Spring Perches dont move at all

[Carnivore 0]

Note: You can skip to the very bottom if you dont want to read the story

 

Hey all. I'm putting my new front suspension chunks on my car(bought it all from Laurel Mountainn Mustang) and lastnight, I'm rushing to get it together so I can roll the car back in the garage before the evening dew begins to come down.. There is much bare metal on the car and I've found the horrors dew can cause first hand. :thumbdown:

 

 

Regardless, I had the upper and lower control arm on with all the crap inbetween, and was onto getting the spring in. I compressed it with my fancy spring compressor (Actually MEANT for compressing springs.. I like it a lot more than using an array of like 10 adjustable hose clamps to compress the spring.. safer I'd bet too:thumbup1:) ..

Note for the spring compressor: wrap the hooks with electrical tape and its easier to position how you want plus it wont scratch the paint on the spring nearly as easily. the rubbery tape helps keep the hooks from sliding out of position when your trying to get it setup right.

 

Then I bolt on the Spring Perch. Well I couldnt get the spring to fit in because the perch wasnt rotated right. It would have required me to compress the spring a few more inches, which I couldnt do. I tried hammering the spring perch to force it into rotating a bit but it wont budge. Because the dew was quickly enroute to begin rusting the roof and other panels, I just grabbed the old perch and threw it on.:thumbdown:

so my question: is my perch broken? Is there a way I can force it to rotate? How hard should it be to rotate? I dont really have any idea. I dont feel motivated enough to make roller perches. I'll save that project for the future.

[bnickel 10,004]

stock rubber perches are very difficult to rotate and new ones can be almost impossible. nothing wrong with them but that is the exact reason for the roller perches.

[Cupid 10]

Your perches are not likely to be broken. I replaced my entire suspension last week. My perches would not move...period! I had to position the springs in a fashion that when I let the car down, they would butt up against the tab stops. Since I went with 65-69 springs, they were a lot smaller than regular drop springs for a 69-70.(The claim is that it gives you an extra 1/2" drop...go figure). Anyway, my point is, I was able to wiggle the driver side spring around to the tab, but the passenger side was another story. Since the tab is on the outside on the passenger side, I was forced to ease the car down onto the perch so the spring would get close to the tab. After about 3-4 attempts later, I got the spring to line up properly. Good luck and I hope this helps.

[Carnivore 0]

Wasnt some dude around here or Stangnet making & selling roller perches?

 

I'll probably stick with these for the time, but in the future and upgrade may be likely, so I should probably keep something in mind.

 

 

For the current situation: Cupid, the tab you mean is the little stop tab thing on the perch that the end of the spring rod butts up against right? its different between passenger and drivers side? ... I may have not noticed something like that and just mirrored the two sides. I have a second 69 sittin around though, I'll check that I guess too.

 

Maybe I can figure a way to pry the perch a little to move it or something... or find a bigger hammer.

 

 

Thanks guys.

[Protowrxs 111]

OpenTracker is the brain child behind the roller perches. Pretty active at StangNet and others. http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/ is the direct link. There is some good info and parts sources at Daze Cars http://home.bresnan.net/~dazed/opentracker and Mustang Depot is re-selling Opentracker's perches I believe. www.MustangDepot.com is the link.

 

I bought the bearings and journals and have cut up some old perches for mine but I'm not finished yet.

 

I'm thinking of leaving my springs out until I have everything pretty much finished on the front side by locking down and old shock shaft to hold the car at the height I want. It's such a pain working on a car setting 12" or more higher than normal in the front. Plus it looks cooler sitting low up front :)

 

-Stephen

[Trinitys 134]

I also made my own spring perchers and installed them. it's not hard IF you can weld and have a drill press. it will free up the front end considerably.here's a pic of the ones i made

[Protowrxs 111]

Looks like a nice job Trinitys. I tried my little drill press and ended up just using a hand drill and a vice to get the bushing journal cut out with better results so it can be done without a press I guess.

 

I also just burned out the rubber instead of digging, cutting and hammering.

 

:gunsmilie:

 

-Stephen

[Cupid 10]

For the current situation: Cupid, the tab you mean is the little stop tab thing on the perch that the end of the spring rod butts up against right? its different between passenger and drivers side? ... I may have not noticed something like that and just mirrored the two sides. I have a second 69 sittin around though, I'll check that I guess too.

 

Maybe I can figure a way to pry the perch a little to move it or something... or find a bigger hammer.

Thanks guys.

 

Yes, that tab stop thingy is exactly what i'm talking about. Just so you know. The Spring perches should look identical. This means that when you install them, the passanger tab stop thingy should be outboard(toward you). The driver tab stop should be inboard(toward the engine). My driver's side was waaaay easier to install.

[bnickel 10,004]

Yes, that tab stop thingy is exactly what i'm talking about. Just so you know. The Spring perches should look identical. This means that when you install them, the passanger tab stop thingy should be outboard(toward you). The driver tab stop should be inboard(toward the engine). My driver's side was waaaay easier to install.

 

wrong, both tabs should point in towards the shock tower, you simply have to reverse them from side to side. they are supposed to be that way otherwise you can get one side of the front end higher than the other, only slightly but still...

[Cupid 10]

wrong, both tabs should point in towards the shock tower, you simply have to reverse them from side to side. they are supposed to be that way otherwise you can get one side of the front end higher than the other, only slightly but still...

 

Oh yeah, I screwed that one up... Excuse me while I go shoot myself. Thanks for the correction bnickel.

[bnickel 10,004]

Oh yeah, I screwed that one up... Excuse me while I go shoot myself. Thanks for the correction bnickel.

 

no problem, no need to shoot yourself either. one of mine is backwards that's how i know you can get a diff in height. i didn't do it though, i had a buddy who used to restore mustangs and other fords weld up a cracked control arm for me several years back and he put it on backwards. i noticed a while back when i was doing some cleanup under the front end. eventually i will be installing a whole new front suspension and roller perches at the same time so i'm going to leave it for now, especially since i can't even drive the car yet, but it will be fixed because it drives me nuts.

[Carnivore 0]

I double checked my other 69 and it had both tabs to the center, so I copied that. Thankfully it seems that is indeed correct. Yay!

 

 

Cupid, you are a bad bad person... :tt2:

 

:wink:

 

 

Thanks anyway, and thanks everyone else! I managed to finnagle the new perch on... and did the Shelby drop to both sides while I was at it. :thumbup1: