Horseshoes on lower arms

[Astrowing]

My lower arms have horseshoes on the bottom that the spring sits on. It looks like they would make the car sit about 1/2 inch higher in the front. They appear to be some kind of die-cast metal. Is this an after-market thing that someone has added, or was it a Ford modification? With it in there, it makes it about impossible to hook the bottom of the spring on the lower arm to start it going up because the little tang towards the center of the car is hidden. My springs are 15 3/4 inches long with no load and had a white/silver paint stripe on them. My 58 has AC. I'm very tempted to leave them out, but I'd like to hear some opinions.

[Astrowing]

Also, Ford manual makes no mention of them in the verbage or pictures.

[Alan H. Tast, AIA]

Sounds like the shim used on cars with A/C to compensate for weight of compressor on driver's side. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this.

[simplyconnected]

Alan, I seem to remember some T-birds had a spring spacer on ONE SIDE ONLY.

Yep! I just checked. '55-'57 Thunderbirds used one on the LH side only. It's all the same part number:

SHIM - FRONT SPRING... C1SS 5355-A

Front Spring Shims were used on both sides, on '58 T-birds with 352 engines and air.

and...

'59 T-birds used them on both sides with 430's without air.

Hope this helps. - Dave

[Astrowing]

Yes, there was a shim on both the left and right sides. I decided to go back without them since the car seemed to sit high. So I took away 1/2 " without the shim, but added a spring isolator which was 1/4" at the top. I can't tell the car sits any different. It's back together and on the road again. On to the next issues!

[tmjsong1aolcom]

58 Spacers

As of this writing and baed on all the 58 birds I have taken apart, I have found no spacers. I have found or seem to remember finding rubber seats on the upper that I assumed were only used to keep the springs from squeeking. Will look in my parts book tonight to see what parts were avail in 58.

Fuz
58's&64's
Sun Prairie, Wi.
tmjsong1@aol.com

[Dan Leavens]

James that's interesting and is there any difference on the handling of the 58

[Astrowing]

It's definitely lower. I don't have a good enough alignment to comment on the handling. Compared to no bushings on the front it's great! When we put it up on the lift last week to try to align it, it looks like the left rear coil spring has really sagged. I need to replace all the bushings on the rear and the rear coils next and the align should make a BIG difference!