ORP supports Trumpet playing kid's dad!

[tarafied1]

That just won you a free set of roller perches. Our kids do come first and Band is a great place for them to learn about team work. Your a good Dad. Send me an email with your address and I'll ship them off to you. No kidding.

opentracker@sbcglobal.net

In case some of you didn't know, John saw a post I made about buying my youngest son a trumpet for band so I was going to hold off buying some roller perches. Well he made good on an offer to send me some!

It took me about 3 hours to install and test this morning. Here's a few pics...
my old UCA with perches

I started on top unbolting the shocks...

then I put it on stands and took off the wheels

then I needed to unbolt the shock from the perches

and remove the shocks

then I jacked up the suspension and put on my cheap spring compressor

then removed the spring and old-new perches...

then I installed the new ORP roller perches on the UCA

the shock were much easier to install with this design!

my son was on hand to lend a hand!

the whole gang with their ORP shirts! Thanks John!!!

now I must admit I was skeptical that these would make a noticable difference. They certainly do move easy and as John said they are fun to play with! The installation was noticeably easier because the shocks don't bind up. Once I put the car on the ground I was anxious to make a road test. I have owned this car for 20 years and it's had a couple of 385 series big blocks in it almost the entire time. Like Pete I drive a few thousand miles a year, so far almost 5000 this year. Right away I did notice a difference just backing out of the garage and turning out on to the street. This car was a C code 289 with PS. It does not have PS anymore but still has the original PS gearbox with a quicker ratio that makes it a pain to steer when moving slowly. I noticed right away it was easier to steer at slower speeds. Over bumps and quick turns it felt a little more responsive. I came back and asked my wife to drive because she doesn't like the non-PS and I wanted her unbiased opinion. She said it was "Smooth". I plan to drive it a lot more but couldn't wait to get the word out for ORP and John. This is a great product and he is a great guy for helping me out and so many others!

 

[Anonymous]

Every time I see a new set of roller perches, John has made a slight modification that makes them easier to install!!

Wat to go John :toot

 

[Fast68back]

DUDE! You couldnt do a little housekeeping while ya had her all apart? Nice right up!

 

[tarafied1]

it's no :gobp trailer queen! It gets dirty! but yeah I could have...

 

[Opentracker]

Your very welcome and that is a great write up. Glad to see the trumpet, nice touch.

That is the most ORP t-shirts I have ever seen in one place, very cool.

On a side note, those G-A-T shocks might be a bit soft. A couple of people have noticed that after putting in the roller perches, the car will porpoise or float up and down on the highway with them. A set of KYB shocks takes care of it every time.

Nice looking car and a great looking family you have there. :toot

 

[Opentracker]

Every time I see a new set of roller perches, John has made a slight modification that makes them easier to install!!

Wat to go John :toot

Your right. I bet I'm on my 5th or 6th mod now. The first design were a real pain to get the shocks bolted up. It gets better each time. These have the bearings held in with clips too instead of the peening. After 80K or so, you just pop the bearing out and put in a new one. This design came about after working on the double rollers for 2 years. They take more time and cost more to produce but it's worth it IMO.

 

[hivewax]

nice... i can't wait to put mine on and experience the same feeling... i hope. gulp!

 

[tarafied1]

Thanks again John.
I took the family out to Clarksville to put a few miles on it. Then we cruised our town looking for all the RR tracks and bumps. The car handled well on the two lane twisty roads. The biggest improvement is on bumps and RR tracks. In fact I think it's quieter (less creeking). The 429 is so heavy and it sits pretty low, I didn't notice any issues with the shocks yet. I may invest in some KYB shocks anyway since I trust your opinion and maybe the heavy nose will work better with them.

Anyway, yeah I had to have the Trumpet in the pic! Thanks for the shirts too.

 

[lethal289]

Great write up Craig! Congrats :toot :toot John, im still shocked how great that is!

 

[Starfury]

A) Great job! Nice pics of the install as well.

B) Holy freaking crap@!#%$ I can't believe you used a McPherson spring compressor on your springs and actually got them out, let alone without losing a finger. Please, please don't use those. Seriously. They're dangerous even on struts where you can get to opposite sides of the spring. On a Mustang, you can't get to opposite sides so they have a large tendency to shift. That's a lot of force that can do a lot of damage.

 

[AzPete]

Nice write up. The only thing we really did different was the removal of the springs. We compressed them with the internal type mounted from the top. This just pulled the spring up, out of the way. Out and in with the perch was quick and easy.

They do drive nice after the change.......now, if I had power steering...lol...the wife would most likely be driving more.

 

[Anonymous]

One thing I like about having the lowering springs, no need to use a compressor to remove the front suspension parts! The springs will come right out with the front at full droop (with some wiggling).

 

[AzPete]

That's it!!!!!! You are dragging the front end and cannot catch the PT. :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl

 

[Opentracker]

Got the art work for the Troops today ... :wor ... and the old perches :yikes , Damn, I'm gonna post a photo of those things. Looks like they were in WWI and II.

 

[tarafied1]

yeah, my car was pretty much shot to heck when I got it. It should have been crushed but I just couldn't let it go. Thanks again John!!!

 

[Opentracker]

Thank you for the art work, nice job. I have saved a few from the crusher. None of them look as nice as yours though. They all were put into daily driver service. One is in Hawaii rusting away but still runing.

 

[Opentracker]

Here they are, they look a lot worse in person. The shaft is almost rubbing on the housing. Dang, no wonder it drives better now. They will look like new before long and I will dontate them to the site. Thanks Craig, they will live a long and happy life in some other old Ford.

 

[tarafied1]

I believe those were the original parts, odometer had 150K+ so they were worn out for sure. I had changed them with aftermarket parts (Grab-A-Track), which I gave to my friend for his 68 since they were practically new after I got the roller perches from you. Those were sitting in the garage from when I took them off a few years ago.

 

[Opentracker]

150K sounds about right. They look just like the first set of perches I made from originals.

Yours

Mine

They'll look like new before long. Got any idea's for a good contest?

 

[tarafied1]

your perches look a lot better!

as for a contest, maybe a success story like yours. The thought to use bearings led to a business. Very cool story, maybe there are others?!?