1957 country sedan build

[Ford Blue blood]

NAPA has a book that will give you a part number for a joint that will allow mixing and matching yoke to shaft.  You need the exact dimensions of both saddles, the shaft and the yoke, cup diameter and spacing, then run down the chart in the book to find a match.

[1930artdeco]

Ok, Tuesday's is spring day. Steps: knock out spring extender blocks, compress spring, break both ball joints loose and then drop the bottom arm down while on the floor jack, remove spring and then loosen the compressor. Repeat with other side. Now, once they are out what is the best way to get the upper and lower arms out? On the upper arms how do you get the shaft out? On the bottom what is the procedure to get the 'pins out?

Thanks,

Mike

[djfordmanjack]

thats a pretty much straight forward job, Mike. the upper shaft comes out with the A arm assembly. You just need to unbolt the nuts. make sure to keep track of the alignment shims. ( the shaft can only be removed from A arm upon pressing out the rubber bushings)
the lower bolts you remove the smaller hex bolts from one side and push the pins out to the opposite direction. a good penetrating fluid will make the job easier. Since your wgn came from a very dry climate, I think it's all gonna come apart pretty easily.

[djfordmanjack]

you can build a ball joint removal tool from a piece of thickwall tubing some washers and a 1/2 or 9/16 bolt and nut.

[1930artdeco]

Thanks Guenter,

I have sneaky suspicion that she is going to fight me the whole way. She sure is making things tough for me already. I plan to take the shaft bolts out a d replace them with the shims in the same spots and tighten down so they don?t get lost.

As for the upper shaft once it is out, I have to pull the bushings to get it out of the arm-correct? Just was hoping to see if I need a new shaft and bushing or just bushing. I am hoping for the latter.

As for the tool, do you have a build picture on how you built it? These ball joints are toast so don?t care about the boots. But when I do this again in 15 yrs. it will help.

Ordered shocks last night, springs at the end of the month and rebuilt the A arms in June. July, everything goes back together!!!! I hope.

Mike

[RICH MUISE]

JFYI, when I rebuilt my front end, I ordered new upper shafts because, well just because new ones were available. Rare Parts was the only supplier I could find at the time..........180.00 EACH!! I had just assumed that over the years the shafts had to be worn out, right? When I got the new shafts I checked them with a mic and they were actually .001 smaller than the original 50 year old ones.

[1930artdeco]

OK, after figuring out how to use a coil spring compressor again I got them compressed only to have the stud spin in the lower ball joint so that the nut won't come off. Of course it didn't help that I whacked it with a sledge to see if I could get the joint to pop loose . So tomorrow I will have to cut the nut off so I can drop the arm. Hey, I am a little slow but I get there .

Here is a wiring question that I just thought about. I am going to order a complete loom from Ron Francis now how do I install it? Do I just take out the instrument cluster and then lay on my back for the rest or do I take out the whole dash rewire and then reinstall? I was hoping to leave the dash wiring alone for now if I can. I know I am getting ahead of myself a bit, but it popped in my head and I thought I would ask.

Mike

[mustang6984]

If you are buying a full wiring harness...I would bite the bullet...pull the dash and lay it on the work bench, grab a beer (as in A&W or Barq's or what ever your favorite may be  ) and do the whole thing in comfort. Laying on the back...not comfy!
Yea...it'll take more time, and be more of a job...but when you're done...you ARE done! JMHO! 

[1930artdeco]

FINALLY!!!!!

I got the springs and PS unit out of the car. I now have one more ball joint on each side to take out and I hope the fork holds up. I had to reform it once already, bloody Chinese made tools. I had to destroy one nut on a lower ball joint (probably my fault) and the nut holding the PS ball stud on. So on Sat. I will try and break the other ball joints loose and remove the control arms. I fully expect there to be problems on the lower A arm bushings. SO, what is the best way to get rusted/corroded/dirty bolts and bushings out of the lower arms?

Mike

[abe_lugo]

For the wiring. 
Photograph where your existing wiring goes.
Photo the back of the dash.
Bag and tag the bolts for the parts you take off.


Roll it from the rear  try to unplug stuff and roll back.  Don't cut into it as you might need some stuff later.

Disconnect the rear wiring from the Main.
Do you have power windows?  Keep that as a separate section if you do. I still have my original power window harness blended into the new one. 

Disconnect the front engine.  from the main harness.  Then if you are going to do it anyhow remove the dash.

I would say. If you going to pay up for a Ron Francis.  Just buy a repop Ford 57 style harness.  That way all the color codes and everything can go back together like original.

Otherwise you WILL HAVE TO CONVERT SOMETHINGS FROM GM TO FORD.  You can still use your dimmer switch and ignition switches. 

On the dash there will be a power reduced for some dash parts only.

Most aftermarket harnesses are setup as GM first. 
So a lot of the connector will be ready to plug in GM parts.

Let me tell you how much I regret that.  I regret that lot.

I recently went ahead and figured out the original 57 turn signal switch to GM wires.  It had what is called a hair comb connector with a universal switch on the column.  But I took the time to clean up my old switch and figure it out. 
Had I bought an original style harness. It would have been a plug and play affair.  Especially at the price of a Ron Francis kit.

Anyhow basically when you re-wire you do it in sections. Engine, front lights. Rear lights.  Interior. Dash. 

Also you want to make sure you have all the grounds set.

I recommend batterycablesusa.com for new battery cables. Make just about anything in the gate as you want and are all made in the USA. And fair prices.

I would run the wiring along where it went before.

Find 1157 piglet wires for the taillights. Find some  female blade connector. Headlight connectors   Sometimes the kits don't bring these and they add up.

Get some friction tape the non glue type.  You can get it on Amazon or eBay.  This to wrap the wrong when your ready for final routing.

Btw you seems to be triple posting on all the common forums.  I have about 4 I got and see the same story. Haha.  Well how you get more advice that way and you take it.   

[RICH MUISE]

Gotta disagree with you because of the Ron Francis brand. That was a great choice. One of the few, if not only, harness manufacturers that cater to Ford.....nothing GM about them. At least that was the case with the express kit I got from them. Best quality and best instructions. Nothing with the Ron Francis is going to pair up well with the old harness, so, just pull it all out and start from scratch. They straight out tell you, if their harness conflicts with the oem, follow the RF instructions.
I'd also follow their recommendation of wiring the car as if it were plastic/fiberglass..........wired grounds. Nothing on my car is grounded to the body and in 5 years I've had zero wiring issues.
I'm guessing the harness you are regretting, Abe, was a "universal" wiring harness.........the description that should be avoided when buying a harness, especially for a Ford. I don't think Ron Francis even makes a universal harness, at least their Express series is not. They are made for your specific car and serial numbered. Our old '57s don't have much in the way of connectors, but if your going new school drivetrain and steering column such as I did, the connectors become very important. Ron Francis only uses GXL and Sxl wires.double jacket cross-linked urathane for heat and abrasion resistance. You can tell the difference the first time you strip the end of a wire....tough stuff, yet soft and flexible.

[1930artdeco]

Thanks Abe,

Yep I post on a couple of forums so that I get as much knowledge as possible-so I apologize that you are getting multiple postings of the same thing. It has been 20+ years since I was in the OHV world, I normally hang in the flathead world with my Model A. As for the wiring, I was hoping to leave the dash alone for now and just deal with the engine compartment and tail light area. That is the hope.....

Mike

[gasman826]

I went with Ron Francis Express for Ford with extra length wires for console fuse panel install and special steering column plug for mid '70s Ford.  The steering column plug saved me from having to do it (big plus).  The extra long wires weren't!  I had to add wire to one taillight.  I would have had to add wire to one headlight but thought it was a good time to install headlight relays and so the headlight wires were long enough.  TIP:  INSTALL HEADLIGHT RELAYS.  The instructions were great and are now part of the build doco'.  The fuse panel wasn't as rugged as I expected but still good.  The wire quality, colors and labels are great.  But as most after market products, they default to GM style.  The included headlight switch was a GM style switch with GM style socket, terminals, and dome light wiring.  I wanted to preserve the Ford headlight switch and had wired the dome light system as a Ford.  So the GM socket wouldn't just plug into the Ford head light switch.  So popped all the terminals out of the GM socket to clip them back into the Ford socket only to find the GM style terminal ends wouldn't interchange into the Ford socket.  It would have saved a lot of time if I would have just clipped the wires in the first place.  I never have gotten the courtesy lights to work off the headlight switch.  Now that I have went through the learning curve, I will order a Ron Francis wiring harness for the next project.  I will know the next time to not assume ordering a Ford compatible harness means Ford compatible switches are to be used.  I will be very specific about every connection.

[glr7533]

I went with the Ron Francis Express kit. When you order the kit  they will ask a lot of questions about your car. I went with an alternator so they set the kit up for that instead of the generator. It does come with a GM headlight switch and GM connector for the turn signals. To make the dome light work correctly you will need a different socket for the dome light and will need to run a ground wire to it. I got the socket from Amazon for just a couple of dollars. You can order the kit with the wires connected to the fuse panel or not connected. I got mine not connected so I could start at the lights or accessories and run the wires back to the fuse panel. You can have the dash out of the car and wire the whole thing and then connect it to the fuse panel once it is back in the car. As Rich said run an extra ground wire. I have one run to the trunk, one to the dash and another under the hood. Don't forget to check the instrument voltage regulator and also oil your speedometer head. I didn't oil my when the dash was out and it started to scream at me. It is a real bear to oil when it is back in the car. If you have the dash out it is also a good time to clean the gauge faces and touch up the indicator needles with a little paint. The kit sounds expensive but by the time you by a fuse panel, relays, turn signal flasher, headlight switch, and a pile of different gauge and color wires there isn't a lot of difference.

[mustang6984]

And by buying a RF kit (or any other after market one) the wires TELL you where they go! Big asset for idiots! I like not having to figure out where stuff goes...read the wire...hook up the wire...move on! Oh Yea! (I AM an idiot!)