Thread: '56 Chevy Wagon-Front Suspension Rebuild

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Anyone else heading to Louisville for this weekends show?
I started getting the wagon ready for the trip to Louisville for the 50th anniversary of the Street Rod Nats.
This odyssey started a week ago Sunday afternoon when I decided to rebuild the passenger side front brake corner. new rotor, bearings and pads. The issue arose when I pulled the tire off. Badly worn on the inside, same thing on the drivers side. Camber is WAY off and these tires were ruined in less then 3K miles...
Note the lack of tread on the inside edge... Both tires were like this.


Took the car in for an alignment early Tuesday morning of last week. The tech called me into the pit after 10 or 15 minutes and said there is nothing he can do until the front suspension gets rebuilt... Everything needs to be replaced! Upper and lower control arm bushings, all four ball joints and the idler arm bushing is totally shot with no rubber at all in the joint... Incredibly, as bad as it was, it didn't drive like it was falling apart! This was totally unexpected.
I ordered all of the parts right then and there, drove the car home and started the tear down. We leave for Louisville next Wednesday morning!
I got both sides torn down to the frame in two evenings, started the clean up and rebuilding the arms Thursday and Friday evenings, and started putting it all back together Saturday morning.
Got her done Saturday evening. Took her for a short shakedown drive Sunday morning and was amazed at the difference! Even needing an alignment the drive was so much better! This will make a great highway cruiser with new idler bushings and an alignment.
Some pics of the job.
Tear down. I did this over two evenings. One side each evening.



Cleaning up and rebuilding the spindles and arms. I gave everything a bath and a scrub in Greased Lightening degreaser. This stuff is impressive. Works very well!


Painted gloss black and ready to go back together.




New bushings.

New ball joints.

Cleaning 63 year old grundge off the spindles.

Back together.

Drivers side.

Passenger side.

Back on the ground with new tires and ready for a test drive.
The tires that were ruined were 235/45-17's. These are 245/45-17's.

Thanks for following. This was done fairly quickly because of the timeline for the NSRA show. If I had more time I would have stripped the frame down and thrown some paint on that as well. Maybe next time!
Mark

You're great at documenting what you do, and for sharing with us here! Travel safe, and enjoy the BIG Show!

Nice work.

I always hated doing front end rebuilds (still do) but when I was running my shop I never turned one away.....they pay too good not to do them but you earn every penny.

Have a safe trip.



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I've always felt the alignment shop is overcharging, so I usually order a complete rebuild, and tell them to keep the parts for inspection by me afterward.

This was a big job, and I am OLD now... I am feeling the pain still today. It went well though with no surprises other then getting the springs back in. That worked out well though and we got it done.
I got the car into the alignment shop yesterday morning, as scheduled, and they had no issues getting it aligned. I am looking forward to this trip! The car drives great the A/C works, the brakes are great, all of the fluids are topped off and it is just about packed to go. I am traveling with a group of 6 or 7 cars so we will watch out for one another. We leave the meet up spot at 8 in the morning. Safe travels everyone!
Mark

Very nice work, a really first rate rebuild. So good that you document things so well, lots of great information in your description and pictures, perhaps some who need to do the same work but haven't tackled a front rebuild before will be motivated to take it on!

Worn suspension is a slow fade. I never know how bad it is till I replace something.

Thanks guys! Like I said in my 1st post the car did not drive as bad as the suspension was... We were totally surprised by what we found...
The car drove great the whole weekend. Almost 1200 miles with all of the side trips and sightseeing we did. It is definitely driving better and is comfortable on the E-way at 70 mph. It even pulled down 25mpg on a few legs of the trip.


Mark

Good for you Mark, looks and sounds like you had a blast. Way cool.

Nice work and great to hear it was knocking down those MPG's! Did you take a lot of pics while you were there?