1972 Thunderbird Suspension Rebuild

Suspension rebuild is what I am working on right now and torque the bushings with the car on it's wheels at ride height is what I have heard and did also. 

It took me a long time to understand this because stock suspension bushings are not a major topic of interest to most people and I had always just assumed they rotated on the bolt.  Not so and even poly bushings apparently(?) rotate around the inner metal sleeve but the bolt pinches the sleeve hard to the chassis.

Not to hijack this thread but I will offer a few comments on suspension work instead of starting a new thread, since this one is the most recent and others might be searching this topic:

1. I used Moog ball joints and like another member of the forum indicated some time ago, they did not fit into the lower control arm.  I used a mini angle grinder with sanding wheel to shave off a little bit of metal around the edges where it was catching the arm.  The gauge of the metal Moog uses is probably a bit thicker than stock and other suppliers so I don't see this as an issue of "bad quality" but rather just the way it is with aftermarket parts.

2. For the upper control arms the Moog rubber boot was not easy to take on/off and had to be put on after the joint is mounted in the arm.  The other member couldn't get the boot off and tried to install the joint with it on.  That won't work and it's OK to put in on after the joint is in place.  The spindle will keep it on.

3. Grease the ball joints on the bench before installing. You don't know how long the joint has been sitting on a shelf and the grease that came out of mine looked a bit sketchy.

4. I ended up using an eBay/Amazon  Upper Control Arm bushing installation tool set (looks like a glorified C-clamp) for both Upper and Lower control arms.  Costs around $60.  If you use a hydraulic press then you need to make spacers that support the inside of the control arms to keep them from deflecting.  Ask me how I know this......

5. There is a multi-piece Ford tool for using a press on the Upper arms.  I could not find one (hence the Amazon tool kit) and I did not realize it at the time but it must also set the correct angle of the pivot shaft while you are installing the bushes.  The pivot shaft and the inner sleeve of the bushes are both serrated, so they lock together once the bushings are fully installed.  Without that Ford tool you need a way to make sure the pivot shaft/bushes are in the correct rotational orientation to each other, otherwise you will pre-load the bushes and that will shorten their lifespan.  I did not understand this at first and had not measured them or made a quick tool alignment before dismantling the arm, so I had to leave the bushings slightly apart from the pivot arm and hope that tightening the pivot shaft nuts would press them in fully.  We'll see if that holds.

6. The UCA pivot shaft special lock nuts are weird size and thread so I couldn't find them anywhere.  Don't loose them or it looks like you have to buy the whole pivot arm kit (approx $100).

7. Rear lower control arm bushes are too big a diameter for the Amazon tool kit so you have to use a hydraulic press or cobble together some kind of homemade tool using appropriate size steel pipes/sockets/muffler adapters and threaded rod.  I have a press so I cut a flat washer the correct OD from some 1/2" plate off-cut I had and bought a 2.5" to 2.5" exhaust pipe coupler from O'Reillys for $3.60.  I was able to get the old bushes out and noticed they are the original style with the oversized sleeve and metal "clip" that can be rotated to adjust pinion angle.  The Mevotech MS40485 replacement bushes are the wrong size (Thanks Rockauto for listing the wrong part....) so thanks to a lot of research and information learned from this forum I have ordered Moog 8135 bushes.  I hope they work but I understand they do not have provision for the pinion adjust clips and apparently those have not been available for many many years now.  Bummer, but it makes me wonder why.  I have no experience in this area but perhaps the pinion angle can be changed some other way and Ford was just being anal during the design?  I'm keeping the old bushes and the clips so a future project may be to look for a bushing that has the correct dimensions including the larger diameter sleeve, so that I can re-use the metal pinion adjust clips.  If pinion angle becomes a problem then I expect the only practical solution is adjustable control arms such as the Spohn units.

8. Apparently rear upper control arm bushes have been NLA for a long time.  Once I get my bottom arms taken care of I will pull the uppers and measure them to try and find some suitable rubber replacements.  Yes, I know I could install poly, but I've read they won't last due to the twisting motion rear control arms experience.  Also, I want rubber.  It's a 5000lb T-bird, not a sports car.  Smoothness and low NVH is the goal for me.

That's all I've got for now.

Cheers,

James

Hi All,

Just to be a contrarian I can now report my 72 Tbird does NOT have the same lower control arms as a Torino.  I say that not because I have an actual Torino part to compare with but because both sets of bushings I ordered from Rockauto (Mevotech MS404085 and Moog K8135) were the wrong size (Outside diameter too small).  In fact those two bushings are identical and have the same Harris Silentbloc rubber part number molded in.

In the factory service manual they look the same but that doesn't really mean anything.  Maybe there is a "heavy duty" Torino part that matches the T-Bird?  It makes sense to me that the heavier car would have larger diameter bushings.  That might be the onl;y difference and FWIW, the center to center distance of my LCA bushings is just over 20".  Anybody know what the Torino unit is?

I found a PDF file of a Moog part number cross reference list on Pirate 4x4.com and by comparing that to the actual dimensions of my OEM bushings I found a likely suspect in Moog K8205.  Unfortunately it is listed as "obsolete" and of course none of the usual suppliers stocks them.  Several hours of internet research later I found Rare Parts P/N 15267.  Four of them cost me $155 delivered.  My backside still hurts but at least they look decent and most importantly they fit.

What is very interesting is that the RP bushings come with the correct ID sleeve (roughly .75") to accept the OEM metal clip that allows for pinion adjustment.  RP don't provide the clip and assume you don't have one, so they install a plain metal sleeve to properly accept the standard 9/16" chassis bolt.  Too bad nobody seems to offer the metal clip as it looks pretty simple, although I expect it is some sort spring grade steel so not the easiest to form.

I was able to tap out the clips from my old bushings, tap out RP spacer sleeve and install the clips.  One was a bit rusty but should be OK and if I can find a mechanic with the Ford adjustment tool then I can get my pinion angle set up per factory spec.

I did the driver's side arm last night and reinstalled it but now I'm stuck getting the Upper control arm off because the axle seems to want to pull back from the chassis even though I've got both chassis and axle up on stands. 

I had the same issue getting the LCA off and put a bit of damage on the bolt threads, so now I'm more cautious.  In fact getting the LCA back on was a challenge and I had to use a "come a long" to pull the axle in so the bolt could be inserted without further damage.  Unfortunately there's not enough enough room to use it for the Upper arm, so today I picked up some small turnbuckles from the hardware store and will see if I can rig up something using wire rope or chain.

Once I get the UCA off I will measure the original bushing and use the Moog reference list to source replacements.  I will also post what I find in case it is helpful to others.

Again, I want rubber for my car so I'm sticking with OEM style bushes, but with the high cost of Rare parts those Sphone arms are looking pretty attractive.....  I should at least be gratefull somebody has what I need since my car is poorly supported in the parts department.

On the custom control arm topic I got a little sidetracked this weekend and discovered an interesting spherical bearing/polyurethane hybrid called a Currie "Jimmy Joint" (don't accept cheap off-shore knockoffs).  They are popular in the 4X4 community and are a neat way to get a PU bushed joint that has the motion freedom of a spherical joint.  Put those into a Sphone type arm and you might get almost OEM level ride quality but with improved performance.  Also, they are rebuildable!

Cheers,

James

I'm not too surprised about the parts variability.  Makes the hobby a bit more challenging....

Cool, I will check out the DG thing. 

I found the factory service books refer to my interior as "Natural Grain Leather/Mataeo Vinyl".  I presume that just means it's a better grade of vinyl (?), but not as good as the "Natural Grain Leather/Corinth. Vinyl" available in the Lincoln MK4.

Corinthian vinyl!  Wow!!  I thought Ricardo Montalban and Chrysler had some kind of lock on that stuff.  Very impressive haha.  Actually according to the Web, it looks like Lincoln pre-empted Chrysler's ad company by at least two years since Ricardo didn't start using that phrase until '74. 

I got the upper control arm out and removed the bushings.  They are two different parts and again, both are NLA from the regular suppliers however I was able to source the "forward" ones from Rare Parts.  They are about $25 so I ordered two.

RP also lists a kit with one forward and one rearward but it is $125 and not in stock.  Since they have the forward ones that must mean they want $100 each for the rearward whenever they get around to making more.

I don't want to wait indefinitely, nor do I want to pay $100 a bushing, so I'm investigating other options to keep the project moving forward.  Will update when I figure something out.

Cheers,

James