Roller springs perches

ravv 67 · Jun 5, 2007

Has anyone used roller spring perches from Opentracker? It replaces the bushing with bearings and it's supposed to increase responsiveness and ride quality.

Global West also makes lower control arms with bearings instead of bushings and they are supposed to reduce bind and deflection.

Does going with bearings make a rougher ride and put more stress on the control arms? Or are they something I might consider?

Dothang67 · Jun 5, 2007

I haven't used them, but I have read a lot about it and theres nothing more than great reviews about them. There is a lot of info in the forum, use the search feature.

Check post #11 for technical stuff:
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=699249

65 fastback · Jun 5, 2007

The OpenTracker roller spring perches are a great up grade from the original rubber bushings (that tend to bind). They really free up the movement of the suspension and also help to reduce the steering effort of manual steer cars.

A roller bearing LCA is, also, another great front suspension upgrade. Global West's units are quality, but OpenTracker also makes a good roller bearing LCA.

Also, I would recommend adjustable strut rods, either Global West or the Street or Track units that OpenTracker sells.

Tim

dodgestang · Jun 5, 2007

The roller perches softened my ride by allowing the front suspension to actually move

rbohm · Jun 5, 2007

while roller bearings remove the deflection from the suspension, a smoother ride is often the result. that does sound like a contradiction as normally using a solid connection to the chassis means a rougher ride due to noise, vibration and harsh ness as the suspension transmits everything to the chassis. in this case however, while the roller bearings provide a solid connection, they also allow for freedom of movement which will allow for a smoother ride.

palerider94 · Jun 5, 2007

I put them on my car but at the same time put 620 coils, new upper and lower control arms, kyb gas adjusts, 1 1/8 sway bar, monte carlo, and export brace. Ride is great! Not sure how much is related to perches but based on overall ride quality would not change anything. Heard very positive reviews on them before I bought them - did a lot of research since they were kinda pricey. have not heard one negative comment.

2bav8 · Jun 6, 2007

Probably the BEST suspension you can make on a classic Mustang to eliminate suspension binding.
Helps both daily drivers, drag races and road racers.
What's not to love?

scrutmonkey · Jun 6, 2007

2bav8 said:
Probably the BEST suspension you can make on a classic Mustang to eliminate suspension binding.
Helps both daily drivers, drag races and road racers.
What's not to love?

Rav: you should get a set if planning on upgrading any suspension in the front. they did smooth out my ride noticably. But then again, my bushings were shot. one of the original perches barely moved too.

I still rmember when OT offered them on this forum...they were a great upgrade.

palerider: hope you did the Shelby drop while you were in there as well

2hav8: do you Shelby drop specs refer to all years of classics? 65-66 and 67-68?

2bav8 · Jun 6, 2007

Alignment specs are a good baseline for all years.
Those looking for more can tweak things to suit their needs.

For instance, I actually run -2.0 camber (and +3.0 caster) as I'm not worried about tire wear as traction is far more important to me.

palerider94 · Jun 6, 2007

scrutmonkey said:
Rav: you should get a set if planning on upgrading any suspension in the front. they did smooth out my ride noticably. But then again, my bushings were shot. one of the original perches barely moved too.

I still rmember when OT offered them on this forum...they were a great upgrade.

palerider: hope you did the Shelby drop while you were in there as well

2hav8: do you Shelby drop specs refer to all years of classics? 65-66 and 67-68?

Naw screwed up there - should have done the drop too- I thought the 620s would lower it enough but in reality car sits up higher in front now.

ravv 67 · Jun 6, 2007

Well I'm definitely going with roller bearings for the perches and the LCA.
Now I have to do some serious thinking about what springs to install.

I'm new to the forum, so I'm not familiar with the etiquette. Do I need to start a new thread if I have questions about springs?

Jester67 · Jun 6, 2007

ravv 67 said:
Well I'm definitely going with roller bearings for the perches and the LCA.
Now I have to do some serious thinking about what springs to install.

I'm new to the forum, so I'm not familiar with the etiquette. Do I need to start a new thread if I have questions about springs?

etiquette

Do a search FIRST then post a new thread if you still have questions

gsxrken · Jun 6, 2007

palerider94 said:
Naw screwed up there - should have done the drop too- I thought the 620s would lower it enough but in reality car sits up higher in front now.

The shelby drop barely lowers the ride height of the car at all. It changes the angle of the UCA for more camber gain, but the spring pad barely moves. The height of the UCA ball joint is established by the tire diameter and spindle, so raising or lowering by an inch the mounting point of the UCA on the shock tower does little to the perch height.

Lowering springs often hold a body higher than the shot stock ones they replaced. They don't settle, either, so if you want the car lower, you'll need to cut some of the spring to drop it more. I removed 2/3 s of a coild from my 1" lowering 620s.

I have the OT perches, too. I think the secret is really just that they allow the shock to work without stiction, or sideloading the shock. Keeping the spring straighter can't add up to more complaince, but allowing the shock to remain plumb pays big dividends in smoothness (and probably shock life).

GoinBroke · Jun 6, 2007

Great INFO guys. I am installing a Randalls rack kit, Global West subframes, 620 2" lowering springs and the OT perches on my car this month and this will help me on the way. Gotta love Fathers day this year!

scrutmonkey · Jun 7, 2007

with the springs out, you might as well go for the Shelby drop while you're in there.

bnickel · Jun 8, 2007

gsxrken said:
I have the OT perches, too. I think the secret is really just that they allow the shock to work without stiction, or sideloading the shock. Keeping the spring straighter can't add up to more complaince, but allowing the shock to remain plumb pays big dividends in smoothness (and probably shock life).

that's a big part of it but the stock perches actually bind because the rubber bushings are vulcanized to the shaft and the body of the perch. this not only creates stiction on the shock but also on the spring and upper control arm as well. replacing the rubber bushing perch with the roller bearing perch frees up all of these pieces to move as thery were originally designed. remember the original spring perch design for these falcon chassis based cars used a bronze bushing for exactly the same reason as the roller perches, ford did away with that design in favor of the vulcanized rubber design becuase of rapid wear from lack of proper servicing and probably the biggest reason, money, the bronze bushing design was a lot more costly to produce than the vulcanized rubber version.

so if you need to somehow rationalize spending the money on doing the roller perches you can always say you're putting the car back the way ford originally designed it.

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