Suspenion rebuild questions

[dgs]

Hello,

I'm in the middle of the suspension rebuild on my '60 and have some questions:

When I put it together, should I put all the shims back in as they were? Some, particularly for the upper control arm, are alignment shims and the alignment will be different with the new suspension.

I'm considering cleaning up the control arms and painting them. What works good to get 47 years of greasy grime off and what sort of paint should I use on them?

Any special paint for the brake drums?

I bought the Kanter kit which doesn't include any steering parts except outer tie rods. Anything I should replace in the steering as a matter of course? Anything I should check?

Good source for upper control arm bumpers?

That's all for now. :-D

[Alexander]

Hello,

I'm in the middle of the suspension rebuild on my '60 and have some questions:

When I put it together, should I put all the shims back in as they were? Some, particularly for the upper control arm, are alignment shims and the alignment will be different with the new suspension.

Put back the shims as they were for the initial drive. Then do the alignment.

I'm considering cleaning up the control arms and painting them. What works good to get 47 years of greasy grime off and what sort of paint should I use on them?

Any special paint for the brake drums?

If you can have someone sandblast them for you you will save a lot of work. Otherwise, you need to scrape and brush off all the grease and dirt using engine cleaner. Once all they are clean, use a paint prep such as Eastwood's Pre to make sure the paint sticks. Eastwood sells a good paint called Chassis Black in semigloss. It has held up over ten years on my car. You can leave your drums unpainted or use a high temperature caliper paint fro Eastwood Restorations.

I bought the Kanter kit which doesn't include any steering parts except outer tie rods. Anything I should replace in the steering as a matter of course? Anything I should check?

Idler arm bushings need to be changed. Possibly the idler arm itself. The power steering control valve is prone to wear. It needs to be rebuilt.

Good source for upper control arm bumpers?

That's all for now. :-D

Any Thunder bird vendor has these.

[dgs]

Since posting I've been back under the car, and you're right about the PS control valve. There's a fair bit of play in the ball joint between it and the steering arm (don't remember the actual names.) I assume any vendor should have the rebuild kit for this, right?

I also need one new hydraulic line from the PS pump to the valve and probably new seals in the cylinder.

There's a sandblast cabinet & paint booth at work. I can bring the parts in and do them. Should I degrease them before blasting? I've scraped the heavy layers of crud off already.

I figured once I started this project there would be several things that ought to be done while it was in the air.

[bcomo]

dgs:

I've been following all of your front end posts -- need to do it too. I've NEVER done any front end work.

The gallery photos are great for instruction.

What tool did you finally decide to use to compress the springs, and who has that?

[dgs]

dgs:

I've been following all of your front end posts -- need to do it too. I've NEVER done any front end work.

The gallery photos are great for instruction.

What tool did you finally decide to use to compress the springs, and who has that?

Autozone has a loan a tool deal where you basically buy the tool and they let you take it back pretty much forever. I had a tube bender for well over a year and took it back with no receipt. I rented the pickle fork for the ball joints and an internal spring compressor (not the multipiece external type).

However, the service manual for the car (get one if you don't have one yet) says to just use a floor jack. I looked at the spring and the compressor I rented and it really looked like it wasn't going to be easy to make that work due to the deep spring pocket in the Squarebird frame. So I ended up using the floor jack method and it worked just fine.

What you do is first break both ball joints loose. The manual calls for a specific Ford tool, I used the pickle fork and a hammer. Just watch the flange behind the lower one, it'll block the fork and prevent it from doing it's work.

Once they are loose, support the lower control arm with the floor jack as shown in the manual. The car may actually raise off of the stands, mine did, so be careful - the weight of the car is on the jack. Remove the nut on the ball joint and set it aside. Now let the jack down and the control arm swings out of the way, relieving all the spring compression. I made sure I was on the other side of the car while doing so, just in case, which you pretty much have to do in order to operate the floor jack. You then just reach in and wrestle the spring loose (it'll be hung on the control arm flange a bit, but otherwise loose).

I'm glad you found the pictures helpful. I should add in some other test about these little details I learned along the way. I've been pleasantly surprised so far at how easy this has gone. I think the fact that this car has likely never seen snow (it was in southern California until 1978) made a big difference. Nothing's all rusted together like cars that live here in Ohio.

[frank58]

Doug,
your "gallery" and info are great guides... It's really true that "a picture is worth a thousand words" . Thanks for the tips that everyone can benefit from..................... keep 'em coming

Frank

[bcomo]

I have the shop manual, and read through the entire section last night. I see what you mean about using the jack instead of the spring compressor.

My ball joints have nuts, so I guess that would mean that they've been changed before. The pitman arm looks new. I don't know about the Upper/lower control arm bushings. But I do need some new rubber cups on the tie rods.

The manual only shows one test for the suspension using a dial indicator on the wheel and moving it. If more that 1/8 inch play then change the ball joints.

I have one big question:

How do you know if the rest of the suspension needs replacing? How do you tell? Mine drives straight, with just a little more steering play than I like -- but OK.

[tbird430]

The Kanter kit is good and well priced for what u get.

[dgs]

How do you know if the rest of the suspension needs replacing? How do you tell? Mine drives straight, with just a little more steering play than I like -- but OK.

That described mine as well, tracks straight but wanders and play at center. I didn't test anything, I simply decided that with 150K on the odometer and 47 years I might as well just replace everything. Looking at my ball joints, I suspect they might have been fine, but I like knowing it was all new.

As you can see from the pictures, the rubber bushings were pretty shot in a couple of places, particularly the drivers upper control arm. You can see those pretty easily by looking under the hood.

My lower ball joints were bolted in, but the uppers were still riveted. Having a bear of a time getting them out, but I'll get it evntually.

[Guest]

Slowly my whole suspension and steering will be rebuilt.It's close to 50 years old.If I could rebuild my legs for a grand I would.Chopping the springs and while I'm in there the front end is getting done.Just makes since.Steering,brakes and tires are the most important upgrades you can make on any vehecile.
Thanx for the gallery Doug.Tackling mine this weekend.

[bcomo]

Doug:

I found a Part # for your 60 front coils. Thought that you might want that.

Oringinal 15.75" height springs for 60 with 352
Part# B7A 5310-R (stamped on the last coil)

By the way, the ride height turns out to be very simple. Just Center of Hub Cap to bottom of the fender edge. I don't think anyone besides you has a spring measurement out of the car.