1964 Ford Ranchero Suspension Reburbishment - Start At The Beginning

The brace is set into position. This is a high-quality part, and will fit over the six bolt ends precisely.

The six nuts are reinstalled and tightened down. Here's the lower brace in position. We'd consider this part to be a good addition to any Falcon or Ranchero project.

To begin on the upper portion of our suspension rebuild, we disconnected the spindle from the upper control arm, using the same pressure and heat method. We also disconnected the lower end of the shock from the control arm at this time.

Up top, the shock bushings are removed. The shock-tower upper bracket is then removed, and the three retaining studs used to retain the bracket are set aside for safekeeping. The shock is then removed.

With the shock absorber gone, the spring compressor can now be lowered into position. Once in place, the compressor is tightened enough to draw the spring up off the seat on the upper arm. The spring is drawn up even further to the extent that the arm can come off without any interference from the spring.

With the tension off the control arm, the nuts are removed from attachment studs that retain the arm.

The upper arm comes clear of the vehicle. Notice how far we have the spring drawn up into the tower.

The tension on the old spring is gradually released and the old coil is removed. The new spring is then held in the correct position while the spring compressor is reinstalled. We see the compressor being tightened to draw the new spring up far enough to allow installation of the new arm.

The new upper control arms are now prepared. We've already installed right-angle grease fittings at the end of the shafts. The attachment of the spring perch to the arm is shown here. Our grease boot for the ball joint is in place. You may have noticed that some very resourceful soul in the distant past decided the best way to grease the shafts was to cut holes in the shock tower with a blowtorch. This handiwork will have to be repaired with welded patches. It will take considerable work to get the towers to look right.

Once the new arm is attached to the tower, the upper eye of the spindle is attached and the new spring is lowered into position. The spring is carefully guided to seat so that the coil end rests up against the positioning tab on the perch. With the spring compressor tool gone, the new KYB GR-2 shock goes into place.

Out back, the first step is to disconnect the rear shock bottoms from the spring plate.

Next, the shackle at the rear of the leaf spring is taken apart. The spring can still hang in position until we're ready to remove it.

You may wish to soak every fastener with WD-40 or a similar material before starting on this part of the job. After we removed the four nuts from the U-bolts, the spring plate was removed.

Here's our new front end completed. It looks good and we really like the new Dearborn Classics under-engine brace.

The large bolt at the front of the spring is a tough customer. Once the nut has been removed, you'll need to knock the bolt out of position and through the spring with a hammer and drift. At this point, the axle is supported by a screw jack.

With all attachment components gone, the rear spring is carefully lowered away from the Ranchero while the jack supports the axle.

The new rear leaf springs come with the bushing at the large end already installed, but we must put the bushings for the small end in place before the spring goes up.

The new spring is now put into place, reusing the old hardware at the front. The Ford bolt was cleaned up on a wire wheel and the threads were also cleared before going together. Next, the springs are reattached to the axle with the U-bolts and spring plates.

We're in the load bed of the Ranchero now and the bed floor panel has been removed to allow access to the upper end of the shocks.

The new KYB GR-2 shocks are then installed and secured at both ends.

This is the finished job out back. It looks like pretty basic stuff, and it is; but we weren't going anywhere with that old hardware in place. We now have a good, solid foundation to build on.