars need to be thoroughly checked out before you go
>> traveling at 50+ mph in them. In fact, while I do not think they should
>> be trailer queens, they should not be used for daily driving either.
>> They do not have the safety features that modern cars have and that you
>> may need some day.
>>
>> Vito
>>
>>
> If you backed across the freeway did you enter from the left? If you
> backed across from the right your right quarter would be exposed to
> oncoming traffic.
>
> Those 4 bolts would only retain the spring, if that spring moved it would
> only affect the up and down of the wheel not the direction of vehicle
> travel. There is also a locating pin in the center of the spring pad that
> would have to shear off. The spring would also have to shear the bolts
> that tie the spring ends to the trailing arms. Even that would not allow
> the wheel location to affect direction of travel with the radius rods
> holding it in place. If that spring popped out of it's pad your body would
> have been sitting on top of your tires. The only bolts that could have
> done that would have been the one that ties the tailing arm to the frame,
> then you would have a wildly uncontrollable Corvette.
>
> Take a look at page 8...............
> http://willcoxcorvette.com/instructi...82_Secured.pdf
>

Thanks for the diagram. I was going from memory. Was the 4 bolts that
hold item 10 on. Only 2 were present and one broke allowing the assembly
to rotate. Uncontrollable was the word.