Morning coffee

[CobraJoe]

Can't say I have on anything, but I use air tools; unless maybe the guy who did your alignment didn't tighten the enough?
Probably wouldn't hurt to put a little Loc-Tite on them.

[mustang6984]

Kinda sounds like something did not get a final torque...

[lalessi1]

How many shims front and back do you have? You are not supposed to have greater than a 1/16" difference in total thickness front to back...

[RICH MUISE]

There's a substantial difference, Lynn....eyeballing maybe 3/16 in both rear locations, and about 1/2" in both fronts, for a 5/16 dif.. It's been that way since the first alignment, and two different shops. Alignment has always been great, tire wear near perfect..........front tires have about 40+k on them, not close to needing replacement. I remember Bill commenting on the even tire wear when I stopped to visit him on the way back from Florida.
Honestly, I don't really understand alignment too well, but I thought the difference in thicknesses was due to trying to get as much positive caster as possible (it's about +2 I think)
Interesting that you asked that.

[Ford Blue blood]

I have to wonder about the 1/16" thing.  Is that old bias ply alignment spec?  A starting point for initial assembly?  A reference setting to check "squareness"?  Does not make sense as many items in the front suspension being replaced could be different then the original parts.  I don't see how a larger difference in spacer dimension would put stress on any of the components or cause binding of the arms or joints.

An equal number of shims removed or added to mounting bolts will change camber.  Uneven shims, front to rear will affect castor and possibly camber.  Can't in my mind validate the 1/16 thing, it just don't rule a proper alignment setting to get the best ride/handling.

[hiball3985]

I know I have at least a 1/8 difference just to get +1 castor. But sometimes I question the shop manual specs. These books are written before the cars actually go on sale and hit the road. If you look at the pictures of the front suspension parts they are 56 so I wonder if the specs are just 56 carry overs. I always question the shop manuals because of the revisions made later. The spec for torque on the rear axle U bolts is 40 lbs, do I trust that? Not at all..

[gasman826]

My guess on the difference is the bind on the bolts.  The bolts are pressed fit.  A big shim pack difference could stress the bolts.  Other wise, the shim pack difference front to rear should be no issue.

[RICH MUISE]

The "bolts pressed in" may explain why mine have come loose because, as mentioned, mine have to be in backwards, which means the ribs cast into the bolts to give that press-in, are not functioning as such for the most part, as those ribs are in the bracket area, then the shims before it gets to the shaft where the press-in would normally occur. Guess it's something I've just got to check every few months.
Wow, I'm now only 25 posts short of 10,000! Way back when, I never realized I could ask sooooo many questions, lol.

[gasman826]

The OEM nuts are lock nuts.  Maybe they got replaced with non-locking, regular nuts or the OEM ones have worn. 

[RICH MUISE]

Are you talking about the ones that are about 1 1/4 long, only threaded halfway? That's all I've ever seen on '57s.  They also have lock washers, not sure if thelock washer was on the one that came loose/lost, but I picked up an OEM bolt/nut/washer off a local '57 being parted out. Not a locknut, though.............just a nice tight feel. No wrench marks at all on the replacements.

[CobraJoe]

Okay Rich, you can let it go and stop padding your posts anytime now...

Wow, I'm now only 25 posts short of 10,000! Way back when, I never realized I could ask sooooo many questions, lol.

[mustang6984]

Okay Rich, you can let it go and stop padding your posts anytime now...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                                    LOL!!!

[lalessi1]

My guess is that the pivot arm is "cocked" too much it will not sit flat on the shims and the shims won't be flat on the frame bracket. This will stress the bolts on one side and alter torque effectiveness. The whole assembly may not be stable and may be subject to loosening up. I cheated a 1/16" on mine but I don't like that. The design is not intended to allow the addition of a lot of caster. Just a guess....

[RICH MUISE]

OK, I see Joe is not logged on, so maybe he won't notice this post.....What you say makes sense, Lynn. I'll talk to my new alignment guy about it when I bring it in.
The reason I brought up the question about the "lock nuts", stating what seemed to be the obvious and wasting posting space, lol, was  a picture on the Hamb I was looking at shortly before Gary made the statement about "lock nuts". Our friend Jeff Norwell has a thread started on the Hamb about the starting of his second '57 Ford project while his first one is in body shop jail. One of his pile-o-parts pics shows the control arms and shafts. The bolts for the shafts have just the normal style lock nuts that we would normally picture in our heads. Thus my stating the maybe-not-so-obvious.
I'll post a link to Jeff's Hamb thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/57-ford-build-2-glutton-for-punishment.1245146/
edit..........looked at Jeff's pics again, and I misread what I was looking at I think. Jeff has cleaned up and sandblasted the control arm shafts with the bolts still pressed in, and I think he threaded some plain nuts on there just to protect the threads.
I'm not sure if non Hamb members can see the thread I posted the link for..........someone let me know.

[hiball3985]

Rich I can see the post and pictures and I'm a non member. I've never seen lock nuts on a 57, only the long partially threaded nuts and lock washers..