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55 Ford Fairlane Refresh and Driver Resto Blog Begins!

Posted By Daniel Jessup 11 Years Ago
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Daniel Jessup
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Thank you Mark -- no wonder I was confused. I did kick myself though because I did take photos of the disassembly and should have seen it.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


lyonroad
Posted 11 Years Ago
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Daniel Jessup (11/29/2014)
For all of the success I have had, I did experience a "DUH!" moment last night when I was installing the bushings in the lower control arms. Note the photos... Maybe it was because it was thanksgiving week and I was distracted with deer hunting, smoking a turkey, having folks in, baking all kinds of food with the wife, Christmas decorations, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. The 55 Ford shop manual is a tick misleading when you look a the diagram. It shows the lower control arm bushing coming in from the front side, but if you look at it closely in the manual you can see a faint, dashed line, showing insertion from the BACK! Yep, I didn't catch all of this until I had fully seated the first bushing!!! When you do these, remember that both bushings, front and rear, are installed from the INSIDE of the arm facing out.... the large cupped washer should compress up against the rubber that is on the lip side of the bushing.


Daniel, I came across this issue as well when I was redoing my front end on my '55 Club Sedan.  When I disassembled the front suspension  the bushings were installed as you have yours now.  However the shop manual p.274 says "On the Thunderbird, the front bushing is pressed in from the inside of the lower front leg.  On all other cars, the front bushing is pressed in from the outside of the leg."  I raised this discrepancy on the forum, wondering if there was a typo in the shop manual.  Some of the boys from Australia said that they had always seen the bushings pressed in from the inside in all cases. Another member of this forum advised that the '56 Shop manual does not have this note.  Then came the revelation:  Jimz Bird posted the following notification from Product Service Letter P-235:

"A COMPILATION of PRODUCT SERVICE LETTERS"
which is a publication from CTCI.
This may clarify the bushing install.Product Service Letter P-235

Items 1002-1014
February 21, 1955

Item 1005 FRONT SUSPENSION (1955 Car and Thunderbird)

A double-shoulder front suspension lower arm mounting bolt bushing (B4A-3069-D) was released for the 1955 car
and Thunderbird. However, this bushing was not used in production. The bushing
(B4A-3069-C) now being used in production has a single shoulder and was used in late
1954 production. The removal and installation procedures in the 1955 Ford Car Shop Manual
are for the double-shoulder bushing. Please make the following correction
Page 274 of the shop manual to cover the single shoulder bushing.
On fig. 8, change Detail #5 to Detail #13. Cross out the note concerning Detail #6.
Rewrite the second paragraph fig. 9 to read as follows:
“On the Thunderbird and all car models, the front bushing is pressed in from the
inside of the lower arm front leg.” In fig. 9, cross out the note concerning Detail #6.

I have taped a copy of this correction in my shop manual.

Hope this clears things up for you and others who follow.




Mark

1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia
Daniel Jessup
Posted 11 Years Ago
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Basically one of the nuts had dislodged itself from the shock mounting location on the lower control arm. I think this happened when I was like 18 or something. Anyhow, I did get the nut to tighten down by sticking a screwdriver between the coils and hold it down while I put the bolt through. That was a long time ago. When I disassembled the front end, I knew I wanted to make sure those nuts were secure and that I needed to weld the loose one back to the control arm. Mission accomplished, and I decided to tack the other one in as well just for good measure.
 
 


Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


Daniel Jessup
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For all of the success I have had, I did experience a "DUH!" moment last night when I was installing the bushings in the lower control arms. Note the photos... Maybe it was because it was thanksgiving week and I was distracted with deer hunting, smoking a turkey, having folks in, baking all kinds of food with the wife, Christmas decorations, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. The 55 Ford shop manual is a tick misleading when you look a the diagram. It shows the lower control arm bushing coming in from the front side, but if you look at it closely in the manual you can see a faint, dashed line, showing insertion from the BACK! Yep, I didn't catch all of this until I had fully seated the first bushing!!! When you do these, remember that both bushings, front and rear, are installed from the INSIDE of the arm facing out.... the large cupped washer should compress up against the rubber that is on the lip side of the bushing.
 
 

How I ended up getting that bushing back out of there without damaging it, I do not know. Patience and Henry Ford's spirit Satisfied I guess...

Here are a couple of photos of the CORRECT installation
 
The other bushings and the other control arm all went well so we are about ready for paint. I did have to weld a nut onto the other control arm, but that was really a piece of cake. I will post photos later. I am about ready to clean up the spindles and start installing some of these items back on the frame. It will feel good to do that soon. Pilgrim's Progress lol...




Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


Daniel Jessup
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I had a little time to hit the shop again today and I was able to get the upper control arms all back together and ready for paint.
 

I blasted them in the cabinet and then coated them with the solution you see pictured. It is an off the shelf product from Lowe's. It took some time to dry, but that could be because of the lower temperatures at this time of this year.
 
After that I fitted the rear bushings to both control arms. The rear bushing is the one with the "step" that will stop you from driving it all the way to the lip. I advise you to be careful if you ever replace your bushings... that step on the bushings I had did not look too pronounced. It looked more like a "line" drawn around the circumference of the bushing.


Since I don't have a press, I decided to drive the bushings home with some pipe that fit just over the rubber, but met the lip of the bushing head - on. 1 and 1/2 inch pipe is what I used. It worked very well as you can see and I simply placed the arm on the vise and hammered each bushing home. I did do some preliminary painting to a few parts, but that was just so when I painted after they were assembled I could already have paint in those hard to reach areas. Also, beating and banging with a hammer on anything painted is going to mar it up big time.
 

I used some anti-seize on the shafts and the threads, but I was able to reuse all of the hardware. You can probably see that one of the old lock washers were broken - that was replaced from my hardware stash. Also, of the 3 washers that pertain to each control arm, one of them is larger than the other two. The larger one goes on the inside of the control arm at the rear after you slide the washer on the shaft. The other two washers go on the outside of the control arm on either side of course. One note here... the control arm is "springy" - in other words you can't get the second bushing on by simply "tightening down" the busing on the shaft using the threaded stud because the arm will bend with it. Both bushings have to be either pressed on or hammered on like I did.
 

 
I plan to paint them pretty soon, and I have started on the lower control arms with clean up. My sandblaster went out on me the other day because of the "el-cheapo" dead man valve so I am having to put those in the glassbead cabinet. The lower control arms are in a whole lot worse cosmetic shape than the upper control arms were. The passenger side arm is clean, blasted, and was just coated with the Prep Primer tonight.
On we go.



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


Daniel Jessup
Posted 11 Years Ago
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It has been some time since my last post, but I have good reason - believe me. There are things more important than our cars, that's for sure. However, the time I can spend in the shop is a good opportunity to meditate, relax, and unwind after dealing with so many people all day long and helping them with their problems. I have been known to crank up a good southern gospel music CD or even one my favorite sermons from a preacher of yesteryear and have at in the garage with all the work (er, fun).

Back to our blog
After the cross member was welded up by my friend Mike, I decided to smooth it up a bit and paint it with 3 coats of Rustoleum. I like the semi-gloss sheen on the frame and will use that for the sub assemblies as well.
 

I finally got back in the shop last night after spending a few weeks with other priorities. First up was the steering gear box and the rebuild. I had all of the parts I needed. The worm gear on the shaft was a used unit I found, but it was very near pristine on the grooves and fit perfectly. The bearings were already in good shape so I cleaned and kept those. I ordered a new seal for the sector shaft that holds the pitman arm. I got it from fleabay for something like $4 shipped and the thing fit very, very well. It was a US brand name seal, but memory fails me at the moment to tell you which one.
 
 
 
 
 
When I got it all completed, I was scratching my head over an "extra" part that I did not recall. After a few minutes it dawned on me that the large washer was actually the keeper for the original rubber seal for the sector shaft. I had forgotten that the seal was actually two pieces, so that large washer was obviously not need because the new seal was now one piece. The shim pack was interesting to deal with. I looked at the original number and thickness of the shims that were installed originally and I tried to install new shims that were an exact match. After torqueing down the bolts I spun the steering shaft and thought it seemed loose. As a matter of fact it was so loose that it actually had a little but of runout (vertically).
"Well that can't be right," I muttered.
After I looked at it crosseyed for a moment... "Hey bonehead! The replacement worm gear - that's what making the difference here."
So I removed one of the original 3 shims and just checked to see what would happen if there were no shims.... TIGHT as it could be!
No wonder there is a little frustration over getting the pre-load right. I guess it is a little tricky. I went through my pack of shims and just kept working on it until I found 3 that didn't have any play on the runout vertically but still kept it spinning "right"... now, what "right" actually is, I have no way of knowing. Someone had suggested using Ford's shop manual for the load, but that is with the leverage of the steering wheel. And... I don't have a torque wrench that goes to a very small inch/pounds. I guess I need a spring scale anyway. However, I would like to get this right on the bench before install... any ideas?

I greased the gears up pretty good and wrapped it all in plastic until it is installed. I have gear oil for it 80w90.

While I was at it I decided to put together the drag link. It was already in good shape - it just needed to be cleaned up.
 

Things were going so well I decided to tempt fate and dismantle both upper control arms. I needed heat on one occasion but things went reasonably well. Again, some of the rubber was about ready to disintegrate so it was a no brainer to replace all of this stuff up front.

 
For those of you that really know your stuff.. yes there are 3 large washers per upper arm. The third is in the box.




Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


Daniel Jessup
Posted 11 Years Ago
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My buddy Mike came over, looked at the crossmember, tapped around a bit, and told me he didn't think it needed to be replaced - let's weld her up! It didn't take him 20 minutes with my MIG 135 from Eastwood and Mike had it finished. We used 1/4" ad 1/8" plate cut to fit. He had good penetration throughout and I have already starting doing a little judicious grinding in a few areas to clean things up a bit. This thing is pretty strong and definitely stronger than stock. I have some Inner Frame Coating on the way from Eastwood, and will hopefully finish cleaning up the frame for paint soon.
 
   
 


Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


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Posted 11 Years Ago
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Daniel Jessup (10/21/2014)
You can see the photos (looking from the firewall) I only need a few plates welded in and we are good to go. Could I get another crossmember from a repro shop?
  Replacement ‘54-56 crossmembers are available from Goodell Fabrications.
11986 S. 267th E. Avenue
Coweta, OK 74429
Ph: 918-636-7071

Pricing is $299.95 postpaid.



Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)


Daniel Jessup
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My welding buddy talked to me the other day and he said he wants to get on the project so that motivated me to get out the sandblaster again and go to town on the metal in question. You can see the photos below (looking from the firewall) I only need a few plates welded in and we are good to go. Could I get another crossmember from a repro shop? Yes. Would I feel confident in getting the geometry right? No. Hehe I am sure there is a good way to do that with the measurements and all, but I figure if my buddy is telling me that it won't take much to "shore it up" why bother - he's the metal man, not me. The front is pretty simply - one long piece and we are good to go. The rear will need 4 pieces as the lower metal is very solid and does not need to be replaced but the wall itself needs attention.
 

I also did some work on those front end parts as you can see... blasted with glass beads and painted with semi-gloss black Rustoleum. The center link was in very good shape and disassembled easily. It should be a breeze to put it back together. The other parts in the box are just the start to the rebuild of the front end of course - gotta get this thing back on rollin' wheels before I put the 292 and 3 speed overdrive in the car. The steering gear is ready for a new sector seal, worm and shaft, shims, etc. I soaked it in solvent in a parts washer for quite some time and then cleaned it thoroughly. I took a wire wheel to the exterior and painted it in semi-gloss Rustoleum as well. All of the parts I need for the rebuild are on their way and hopefully I can have that thing buttoned up by next weekend. Can't wait to feel that steering tighten up. The original was as loose as a goose!
 
 


Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com


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Fellas thanks for the advice and ideas. I too decided to push out the inner bushing/sleeve by heating up the rubber (some of it was so worn it had just about disintegrated!) and just yanking it with a pair of pliers. After that I cut a deep groove in the ID of the metal bushing to get me started and then just simply tapped them out. One of them I obviously separated. It was not too difficult to say the least and now I can go ahead and blast those arms and then paint them up pretty. I barely nicked the edge of the ID on the arms, but I don't think it is going to be any big deal. Looks like those were the original bushings on the car.
 

Mark, I like that idea. I will have to see if I have a screw assembly long/large enough to press the new bushings in there.
Gary, I don't know why I didn't think of the air chisel! duh! That would have sped up the process for sure.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" w00t
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com




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