Upgrade Your Ford Front Suspension - Easy How-to Guide!
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Upgrade Your Ford's Front Suspension With These Must-know Tips!
Upgrade Your Ford's Front Suspension With These Simple Steps.
We take a work break on the 1966 Fairlane and talk about the best less expensive solutions to Fairlane Torino Falcon Mustang Comet Montego Maverick suspension woes.
Episode 239 Manic Mechanic
Episodes:
Drum Brake Failure! We Diagnose Our Ford Drum Brakes
• Drum Brake Failure! We...
Shelby Drop Explained
• Shelby Drop Explained
What Can You Do With Excessive Play in Your Steering
• What Can You Do With E...
Parts:
autokrafters.com
See them for your Sway Bar Bushings
opentrackerracing.com
Delrin Monoball Strut Rod Set with Threaded Strut Rods ORP-1234
Roller Spring Perches - Street Performance ORP-1001
OpenTracker Racing Roller Idler Arm
First: Check all front end components for wear. Replace worn stuff. Always replace upper and lower A-arms in pairs.
Best near stock set up:
Total Cost with sway bar: $1,200
On pre 1967 Mustang and Cougar, Pre 1966 Fairlane and Comet replace the non adjustable strut rods with fully adjustable strut rods. On later ones replace the bushing with new components, urethane not required.
Use Roller Spring Perches, I prefer the Open Tracker Racing ones. The Falcon in 1960 had oilite bushed spring perches in 1960 and I believe 61.
Buy a body shim kit from the auto parts store or Harbor Freight and make up a shim that is 3/8th inch thick Put that shim between the shock tower and upper a-arm front bolt over the bolt. Note that the bolt hole may need to be enlarged slightly. You will need a Grade 8 bolt of the same size as original but longer to allow for tightening down the bolt.
Use either the low gas pressure KYB GR2 shock or if you are feeling sporty, Bilsteins. Or Koni, QA1 or Viking non gas shocks. I prefer the QA1 or Viking as these are are hydraulic shocks often with full adjust ability and unlike gas shocks will not add spring rate.
Optional: The street Shelby drop. This will lower the front slightly but more importantly will affect camber gain. Meaning the tire will stay flatter on the road in hard cornering. Opentracker has a nice set of steel templates that will be here long after we’re gone. Get those and use them.
While I am at it, I will want to consider replacing the old steering box with a new unit. Auto Krafters stocks a Falcon correct quick ratio box as well as the quick ratio box for the 1968 up Fairlane Comet Montego Torino. If your 1967 Fairlane has this box and not the “death lance” it will work. This is also the same box that Ford used on the Maverick and 1971 up Comet.
If no power steering how power? Use the Open Tracker Racing roller idler arm. This will free up the steering and ease the turning. Is it like power steering? No. is it way better than the stock ilder arm? Yes.
Sway bars. You get what you get. In many cases your level of selection is low. Go for a 1 inch bar with urethane bushings. Or use the stock bar and upgrade the bushings to Urethane. Auto Krafters has a good stock of urethane for the stock bars.
Alignment:
3 degrees caster, zero camber and 1/16 inch toe.
Parts Cost w/o:
All of these are in “ish”
Upper control arms: $200
lower control arms: $100
roller spring perches: $225
OpenTracker Racing Adjustable Strut Rods 1960-65 Falcon and 1965-66 Mustang: $285
Koni shocks: $200
QA 1, double adjustable: $264
Bilstein: $284
Viking double adjustable: $500
Options:
RRS Spherical bushings for factory adjustable rods $285
Jford@autorestomod.com
Insta: @autorestomod
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I used opentracker stuff and was really pleased with them. I did end up going with a global west upper arm to get more caster and it was redesigned for the Shelby drop. I couldn’t find a place to align my car so I ended up getting a longacre caster camber gauge and doing it myself. Really recommend the Longacre as I failed to get it right with the quick trick as the levels kept timing out with just me in the garage attempting to set caster. Longacre was nice to be able to directly read what you had and I didn’t feel rushed.
We really like a lot of the open tracker products. If I hadn't bought that alignment system the other day for $10 I probably would be looking at a Longacre system.
Lots of great info, Jeff. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Starting 10 years ago I began performing all my front end rebuilds and alignments myself. That includes two '69 Fairlanes and a '72 Comet. While there are differences in the Comet, most of it's components are same as Fairlane. Includes upper & lower control arms, steering sector etc. Installs all include complete rebuild of P/S system. Fairlanes orig manual, installed factory P/S on both, includes swapping to 16:1 sectors. Once new parts are installed, with lower arm camber adj loose, I'll pull the caster adj as far forward as they'll go(maybe leave a couple of threads). What's that setting? Dunno and don't care, if steering pulls, I'll lengthen rod on that side. For camber, digital angle finder, set ½-¾* neg, toe 1/8". Gives good feel to Fords original "numb" P/S. Yes, Mustang steering boxes are different but from '68-'71 Fairlane/Torino/Mercury twins, all Maverick/Comet, Granada are same(one Fairlane now has Maverick 16:1 sector) All these use rag joint, short shaft sector. The '66--'67 Falcons and '66 Fairlane use the long rod "chest spere" sectors. Some of these also use a smaller pitman arm shaft.
Good stuff!
I have always gone to NPD for my Mustangs (65 & 69) and WCCC for Cougars (68 & 70). These cars are old, and so are the suspension parts. I would encourage everyone to replace all of the parts with new stock parts.
FWIW, I'm a fan of Summit Racing brand "drag shocks." They're hydraulic, three-way adjustable, and affordable. On their standard settings, (60/40 front, 50/50 rear) they work great for street driving. Also, while they're not as common as they used to be, watch your local Pull-a-Part yard for Granadas and Monarchs. Besides disc brakes that are adaptable to many sixties Fords, they come with a 15/16" front sway bar that is a direct bolt-in for '65 and '66 Mustangs. (And probably many years of Falcons, Comets, etc.)
I really like the Granada spindles for post 1966 Mustangs. They're not as good for the earlier cars because they really affect your bump steer. Those spindles on a 1966 up Fairlane are also really good.
Excellent tip on the front sway bar I did not know that the Granada had the bigger bar on it . On that same note , I haven't seen a Granada in the junkyard here locally in probably 5 years.
Thanks for another great video. After watching an alignment shop try to adjust my ccaster bolts with a sledgehammer, I started doing my own. I’ve had good luck with a bubble gauge and a tape measure.
What's really fun is going to a place like Eubanks' alignment in Augusta Georgia, and watching those guys use chalk and old and, I mean, old toe measurement and caster and Camber equipment to get excellent alignment results. All the computer aided equipment that's out there now, and most of these guys don't know what to do when you're presenting them with a 66 Mustang LOL.
The 1966 Fairlane have some one year only tie rods and I think idler arm. I remember them being almost double the price of the 67 stuff. Also get the upgraded camber bolt kits. Better than the originals.
The 66 Fairlane tie rods were oriented a different way from the 67, correct. But you can use 67 rods (more widely available) and just swap them around.
From memory, 66 had long outer and short outer, and 67 short outer and long inner. But you can use 67 parts on a 66.
Change them to mid 70s Granada and rest easier.
I don't think the idler arm change but I know the tie rods in 67 were long inner short outer like they did from then on. It's easy to make that change over.
Holman Moody invented the Shelby drop. Used it on their rally Falcons.
Ball bearing idler arm kits were common in the 60s+.
I just bought bearings at the store and did the mod myself. Definitely do it !!
70s Granada V8, 15/16" anti roll bars fit nearly everything.
For 62-65 Fairlanes just make a frame mount for them. As do Granada (etc) spindles. Grab the brake brass combination valve below the master cylinder. You need one.
When you determine ride height, install a bump steer kit before aligning.
Rag joints or solid Mustang shafts... Install a double D collapsable steering shaft, for safety. Common street rod parts.
There is also a kit available $375 ? installing ball bearings on the upper control arms of 62-65 Fairlanes. 👍👍
Good stuff Ray!
On the 68 Fairlane I have done multiple adjustments on the double adjustable Vikings as It has been driven as set, comfort ride and 2 levels of drag racing. I know I am more of an exception but it will get adjusted for curves as well as. Just had to pick on you a little.
I'm not saying there aren't people that will play with the refrigerator shells incessantly. I just find that I leave them where they are except on the rears. Pick away. I love it
Just letting you know, but you've got a crack in your windshield.
That is shotgun mount.
It's just a fresh wound.
Very well done. Great information and detail. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
The amount of whining and moaning from my local alignment shop when I made an appointment was pathetic. I needed them to do it because I had rebuilt the entire front end and wanted to keep the drive as short as possible. I had to wait until the one guy who could do it came back from vacation, but they did it. The car wandered all over the place. Ended up going to a place that specialized in old cars. Not cheap, but it’s right.
Yeah that seems to be the general consensus on alignment shops
Great information. I tend to go with Global West, Open Tracker, or Street or Track. Detroit Speed is also making some nice suspension parts for the Mustang.
My top pick is RRS-USA, then Street or Track, and then everybody else. I like the IRS system because it completely modernizes the front suspension. With the RRS system, you're not cutting corners by using the stock spindle just so you can retain original brakes.
@@AutoRestoMod Jeff, you are not going to get any pushback from me, all rational thinking when it comes to suspension upgrades. on another note. These suspension systems have gotten so damn expensive.
How about a video about the rear leaf suspension?
I might try to do that in a couple of months
Great info Jeff
Thank you
Good information
Thanks
I broke my hand doing the Shelby drop on my 1967 fairlane 1/2 dewalt drill don’t play
Good video! On the Toe setting, is that 1/16th toe in or toe out? I do my own alignments at home and I have scales for cross weights. I typically go for a little toe out for track day/auto-X but for just street driving, I shoot for zero or 1/32 toe-in. Since I can, I have played around with it. Assuming most people would not notice.
Sorry I should have said toe in. 1/32nd of toe is good if you can achieve it. But most folks can't get that finite with their alignment work.
Uncle Tony is the Mopar guy.
TONY!
Hard to find someone to do wheel alignment? Heck, it can be hard to find someone to reline drum brakes these days. I'm not sure why there aren't coilover conversions out there using a T bar mounted where the stock lower spring mount goes. Adequate caster is just huge in terms of getting the best out of modern tires. Power steering then becomes a really big deal. I don't think anyone has ever said they wished they hadn't done the Shelby-Arning drop, unless they screwed up the work. In my experience, poly bushings for the sway bar really wake up the turn in and suspension feel. I realize that mostly I'm just agreeing with you, but you didn't talk about strut rod bushings. I am NO fan of heim joints on the street, and most of the strut rod bushing eliminators use some sort of metal on metal, spherical joint that's poorly sealed from the elements. Something based around a tie rod end would be a better solution, IMO, but there's nothing out there. Opentracker has something that looks good to me, their Delrin monoball bushings. They don't crank ends of the strut rods like poly bushings. While they're not sealed, Delrin is self lubricating and the concave washers could do a good job of wiping any dirt away from the joint as it moves.
I like the open tracker racing Delran bushing setup as well. RRS has a self-cleaning spherical bushing that they use for more high-performance applications that is a really nice piece for the track. I am not really crazy about the newer fad of coilovers mounted to the shock absorber location. It is actually somewhat of a weak spot on the upper control arm, and I don't think it's the best solution to the problem.
I want to do my 1962 Mercury COMET.
I am 71. I can do my own front in alignment. I really appreciate this video. I think I will go with A V.Eight
Good luck
Thank you
What is you thought on using polyurethane control arm bushings on my 75 Torino.Thanks agian for your Ford wisdom.
I think poly bushings would work really well to help control some of the suspension mushiness of those large cars. But I also think they're going to transfer a lot more noise and harshness into the chassis that you'll feel/hear inside the car. That being said, if you turn the radio up loud enough and play ACDC, you shouldn't have a problem at all.
Do you know if 70 mustang tie rods fit on our aussie ford falcons?? Looking to upgrade my XB with open tracker parts.
I believe that the XB used the larger 1970 Mustang style outer tie rod end. You can Source those locally in Oz and save yourself some money.
If you do the Shelby drop on a ‘64 Falcon, should you still use the 3/8” spacers between the shock tower and upper control arm?
The spacers won't hurt anything because you're affecting the caster, and the Shelby modification affects the camber (and caster slightly). Remember, more Castor is gooder. Post 1966, Ford did the drop back for the upper control arm, so yeah, it will be very effective.
I added the 3/8" shims to the upper control arms on my 69 Ranchero, do I still need the adjustible strut rods? I havent had it aligned yet. I also replaced the front springs with the roller perches. Thanks
With 3/8th inch shims, you don't need to adjust the strut rods. It's just something you'll want to look at to see where your caster settings are after adding the shims. If you're not around 3° of Caster, then you'll want to throw some Caster in on the strut rods.
@@AutoRestoMod Just checked my caster with the shims in and only have about 0.5 deg of caster. Do I need to purchased adjustible strut rods to get to 3 degs?
I am wanting to rebuild the front suspension in my 68 mustang with mostly stock components other than a Shelby drop and UCA’s is global west mnr-733 a good option and any cons to just upgrading the UCA’s and leaving everything else new but stock
My honest opinion is that if you're going to do the Shelby drop and you use the 3/8 in shims you really don't need the expense of the tubular upper a arm. Ain't nobody going to see that upper a arm when you put the wheels and tires on it LOL
3 eights is less than 1”
and half to adjust toe!!!!