Strut Rod Function Ford
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- What do the Strut Rods do on your Falcon?
Episode 136 Manic Mechanic
We talk about the reason for the strut rods on your Falcon Fairlane Torino Cougar Mustang Maverick Comet Cyclone Montego.
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Jford@autorestomod.com
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They serve two functions. Providing a means to adjust castor, which you described, and the other more basic function, preventing the lower control arms from folding backwards as you drive down the road.
LOL I failed to mention that foldy thing. But on the early cars, the adjustment was in the upper arm, not the strut. Ford didn't start caster adjustment on the rod until 1967.
Best street alignment. +3 caster, 0 camber, 1/8 toe, 1" Shelby drop.
Aye, I've always shot for 5-6 degree w/A Arms & 8 degree for Straights. 80-100mph on the Freeway or creepin' into a super tight Whole Foods parking lot space it's all smooth as silk. (and playin' with Twin I Beam will make you re-evaluate your life decisions)
Most of the performance early Shelby guys I know run at least -½* camber and some as much as a full degree.
I tend to go with a whiff less toe (better on the tires) at 1/16th inch. But your recommendation is spot on.
Tom, I see that often too. I just don't want the wear that can induce under daily driving. It might be interesting to see what the spread is on alignment specs from Old Shelby Race cars to street cars was.
another good one Jeff, thanks for sharing your knowledge....
You are welcome Paul!
Thanks for the info. I'm going to be working on a mustang. You got the 👍
Just installed Global West upper and lower control arms, along with strut rods. Also running the roller spring perches and QA1 hydraulic shocks. Should be quite the improvement over stock.
It will be! Global makes good stuff!
Thank you so much for describing the ‘feel’ of what it’s like to drive with broken or cracked strut rod bushings! I’m a new 65 Mustang owner. Never owned a classic car in my life, so the learning curve is huge right now! I’ve noticed that the car is not only full of squeaks when driving, but the front end feels very vague, like it’s ‘floating’ on ice. Sure enough, my strut rod bushings are beyond cracked and broken, so I’m hoping that replacing them will get her feeling better and give at least a little bit better feeling of the road. Appreciate all of your videos - I’ve learned SO MUCH! Thanks again!
Great info.
I could not find rubber strut rod bushings for my 68 Continental.I installed poly.I did research.I was told to flip cupped washers backward. So far so good. Now I'm freaked out about my strut rods breaking.I think I will look for some rubber bushings.
I've never seen any Continental with strut rods & I've 97% owned only Ford products since 1966.
Cars covered are intermediates, beginning with '60 Falcon/Comet and ending with '80 Granada/Monarch. If outside of those years, it doesn't have suspension Jeff is discussing. Also includes Fairlane, Torino, Montego & Cyclone(thru '71), Maverick/Comet '70/'77(no there isn't a '70 Comet) etc, plus the Mustang & Cougar thru 1973.
MEVOTECH MS404130 {#88913214} Supreme is a good number from Rock Auto if you decide to go back to stock.
@@AutoRestoMod Thanks I will check them out.
@@tombryant1104 My 68 Continental has them .They are fixed with no adjustment to them.My 75 Torino also has strut rods .
in Australia we always called them strut bars or radius rods
I have a deep seated dislike nearing on hatred for strut rod suspensions. Which is why I will almost always get rid of them and go with a full lower control arm suspension. I am just not a fan of how they *work*.
I have never had an issue.
Great info!
Glad it was helpful!
Energy Suspension makes a bushing using "HYPERFLEX" performance polyurethane with a durometer rating that is compatible with strut rod design requirements. Their bushings have a different durometer rating for each application. Just sayin.
Who sells castor oil? Thanks for the video Jeff.....was ready to replace my bamboo rods, but the video sadly ended.....still,.....keep em coming!
I say it funny. it is Castroll. Dad always said Caster oil, I can't seem to say it any other way.
Thank you for video
You are welcome
Please do a review on open tracker racing products. They're the guys using bearings instead of bushings.
We have done one reviewing the spring perches. We haven't yet used the roller A-Arms. But I will say that the Open Tracker product line is awesome.
GM called them Brake Reaction Rod.
That is a mouthful...but accurate.
this video didn't mention adjustable strut rods...unless Ford is adjustable. is adjustable strut rods a good way to add some positive castor? my car has a raked stance and i am out of adjustability on the upper control arms (mopar a-body). I am going to install qa1 strut rods and i'm not sure how much adjustability i should count on with these. (i think even 1 extra degree would make me happy)
My 1971 Marquis has a bad rattle in the front end. Could it be strut rod bushing?
i keep watching this, cause im trying to consider going with a CPP mini subframe kit but no one seems to have made a video on it. i wondering if this bar is actually vital if CPP subframe kit is installed.
What strut rod are you using on this video?
Great episode. Restoring our '70 Mustang now and will be increasing the HP by quite a bit not to mention upgrading the suspension, brakes, wheels, etc. Would you recommend going to urethane, replacing the OEM rubber bushings or doing something different for improved ride/handling? Thanks in advance!
Ford street, rubber will do fine. If you are upgrading the suspension, I would go with the spherical from RRS or Street or Track's rod-end strut rod kit. Similar results, divergent design philosophy. Either would be an excellent choice for a suspension, though I give RRS the edge on the rack and pinion, thus since I like same/same in my cars, I would give a slight nudge to the RRS "system". This is my opinion of course.
@@AutoRestoMod Hello there, can a bad strut bushing cause a bumpy ride? Please let me know. Thanks
Some good info here, but how do you talk about front suspension and not mention "Opentracker Racing Products" and/or "Street or Track"? 😧
We have used both on other videos. If you watch consistently, we have installed a full Street or Track system as well as using Open tracker Racing parts pretty heavily on the Ranchero.
mustangs must have wimpy strut rods. i put poly bushings on my 63 Tbird and there's no freaking way that stock strut rod is going to fail before that poly bushing. They greatly improved braking stability. Shit was scary during hard braking with the stock rubber bushings.
The early 1965-66 Mustang has a drop shank where the threading is at, so they are more prone to break at that point. The later ones are fully threaded down the shank of the shaft.
All said n done i would go rrs mcpherson conversion with bigger brakes and power rack n pinion will improve ye old falcon, mustang about 100% on stock set up.. thats if u can afford it.. 😂😂
Had my 66 rustang on I95 in CT (back in th day late 98) snap off the whole strut rod mount and bend the AArm back. Used self tapping screws and a crowbar (on the highway) to get it back and home no doubt replaced the full Monty but building the new car definitely going with new mustang2 suspension. Will restomod be doing a weld in suspension soon?
Nope. We did a video on the Mustang II. If you are going that route, go with Rod and Custom Motorsports, they have a really good kit. I'd personally go with an RRS or Street or Track. I don't like cutting up old cars as much as the Mustang II calls for. But that is just me. Lots of folks love and swear by the II.
I don't know that it can be said enough, poly strut rod bushings can be problematic or even dangerous.
Poly is Race, OEM Rubber is Street. That's the rule I've always gone by with all that stuff from motor/tranny mounts to body mounts. Poly makes it strong there, but weak where it was strong. Point in case, Unibody XJ Jeeps. Everyone wants hard poly racing bushings in the suspension. 2 years later they throw away the Jeep because it's hawg-wallered out the radius arm mounts & rear spring & shackle mounts.
Yup.
I think you will find that nearly all the problems are based on wrong mounting of the washers when using poly. I seen some pics people like to post on the web of broken struts with poly bushings .. they have all had the cupped washers mounted wrong.
@@westmus Maybe... I mounted poly in my '72 Comet exactly as instructions pictured. May as well welded rods to crossmember. Suspension had almost no compliance, rode terrible. I want a car that doesn't beat me up on a 150 mi cruise.
@@tombryant1104 , I got a old set of never used poly bushing that included instructions. The direction of the cupped washers are highlighted in it as important to get right. I know a guy that have actually measured the force needed to move the strut up/down on a Mustang. Mounted the strut only in the bushing and use a luggage weight to pull in the strut. The poly bushing with the washers cupped outwards was only slightly stiffer that the stock type rubber bushing. But with the washers cupped aganist the bushing it took like 4-5 times the force to move the strut up/down.
Jeff, do you have a link to the RRS strut rod you mentioned?
Here ya go! www.rrs-usa.com/strut-rod-adjuster.html
I've fitted new stock style adjustable rods with Global West heavy duty rubber bushes on my 63 Falcon Sprint. Trouble is that the front nut keeps coming undone. No lock nuts were provided. Any suggestions how to stop this happening?
As a first stop, I'd try a nylock nut on top of the adjuster nut. If you have to do something alignment related, replace the nylock.
Loctite will fix the nut moving..
I'm surprised you don't know that the main reason for the change in caster from the classic car period.to now is the physics of nylon tires vs modern radials. Look into it.
By later '60s, Ford offered radial tires as option, front end alignment was same for bias or radial. GM did have power steering specs that increased caster. AFAIK still had nothing to do with tires on vehicle.
Ford offered radials (as Tom says below) as far back as I think 1967 on the Cougar (and possibly the midsize cars but the Mustang didn't get a LISTED option for radial until 1968 . And if radial tires were the point why did the 1973 Cougar (an upscale offering and closer to the true era of the radial) only see 15 percent of total production getting radial tires? 1967 was even lower at 669 Cougars having radials out of 150,000 built. The steering was it.
Shopping cart casters have ZERO caster (don't ask me why they are called casters). I don't know how many times I have seen "experts" talk about the caster in shopping cart "casters". The rotational ("steering") axis of the shopping cart caster is perpendicular to the ground. That is the definition of zero caster. What shopping cart casters have is trail. If you extend the "steering" axis straight down to the ground on a shopping cart, the contact point of caster wheel with the ground is behind that extended steering axis point relative to the direction of travel - it "trails" the steering axis.
When you shim the front of the upper arm to move the upper ball joint back (or pull the lower ball joint forward on cars with adjustable length strut rods like my 63 Falcon) you are adding caster and trail. The added trail is what makes your car want to travel in a straight line. The added caster mostly makes itself known when you turn the wheels. The added caster adds camber when you turn the wheels (negative camber to the outside wheel, positive camber to the inside wheel).
Thanks for that very detailed explination!
Logan isn’t gonna finish the car. You should and just drive it yourself or let me. I got room in the garage for another.