I am about to replace the front crossmember  on a 56 Victoria and will rebuild the front suspension during the teardown. I plan to examine , clean and reuse what is good and replace shocks and bushings for sure. While the ball joints and tie rods have fittings for lubrication, I have found no info in the shop manual as to where to lubricate the control arm bushings or the upper shafts. Should I drill the bushings and screw in grease fittings or just grease the shafts and crossmember bolts the the bushings spin on. I did a rebuild on another 56 Fairlane years ago and It was squeaky a year or two later..    George

I'm also in the process of replacing the control arm bushings right now on my 56 Victoria. I don't believe they are to be lubricated at all. My concern is the aftermarket bushings that I've received. Poor fit and different lengths than the originals which I assume would affect caster settings. 

SE Wis

For squeaky rubber control arm bushings, a periodic shot of silicone lubricant helps.  While a shot of brake fluid on those bushings was the old school fix, brake fluid is hard on the paint.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

should they be installed with silicone lubricant?

SE Wis

I typically only use a shot of WD40 on the metal to metal press fit parts.  It’s the rubber bushings themselves that tend to squeak on some vehicles over the long haul.  I rebuilt the front end of my ’55 back in ’89 and after 200K miles, those bushings are still quiet.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I had thought that there is some movement on the metal surfaces where the inner bushings contact the upper shafts and lower control arm bolts ,thus requiring some lubrication. When a car hits a bump, does the rubber in the bushings stretch to accomodate the up and down movement ?

That’s a YES on the rubber part of the bushing taking the blunt of the control arm movement.  To ensure that the rubber is not in a strain or bind when the car is in a relaxed (not moving) position, I will tighten those end nuts only after I have lowered the car so the normal weight of the car is on the wheels.  This will have the movement of the rubber in an equal strain in both the up and down positions and not at a normal or relaxed position.

If tightened while the car is still up (wheels all the way down), then the rubber is in a non-relaxed position when it’s in a normal stance and in an even more unrelaxed strain when the front-end nose dives some.  I feel that some of the squeaky bushings are a result of the rubber in the bushings being stretched beyond its limits and having some tear within them.  Some of that can be traced back to either aggressive driving, bad shock absorbers, and/or just installed where they are in a non-relaxed state when sitting at a normal stance. I trust that made sense.

Other comments always welcome.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I worked the lube rack at Sears in the 60’s. We had a spray in a pump bottle of “rubber” lube. It would silence squeaking bushings for a while and worked best in dry weather. I searched for a product to replace it over the years and found Ru-Glyde 2 years ago. It’s a product that was for mounting tires and work pretty well. I spray the bushings with every lubrication on the zerk fittings. The more often I use it the quieter the front end has gotten. I watch where in spray it and wipe off the excess. 

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Thanks. I get it now. I did not know that the rubber internals of the bushings flexed with the up and down motions of the control arms. With that knowledge in mind , the upper shafts and lower bolts have a chance of being reusable.  

I can echo Ted's recommendation on waiting to give a final torque until the full weight of the front end of the car is resting evenly on the suspension.  When I completely disassembled the front end of my 55 Ford Club Sedan, did some work on the crossmember, had the engine and trans out, etc, I agonizingly waited until everything, including the front bumper, was reinstalled before torquing the nuts on both the lower and upper control arms. I have not used any lubricant on the bushings, but I did use some anti-seize on the threads of the shafts and the bolts when I re-assembled everything. No problems so far. There is quite a bit on my website if you are bored. 

https://www.hotrodreverend.com/post/2017/09/07/55-ford-restoration-blog-part-4



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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