Steering Work On A 56 T-Bird

[ccrismon1956]

Hello,
I am going to have the front end gone through from a steering prospective. Drives well but has a shimmy when you hit a bump. Both front and rear shocks have been replaced. Can I just go to my local mechanic for the work? Do I need to be picky about what parts they use to make sure it stays true to the vintage? A local paint & body shop that does vintage restores quoted me $75.00 an hour plus parts, my local mechanic is good but can be pricey. Your comments appreciated.

[paul2748]

I would go to a front end shop rather that a general mechanic unless the mechanic does a lot of front end work.

Your problem could be tire balance, ball joints, tie rod ends, bushings or the idler arm. Either of these could cause a shimmy.

A word about the ball joints used in 55/57 Tbirds and Ford sedans. These are probably the strongest ball joints ever made. The company that built cabs (forgot the name) used these ball joints for years because of their durability. Unless the joints have been severely neglected they may be okay and your troubles may be in the other items I mentioned if its not just an alignment. Both my 54 sedan and 56 Bird needed front end work (bushings mostly) but the ball joints were okay. The 54 is a 51K sedan while the bird has unknown mileage of over 100k

A front end shop may be just as expensive as your mechanic, but they are supposed to be experts in the type of service you are looking for.

I always go to a front end shop when I have front end problems or need just an alignment.

Kanter, NAPA and the TBird parts suppliers have the parts if whomever you choose to do any needed repair needs a source. Don't worry about keeping true to the vintage as these are usually exact copies of OEM parts. Concours judging never looks at these items from an original equipment perspective. Stay away from old NOS or old replacement bushings as the rubber has probably deterioted.