By RB - 6 Years Ago
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I just finished pulling the motor from my 56 Fairlane.. What is the purpose of the front yoke that attaches to the timing cover and rests on the front cross member.. It seems rather redundant since the 292 already uses 2 side mounts. It makes it a real PITA to get the engine extracted.. Is there a good reason not to eliminate it?
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 6 Years Ago
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Royce, I think I've read where that that bracket was used to make the engine a damper for the front suspension to prevent "freeway hop" caused by the tar strips in the old concrete highways. I never re-installed it in the two '56s I had and couldn't tell any difference. Of course I was a teenager at the time, and what do teenagers know?
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By oldcarmark - 6 Years Ago
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RB (1/16/2019)
I just finished pulling the motor from my 56 Fairlane.. What is the purpose of the front yoke that attaches to the timing cover and rests on the front cross member.. It seems rather redundant since the 292 already uses 2 side mounts. It makes it a real PITA to get the engine extracted.. Is there a good reason not to eliminate it? I think many were removed over the Years. I asked this Question myself a little while ago. Couple of Responses said that it was an extra Mount in case the Side Ones broke. I pulled the Motor on mine to clean it up and re-seal for Oil Leaks. I decided to put it back on. The Rubber insulators are available as Repros. You have to remove the Damper to get the Mount off.
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By darrell - 6 Years Ago
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i never reused them.i took the last one of 5 years ago.you dont miss it and the car is easier to work at.a lot of stuff was left of 56 fords the splash pan that went under the motor as well as the piece that bolted on top of the rad support seldom went back on.54 to 56 were not an easy car to work on try putting in a set of points when its hot i dont know how they did it back in the day.
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By KULTULZ - 6 Years Ago
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Royce, I think I've read where that that bracket was used to make the engine a damper for the front suspension to prevent "freeway hop" caused by the tar strips in the old concrete highways. I never re-installed it in the two '56s I had and couldn't tell any difference. Of course I was a teenager at the time, and what do teenagers know? John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"
John explained it quite well. Not to steal his thunder but It was named STEADY-REST to tighten the frame up.
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By paul2748 - 6 Years Ago
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I know that a lot of people took it off and left it off (see above), but when I put the 312 in my 54 I put it back on just for peace of mind and to act as it was intended - which in my opinion was another stabilizing bracket
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By RB - 6 Years Ago
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Decision made.... It gets tossed.... Thanks for the comments
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By Lou - 6 Years Ago
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Buy a spare radiator, with out the study rest you might need one after a really hard stop.
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By PF Arcand - 6 Years Ago
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I don't own a 55-56 ford, but without the "steady rest," how secure is the engine if the transmission is removed?..
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By KULTULZ - 6 Years Ago
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Consider re-sale or just boxing it.
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By Ted - 6 Years Ago
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Lou (1/17/2019) Buy a spare radiator, with out the study rest you might need one after a really hard stop.
PF Arcand(1/18/2019) I don't own a 55-56 ford, but without the "steadyrest," how secure is the engine if the transmission is removed? The installed front engine steady rest was part of the better ride those ’54-’56 Fords were noted for. But doing away with the steady rest didn’t kill that ride or the dependability of the car. Those steady rests were over kill in regards to engineering and were eliminated on the ’57 and newer models. I put FE’s in a majority of those early Fords back in the day and the steady rest was the first thing to get rid of. Besides those steady rests not bolting up to the FE engines, they were simply in the way. The Ford frames were boxed very well so the flex seen in the ‘C’ car frames was not an issue in our older Fords which is where the over-engineering of the Ford cars comes into play. In eliminating the steady rest, there are no issues with engines coming forward on hard stops as long as the existing engine and transmission mounts are in fair condition.
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By Rusty_S85 - 6 Years Ago
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Guess I should consider myself lucky as my old '56 still sports the gravel shield under the engine as well as the steady rest.
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By DryLakesRacer - 6 Years Ago
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About the same as every car built after 61. Exhaust pipes held up most of the one I worked on.....
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By Brent - 6 Years Ago
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Are the Fairlane engine mounts the same as the Thunderbird?
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By oldcarmark - 6 Years Ago
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Different style Steady Rest.
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By KULTULZ - 6 Years Ago
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Are the Fairlane engine mounts the same as the Thunderbird?
The BIRD has a different and very unique mounting system.
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By paul2748 - 6 Years Ago
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What looks like steady rest in a Tbird (and trucks) is actually the front mount. TBirds used "steady rests" on both sides of the block
Brent (1/18/2019)
Are the Fairlane engine mounts the same as the Thunderbird?
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By Rusty_S85 - 6 Years Ago
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Yep there are differences.
Here is the T-bird steady rest which is actually called a front support in this case.

Here is the engine side support for the Thunderbird.

Here is the engine support for 54 and up cars

And the car steady rest which I couldn't find in the parts and illustration guide but there is a illustration in the 1956 shop manual I have.

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By DryLakesRacer - 6 Years Ago
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The trans shop and I both caused a problem with the harmonic part of the front damper to make contact with the steady rest. I repaired the problem and later found that contact moved the timing mark. I was able to get a damper from a friend and I have it rebuilt and now am changing it. I've decided to remove the "steady rest" and have a question for those who have done it, The portion of the mount where the large bolt from the bottom go thru still sticks out in the way. How many have cut it off? The mount must stay because it looks it part of the radiator framing and is spring mounted. The auto trans cooling lines were a pain to remove with the steady rest in there.

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By KULTULZ - 6 Years Ago
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The trans shop and I both caused a problem with the harmonic part of the front damper to make contact with the steady rest. I repaired the problem and later found that contact moved the timing mark.
... hmmpf ... Never thought of that. THANX for the wake-up call. Newly learned FACTOID of THE DAY.
The portion of the mount where the large bolt from the bottom go thru still sticks out in the way. How many have cut it off? The mount must stay because it looks it part of the radiator framing and is spring mounted. The auto trans cooling lines were a pain to remove with the steady rest in there.
The mount is part of the front cross-member (5019). You could cut the flange but leave the mounting section for the core support.

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By DryLakesRacer - 6 Years Ago
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I've decided to cut off part of the mount dress the edge and place some grooved rubber over it to protect my hands when working under the car. I'll attach the part I cut off to the rest of the steady-rest which I will save. It could easily be mig welded back on. I checked a friend of mine modded 56 with a 302 and nothing is there as I expected including the shields.
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