I'm getting ready to start diagnosing a squeaking sound that's been coming from my front suspension that past couple of months. I've got a '59 Edsel Ranger 4 dr sedan with a 361 and 3 spd auto. The car is all-original, with no modifications whatsoever. I got it from the original owners, but I don't have any info on what suspension work (if any) was done prior to me owning the car. It looks like the tie rods were replaced recently, due to their shininess and fresh rubber that's attached to them, but other than that, the rest of the suspension looks original. My question is, where do I start in diagnosing this squeak? The car still floats down the highway and take bumps with ease, but I'd rather do it with no noise. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks! -HH
Look at the upper control arm bushings. If you see rust tracks running down from them, that is probably it. Give a listen while someone bounces the car. Next thing is to look at the lower control arm bushings, when those go bad, they look bad and can produce the sound you hear.
Another thing you can do is get under there with a can of wd-40. Have a buddy bounce the car and you spray all the moving parts one at a time. You will eventually hit the squeaking guy and it will tell you which part is in needing of replacing.
A healthy dose of grease on your front ball joints will likely cure any noise you get from them. I'll second the notion that the lower bushings will make noise. There is a big ass pin that goes through the front crossmember that gets rusted in place and makes it tough to get the control arm out. Might need to bash it out with a BFH
Nice sidepipes! That's a great looking car. I really enjoy driving her and don't intend on getting rid of her. I'm stuck with her!
Thanks. The first thing I did was stick a grease zerk on it and flood it with grease, but that didn't make the noise disappear. Would any of y'all recommend replacing the ball joints for good measure while I'm taking the suspension apart?
Or you could try greasing it, the Edsel should have zerks even on the control arm bushings and it probably hasn't been greased in ages. Oil change lost the grease job part eons ago and if the people that owned the car were the original owners they may have thought that they didn't have to say "and grease it" on the end of change the oil. I would start with the A arm bushings like everyone else has mentioned. After that I would look at the sway bar connections both frame and A arm and finally look at the steering. On a side note and not Edsel related; one time had a car that I could not find the squeak and finally in desperation I hooked a farm jack under the rockers. Shazaaaam turned out to be a body mount with a broken bolt in it.
Thanks. I've tried the zerk route, but it didn't solve the problem. I'm going to go after the bushings next this week. On another non-Edsel note, I worked for Ford at KCAP up in KCMO for the past several years and my buddies at the plant loved the Edsel. Seemed that even the older fellers forgot about the bad rap Edsels got. -HH
Edsels got a bad rap for more then the shifting problem. The Edesl was originally touted as being an affordable car for the working man. kind of like a poor man's Mercury. When they finally hit the market they were a rich man's Mercury but never really measured up to the price tag. I have always really dug the looks of them, I am partial to the '58 and 9s though. I have not heard the squeak so I can't say for sure where to look but on an old car the A arm bushing and the sway bar bushings and connections are always suspect. A trick that I have learned about sway bar connections and bushings is chain lube like you use in a motorcycle by the way. Works like a champ. if you are still in the metro I would be glad to look with you if no one else wants to help you out. Always better to have a second set of eyes.
Good to know, I appreciate the tip. We just moved back to Texas, where we're from, otherwise I'd take you up on the offer. Thanks again.
Start squirting rubber lub on the rubber mounted joints and bouncing the car until you find the squeak. I have never had an EDSEL (you can't have everything) but always liked them. Charlie Stephens
Edsel was supposed to be Ford's medium priced car, selling against Dodge, DeSoto, Pontiac and Olds. At the time Ford was weak in the medium price brackets, having only Mercury. The new strategy was to make the Lincoln even bigger, competing directly with Cadillac, Make the Mercury bigger too, and have it compete with Buick. Then put Edsel between Ford and Mercury, and keep Ford as the low price offering. It was a great marketing plan but the timing sucked. After years of explosive sales and profits in the medium price cars, Edsel hit the market just as the country went into a recession. Sales of all cars went down but expensive cars totally tanked. Olds and Buick sales were cut by more than half. DeSoto practically went out of business, and did go out of business 3 years later. The only cars to see sales increases in 1958 were Rambler and Tbird (first 4 place 'Bird that replaced the original 2 seater). Edsel quickly got the reputation of a failure through no fault of its own. In a little over 2 years they were through. It is only fair to point out that well established cars such as Hudson, Nash, DeSoto and Packard got killed about this time, Studebaker nearly went out of business and only saved themselves with the compact Lark. Mercury went back to being a dolled up Ford, using modified Ford bodies, instead of having a body of their own. Everyone seemed to turn against large cars and demand compacts all of a sudden.
Ford supposedly did extensive marketing polling to determine what features the public wanted which is why the Edsel ended up with all those 'space age' do-dads. But there was one question they failed to ask... would you be willing to pay for these features? That answer proved to be a loud NO and that, coupled with the early cars teething problems, controversial styling, and later public derision sealed it's fate....
The upper a-arm bushings, if they were original, I saw a lot of those on them and the Fords that came without grease fittings. Some were retrofitted (remember the old Falcons with the torched out holes in the shock towers?) with grease fittings, some weren't.
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