Just a Fifty Fleet: Pulled it out, now let's tear it up!

    Started taking it all apart today!

    First I will give credit to Tom Parsons "DZAUTO" on ChevyTalk. I referenced his post on a 57 Corvette rebuild for ideas.

    I used his threaded rod idea for compressing the springs. I am sure I will use other parts of his post throughout the build. You can see his post HERE

    I removed the shocks and associated hardware and inserted the threaded rod. I had to use a piece of flat steel and the lower shock mount to support the bottom. This worked OK but I would prefer a heavy steel or block like used in Tom's post. He does not mention it but the hole at the bottom is so big you have to use something with the threaded rod to hold it all together. My first attempt, I tried the stock lower shock bracket. As I tightened it up I became weary that something would bend or break so I loosened it back up and changed things up. As a quick fix, I drilled a piece of flat steel I had laying around. This piece alone bent as I tightened it up. I took it back off again and added the stock shock mount to firm things up and give more support. This worked fine but if I were doing these often I would make something that would be smaller and stronger to bar the weight of the spring tension.

Once the springs were removed, everything else came off fairly easy. I did have to tap the ratchet on a few of the nuts to help loosen them. I also learned (because I did not read the service manual) that you need to take the large nut off the lower outer bushing first, then remove the bushing. Also on the lower A arms I had to remove one of the rubber seals to allow room for the A arm to slide to one side to slip off. Tom mentions this in his procedure to put it back on ( leave it off and work it through the hole) so it was a no brain'r it had to come off to get it of as well. If these were new parts I would have had to try and work the rubber back through the hole rather than cut it off.

After removing all the parts (except upper inner threaded bushing) I did some more clean up on the cross member. I also sorted the parts I was keeping from the ones getting replaced.