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Hans - I apologize for the intrusion.

Craig, Howard - I don't see the upper control arm bushings listed on the x-ref, am I missing something? Are said bushings the same on 23rd series?

Unless someone knows offhand, I'd have to dig thru some info to see if 51-2 used the same but the bushings are listed for 53 on.

No upper rubber bushings are used on 23rd series and earlier. The upper A arm on those are actually the working arm part of the shock absorber. Typically those shocks are exchanged with rebuilt units unless you want to tackle a rebuild yourself. If you are interested in that project, there is a really good how to written by one of our posters.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/Delco_Shock_Rebuild.pdf

Threaded steel bushings were used for 1951-52 models, then rubber for the 1953-56 models.

The upper bushings on '56 Clippers with standard suspension are the threaded/non rubber variety. I have one and had another in the past. Not sure about the 55's but it would seem a safe bet.

This afternoon I got after the front suspension, which I had been dreading a bit since I've never dealt with these. First I had to chisel all the dirt and fossilized grease off so I could get to the nuts and bolts. Then the shocks and sway bar came out. I got a jack under the lower control arms to compress the spring a bit, then removed the lower arm bolts. I had to use a second jack to play with the car height a bit so that there was enough room to take the load off the spring to get it out.

After those were out of the way then I removed the 2 bolts that hold the top arm to the frame. These thread into the frame, except one of the bolts on the driver's side where the frame threads are stripped and someone had substituted a longer bolt and a nut. No idea if this had been repaired before or if it was a factory workaround?

Also there were the remains of some rubber pieces that were in the bottom if the shock mount area, inside the spring. I forgot to take a picture of these, but they were on both sides.

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Getting front suspension parts cleaned up since it's been too cold to work in the hangar. All the threaded bushings look good, the steering knuckles seem a little noisy (like some grit in the bearings) which isn't surprising considering the amount of hardened dirt and petrified grease. Probably get some new bearings for those to be safe. And I'll need all new rubber pieces of course.

Someone must have been into this suspension before, the spring "insulators" PN 14.008 were installed under the springs, in the lower arms instead of on top - so they were pretty corroded and filled with rocks and dirt. This meant that the springs weren't fully seated in the indentations in the lower arms. Also I identified the rubber pieces as remains of some spring rubbers, that had been inserted into the coils. There is some lettering on the parts that says "RUB-R-RIDE", and "MFG BY RADIATOR something".

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I'll be darned! My dad had a tool for installing those RUB-R-RIDE parts - still in the original box with same brand name. Dunno whether that tool wound up in the attic with other obsolete tools or is still in his old tool chest that we brought back home from work after he retired.

I had never seen the actual rubber parts before, but suspect that they must have been fairly popular, at one time, for my dad to have (and have kept) that tool. IIRC, they were intended to help raise a sagging supension and/or firm up the ride.

I've seen similar rubber pieces from other suppliers that required no such special tool, but they weren't nearly as stout as these. I've also seen some cast metal units that you twist in between the coils (with a wrench or square drive), but seem to recall those walking around, if not comepletely falling out, if the ride was rough enough.

Here is the special tool needed to spread the upper arm apart the proper length to get all the threads on the bushings to line up for torque. Well OK, I just used a piece of threaded rod with some nuts and a couple big washers, but it works.

These bushings are torqued at somewhere around 95 ft lbs, that's a lot and I'll have to check to see if my biggest torque wrench even goes that high. Airplanes get stuff torqued in INCH lbs, I'm going to need bigger hammers to work on this car.

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On vacation for the next week but I have emails out to MM and Kantor to see if they sell just the rubber grease seals etc for my front suspension. All the bushings and other parts are in good condition, so I don't need any of the kits with those parts.

Does anyone have other sources for those seals? I didn't find anything in the parts x-ref section.

IIRC, they are just rubber sleeve like pieces -- nothing too elaborate.

If the vendors don't have something ready made, McMaster has black rubber tubing in their flow category with various grease resistant or abrasion resistant properties. It should be possible to get a length of tubing close to the ID and thickness dimensions needed and cut a few pieces to the correct width.

If it's a seal with a more O ring like look, McMaster also has a selection of round and square cut rings. You might be able to find a match to the size needed.