spherical spring perches

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blackford

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Location
Anaheim Hills, CA
My Car
Owner of Pacific Thunder Performance Engineering. Maker of suspension, chassis and steering parts for all vintage mustangs. Have 65 FB mustang fully restomodded with 331 and T5z drivetrain
I got asked by a customer about roller spring perches of which I had to respond that I don't currently make them. His gripe about existing roller perches is that they make the car sit up higher in the front. Cobra Automotive makes a nice set of bushed spring perches using oil impregnated bronze bushings that probably don't increase ride height...it's a nice clean design, but they go for $339. :-/

So...i've come up with a design that won't change the ride height. I'm using COM-12 3/4" Teflon lined spherical bearings with chrome moly bearing cups and a 3/4" shaft...probably 4130 chrome moly. The spherical bearings are load rated for at least 20,000 lbs each or 10x the load that the roller bearings are rated for and they are PTFE lined for self-lubrication.

Here are some pics of a prototype that I hacked up to show what they look like. Still have some work to do on these and some testing. I haven't settled on a price yet, but they will be competitive with the roller spring perches out there now, but much higher load rating and no change in ride height.

spring perch top.jpg

spring perch side.jpg

 
Blackford,

I went to the Cobra Automotive website to look at the mentioned spring perches and cannot see how they would have altered the height of his car. Anyway, the Cobra Automotive Competition Coil Spring Pivots for 1965-73 are from the original Ford design. They are expensive.

One advantage I see is that they are rebuild able. The disadvantage was the constant lubrication in their design.

Original Ford Design

The original spring perches found on the early Falcons had brass bushings. This allowed for a smooth rotation but had the downside of needing regular greasing and considerable friction between the surface of the bushing and the journal it rested in. Sometime before the Mustang hit the market in 1964, FoMoCo decided to replace the brass bushings with rubber ones, which was done primarily to cut costs. Although cheaper to produce, the rubber bushing spring perches lacked the smooth, easy turning radius afforded by the brass bushing.

1zh0ktd.jpg


Source: http://dazecars.com/dazed/opentracker.html

Your prototype is very interesting. I see that you have found a way around the Shock absorber studs. Another feature is they do not require lubrication.

Read more on the bearings: http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/3-4-spherical-plain-bearing-com12t-teflon-lined-rod-end-264/

I look forward to further prototype drafts of your rollerized spring perches.

Mustang7173:bravo:

 
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When I installed my Opentracker roller perches my front end went up about 3/4"-1".

Tracy your version is interesting but I worry about the long term wear characteristics of the teflon joint lining.

 
Hmm, I forget where I purchased mine from (10 years ago lol). They are rollerized and they did not increase ride height.

 
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