Suspension

[sauernote]

There was a thread some months ago about tightening the cross braces under the car. I was getting noticably more shake when going over bumps, so I asked the dealer to tighten things up. The car is now MUCH improved. The service invoice just said "tighten suspension" but whatever they did helped a lot.

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[KYbluebird]

I think they made a change in early December on how these braces are attached. I'm going to compare mine with the older birds on Thunder on 66 to see if there is a difference. Mine seems to still be tight.

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Ron

VIN #7729, seq.#7505, blue premium,
partial blue interior, no top, Louisville Ky.

 

[sauernote]

Looking forward to your comparison. For the record though, my car was built at the end of April.

 

[FyrDawg2]

Sauernote,
Any chance you can find out from your dealership what exactly they did to help decrease the shake? I have noticed an increase in 'cowl shake' and mentioned it to my service advisor, but he had no idea what to do to combat the problem.

 

[brd4jk]

took my bird for an oil change and when they put it on the rack i showed them where the cross brace was and where the 12 bolts were they didnt even know it. but the tec wasnt there either so we will see next week when i take it in if they know


blk bkl prem

jerry

 

[southwest la t-bird]

this is easy to do in your home garage. drive your car up onto some ramps to get enough room to work under the car and keep the suspension loaded with the weight of the car. there are 12 bolts on the two X-members under the front end and middle of the car. tighten them to 46 foot-pounds. thats it! it will make a difference and NOTHING is done to the cars suspension. my car developed a little bit of annoying shake when you hit a bump at about 3000 miles. this cleared it up, hope this helps

 

[TbirdMarty]

The cowl shake can be attributed to the X-braces not being tight enough. There are several of these underneath the car to help stiffen the suspension. These braces should be torqued at 46ft/lbs of torque. A big word of caution would be that if anyone plans to do this themself they need to do it on level ground. If anyone has any questions you can e-mail me at:
reev9130@bellsouth.net

 

[southwest la t-bird]

by the way, they are 13mm bolt heads and the two in the front are covered by a dirt cover wich must be loosened and pulled down to get to them. this whole operation took me about 20 minutes including looking around at the neat suspension components of the t-bird

 

[Blue Heaven]

Thanks for the info on the x-braces. I am going to check mine this weekend, as I do experience some cowl shake. I will let you all know how it works out.

Blue Premium w/partial accent

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

I first reported on these x braces about 6 months ago. One thing I did notice was at first the bolts seemed tight. But on one bolt I pulled on the ratchet a little harder and the bolt popped loose like it had Loctite on the threads. I was then able to tighten the bolt about an extra 3/4 of a turn. So I went back and rechecked them all. Everyone of them popped loose and were tightened anywhere from 3/4 to 1 1/2 turns. The factory spec on the bolts is 46 ft. lbs.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[FyrDawg2]

Thanks all for the feedback.
I remember your posting some months back, Lon. I went out to tighten the braces but found that they all seemed tight. (Didn't know the torque spec at that time)
I'll try it again and see if I have the same condition.

 

[jboriott]

Do you realize that you broke the seal of the lock-tite? Have you thought about taking the screws out, applying lock-tite, and re-installing them? (one at a time, of course)

Originally posted by LON O'CONNELL:
I first reported on these x braces about 6 months ago. One thing I did notice was at first the bolts seemed tight. But on one bolt I pulled on the ratchet a little harder and the bolt popped loose like it had Loctite on the threads. I was then able to tighten the bolt about an extra 3/4 of a turn. So I went back and rechecked them all. Everyone of them popped loose and were tightened anywhere from 3/4 to 1 1/2 turns. The factory spec on the bolts is 46 ft. lbs.

 

[jboriott]

My dealer can't find the service recommendation for the bolts on the xBraces and doesn't want to touch them without "Ford" information.

Where (exactly) did you find this???

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

Yes I did. The first time I just tried and found bolts were under torqued. Drove & verified that it did indeed help the cowl shake. The following weekend I removed the bolts one at a time & cleaned the threads on both the bolt & the female threads. Applied Loctite primer and then installed he bolts with Locktite. One at a time of course. Cowl shake has stayed greatly reduced ever since.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[jboriott]

Lon - you say you cleaned the female threads (also). How did you do that? I wouldn't want to push dirt further into the hole.

Also - did you have any difficulty getting any of the bolts back into their holes. (Yes - I understand that you did one at a time.)

I would hate to remove one only to realize that I can't get it back in (because of a shift in the brace after releasing the bolt). That could be a service nightmare.

 

[Bmcn]

Had "X" braces tightened today. Took the Four hours later came the call back. Car was now really ready. I know what happened. I would have done it myself. "I don't need no ****ed paper to tell me how to tighten a few bolts!!!" "I been working on cars since before you were born!!!" Knowing that I would have taken the same attitude doesn't make me any happier. They did get it done and seemingly correctly. Thanks Forum Fellows. I needed that.
Bmcn

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

jboriott,

Loctite makes a special aerasol spray cleaner for cleaning threads which is what I used. They also make a spray primer to apply to the threads of the bolt & the female threads which I also used. Using both of these products before actually using the Loctite makes the thread lock work to its maximum ability.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[gearhead]

Dear TBird Enthusiasts-Although I restored and own a 1963 Falcon Tudor,I still think FoMoCo was WAY too cheap designing the unibody for these new 'Birds!Why have not one,but TWO X braces underneath the car?It's almost like an afterthought after they had finished tooling.Would not comment on this,but you would think they would do a better job of gusseting the unibody with sheetmetal rails or some other design rather than with two flimsy X-Braces.Although I spent $23K on my 1963 Falcon and chased ALL of the parts except for the head and shortblock,I now drive a 1994 Honda-NO MORE FORDS!-Gearhead

 

[42 ford nut]

the early birds ( 55 56 57 ) all had an X Brace also

 

[gearhead]

Dear Sir-The '55-57,which Ford LOST money on,were all separate frame vehicles.Ford did not turn a profit on T-Birds until Robert McNamara developed it into a unibody 4 seater for 1958.The new T-Birds are UNIBODY!That is,stressed sheet metal construction WITH NO SEPARATE FRAME!That's why when those X-Braces become loose,people are experiencing more flexing!Like I posted earlier,I used to be total FoMoCo,but not anymore!Really ashame considering how INOVATIVE they used to be.later-Gearhead.