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By Daniel Jessup - 9 Years Ago
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Will 57 Ford thunderbird leaf springs work/fit on a 55/56 Ford sedan? I am also considering using the rear end from a wagon, but have a good lead on new leaf springs. The seller has not given me measurements yet but swears they are NOS.
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By NoShortcuts - 9 Years Ago
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Ford 'shared' as many components as possible in engineering the '55-'57 T-birds as well as other models. This was particularly true of mechanical parts. Two reasons, to speed-up product development for the 'Bird and to reduce production costs particularly for a vehicle that would not be sold in the quantities of their other models.
That said, FoMoCo often found it necessary to have unique parts for different body styles like passenger cars, station wagons/ sedan deliveries, and Thunderbirds. Sometimes they also specified differences in the parts used for certain models not because of component dimensional differences, but because of other factors related to a model's weight or anticipated use. Examples of this would be different part numbers for Police Interceptor, convertible, or Victoria model cars.
The part numbers assigned to the leaf springs for the three years of 'Birds were
B5S 5560-D for the 5 leaf spring for the '55 'Bird
B6S 5560--B for the 4 leaf spring used on the early production '56 'Bird
B7S 5560-A for the 5 leaf spring used on the later production '56 and all '57 'Birds
The 'S' in the part number prefix signifies that there is something unique about those leaf spring numbers that means they were a Thunderbird specific part. Going deeper on this, the '55 'Bird used a different length leaf spring than the '56 and '57. The 4 leaf springs on the early '56s weren't stout enough, so they moved to the 5 leaf spring for later '56 and all of '57.
For the '54-'56 Ford passenger car, a 5 leaf spring was supplied part no. B6A-5560-A (this number superseded the original '54 part number)
Also, for the '55-'56 Ford passenger car and Police Interceptor cars, a 6 leaf heavy duty spring was used, part no. B5A-5560-C
Hope this helps. 
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By slumlord444 - 9 Years Ago
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Not sure if the '57 springs will work on the '55-'56 but I put '57 station wagon springs on my '57 Bird back in the mid '60's and they bolted right in. Had an extra leaf. Still on the car. The '55-'56 may be different.
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By Jimz Bird - 9 Years Ago
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The Ford - Lincoln - Mercury
1950-1965 Parts Interchange Manual lists the following. The decimal # is the price at that time. The Decimal # is the price at that time.
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By NoShortcuts - 9 Years Ago
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I sure would like to have a copy of that Ford-Lincoln-Mercury Interchange Manual, Jim The Hollander Interchange books are GooD on a lot of things, BUT...
THANKS for coming in on this.
Regards,
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By Jimz Bird - 9 Years Ago
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1950-1965 Parts Interchange Manual
I bought both the paper and the .pdf from these folks.
http://stores.ebay.com/Paper-n-Parts/Ford-Lincoln-Car-Manual-Lit-/_i.html?_fsub=13&_sid=1677698&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322
Both are good but, for those of us that need plenty of light and a magnifying glass the .pdf is the better of the two.
The .pdf was only $10.78 and pages can be printed off or Snagged if you need them.
I only see the paper on their store now but contact them for the .pdf.
It's Pat & Judy. parob at bright.net (replace "at" with proper symbol)
Hope this helps.
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By Louis Champeau - 9 Years Ago
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The aftermarket interchange books leave a lot out, and only show interchanges that use fomoco part numbers. There is a factory issued interchange books but they are extreamly rare. Also the only back not forward. Case in point 66 Ford Station wagon front drums (not hub and drum) fit a 57 Thunderbird, 54/66 GMC HD fuel filter is the same as the 57 E and F fuel filter.
Stick with Holander.
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