Put in new control arm bushings and ball joints

[Alexander]

Yesterday, a mechanic friend put in new control arm bushings and ball joints in my Golde Top. That car had totally deteriorated upper control arm bushings. It would literally shift on braking and hard turns a half-inch either way. I only drove it on side streets. Now I can take it out on the highway. I'm happy.


This car had never had any front suspension work since leaving the factory. After 76,000 miles the lower ball joints were still tight, but I replaced them since the assembly was apart.


A couple of things I noticed on disassembly. The upper control arms don't look like they were completely painted. It seems the control arm were dipped, and the the ball joint area was left bare. The linear division was apparent. I could not tell anything about the lower control arms, the paint was mostly gone. I choose to repaint the whole arms, since it looks neater.


Also there was a yellow marking stripe on the spring. The springs were marked to specify for weight car. Mine is a sunroof with a 352 and A/C. I recreated that. It makes a nice restoration touch.



Original spring with stripe.



New stripe on spring.



Newly installed painted control arms with new hardware. Note yellow stripe on spring. Also note the grease retainer for the new lower ball joint is nylon. The originals were rubber.



My friend, master mechanic Mike at work. He is a perfectionist.


This procedure is not easy and potentially dangerous. These cars have heavy springs. Mike used a combination of a spring compressor and a jack to get the lower contol arm in place. Alignment of the lower ball joint into the spindle took some effort.


I will write it up and put in the tech section of the main site at www.sqaurebirds.org/control_arm.htm .

[bcomo]

Looks great. Where did you get the suspension parts from? Did you order a complete kit?

[Alexander]

I bought all the suspension components from Bob's Bird House a few years back, but have not put the them in until now. The pieces consisted of the upper and lower ball joints, upper and lower control arm bushings, upper spring insulator, and upper and lower rubber bumpers.

I used an upper spring insulator that is reproduced for the 1955-57 Thunderbirds. It is made of plastic and seems sturdier than the rubber reproduction one they make for the 1958-60. It is hidden anyway.

[dgs]

Also note the grease retainer for the new lower ball joint is nylon. The originals were rubber.

The part I got from Kanter in their kit is black rubber.

Mike used a combination of a spring compressor and a jack to get the lower control arm in place. Alignment of the lower ball joint into the spindle took some effort.

You can say that again. I'd be interested in any notes you have on that. I've only got one side together so far, and it was a bear. I had to remove the upper control arm bumper to get the lower control arm high enough on the spindle to get the castle nut started. I also found that I needed to put the spindle on the lower arm before the upper.

Don't know if I'll be able to get the upper bumper re-attached or not. I had bought new ones as the old ones were basically gone. The upper bumpers only come into play if the suspension is unloaded, which should only happen in the garage with a floor jack. If it happens while driving, I've got bigger issues than a missing bumper.

I had rented a spring compressor but found it useless and scarier than just using the floor jack like the manual details. That method sounds scarier, but i was very straightforward and you are on the far side of the spring if it was to somehow let go. Of course, it may fire the floor jack at you ...

[Alexander]

One of the problems that Mike encountered when reassembling the the lower ball joint into the lower spindle is that the lower ball joint stud did not line up well into the spindle. Putting in the shock first helped guide the ball joint stud into place.

He used the spring compressor on part of the upper part of the spring and used the jack to bring up the control arm from below.

[Guest]

I did this job myself last year. I was able to get every part I needed thru my local NAPA store saving a lot of money. The only thing I had to farm out was the pressing in of the bearings. Be aware that most spring compressors sold now are for strut type springs and they fit on the outside of the spring. They won't work. You'll need to find the type that goes in the inside of the spring. I also made the mistake of doing it with the motor out, which did make access easier BUT, the front of the car was then too light to hold the front down when you try and jack up the lower arm. -LEON

[dgs]

Putting in the shock first helped guide the ball joint stud into place.

I'm confused as to how this would help.. How do you put the shock in without having the control arms on the spindle, thus containing the coil spring?

I would like to know if either of you had success with doing this with the upper control arm bumper in place. I simply couldn't get the control arms close enough together to get moth ball joint nuts started unless I removed it. The bumper I bought from Larry's is sort of an egg shaped cone. Do I have the right one?

The spring compressor I had was the internal type, not the strut type. Still, it was a rental and took a LOT of force on the wrench to get the spring compressed significantly and it still wasn't enough to get it installed. The compressor was creaking and groaning under the load. It scared me.

Putting the spring in the frame pocket, hooking it on the control arm, placing the jack saddle under the arm and raising the arm felt very controlled and stable.

[Alexander]

The shock was attached to the lower control arm and the mounting on top with the spring in. It just helped with the alignment.

The upper bumper you describe sounds correct.