56 Chevy Front Suspension

I have heard horror stories from many generations gone by of massive suspension failure due to weak stock a-arms on modified tri-five chevys (American Graffiti, anyone?) Can anyone substantiate these claims? Are these stories fact or fiction? If so, what have you done or someone you know done to fix it outside of replacing the stock a-arms entirely with a tubular set-up? If this is false, please tell to stop listening to the stories of old sailors, but please tell me something. I want to start restoring my suspension ASAP.

 

I have had my 56 for 26 years and have had no problems. Sounds like rumor to me.

 

You see, I figured the same thing. An inspection of the original suspension actually proves it to be a really good suspension. For 1956, it even has anti-dive engineered into it. Thank you for your input. Who else has heard this kind of rumor?

 

I have always heard the opposite. I always heard that the '56 was ahead of its time as far as suspensions went.

 

I have owned a dozen or more 55-7's over the years. NEVER had an A frame failure.

 

My car has two rounds cut out of the front coils and no other modifications. Even with that, i've never had a problem in the twenty years i've owned it. Sounds like a rumor to me too.

 

I am glad that this is the case because I really did not want to purchase the expensive tubular a-arms.

 

Nope, never hear that one either. Mine is just fine also.

 

The rumor was started by companies that build tubular A arms.

 

Probably. A-HOLES!!!!

 

Yup...exactly..." you're shit is gonna break...why don't you replace your A arms with our chome plated tubular ones for $1,500"

 

One of the better suspensions around. Look how many are still on the road. Buy good parts when you do your rebuild. Invest in one of the replacement hubs that use timken bearings and make it better. Unless you go to disc brakes..My 2 cents

 

add gas shocks and a sway bar and it will handle great

 

As far as rumors go that has to be one of the dumbest. If your worried about an A-arm on a Tri 5 Chevys breaking, take one drop it on your foot and then take the other one and drop it on the other foot. When your in the emergency room ask yourself if you think their still not strong enough.

 

I've never had a problem in the 17 years I've had my '56, but a high school classmate 35 years ago had a 55 hardtop that was jacked up all around gasser-style, and the lower control arms ripped right out of the frame. He jacked the car up in front, as a lot of guys did back then, by reversing the spindles, and I guess the leverage from the raised spindles was enough to pull the lower control arm bolts through the frame. So the weak spot in that case was not the control arms but the frame (and there's not a lot of meat on the frame where the lower control arms mount, especially if there's any damage from rust).

My friend then replaced his front suspension with a beam axle and a parallel leaf spring suspension which worked fine and looked way cooler.

You might also make sure the upper control arms aren't pitted from rust in the recess on top where mud can accumulate. I've seen upper arms from tri-fives rusted to the point that I wouldn't put 'em on anything.

As mentioned above, a sway bar is a good addition, and also a ball-bearing idler arm to replace the rubber one will make steering a lot easier.

 

Like "arkiehotrods" said, 55-57 Chevrolets could/would pull the lower A-Arm, front cross shaft-to-frame bolts right through the frame/crossmember. I always thought this was more prone to happen with the use of a Line Lock/Roll Control device. I've seen a lot of these cars that had that area repaired, or beefed up to prevent it. Never on any of my cars however, and I've had 12 of them, mostly 56's.

 

Most of the problems w/ front suspension happened running ball joint spacers. Stock set-up? Total BS.
Now there have been a few stories of cheap tubular a-arms failing at welds and/or poor geometry.

 

i\'ve never even heard the rumor....and i\'ve owned several 5-6-7 chevies . who are these people telling you stuff? why do you listen to them? why didn\'t you demand proof from them?

how would a sailor know about this stuff?

 

only problem my dad had with his 56' was the car being beat on WAY back when befor he owed it. the front frame rails kinda slightly corkscrwed inwards and messed up the front geometry, thus screwing tires up.
but the stock A-arms are fine.

 

Sounds like a load of bollocks!!..........
I,ve had many tri 5,s never heard or seen that one....


However 57 /58 cadillacs do have a very serious problem of lower suspension fatigue at the mounting to the frame!....

 

This is the set up with stock front end. It will handle great, maybe run a road course or two !!!

 

I know. I thought this was bogus also. I actually heard this from the man who sold me a 55 Chevy I once owned. He was an older man. He swore to me that the front clip was dangerous because of weak a-arms. Now, you have to remember that I am not as young and foolish as I once was. I was pretty stupid back then. Now, I'm not pretty just stupid.

That man had a 57 Chevy truck on which he installed a Camaro front clip. He swore to me when I bought that 55 Chevy that he wished he would have placed the Camaro clip on the 55 because of the poor factory design. Because of you guys, I now know that the only thing with a poor factory design was that guy.

I ended up selling that 55 two years later because someone doglegged the frame long before I purchased it. In addition to the messed up frame, I just did not have the money to fix the cancer that had eaten the car up from the floorboards to the bottom of the doors. I wished I did because that was a really cool car.

I now own a 56 Buick that is about to have a major suspension swap from a 56 Chevy. You guys are right. I bought the front clip yesterday from a local junkyard off of a 56 Chevy, and it was way ahead of its time. It is also the closest match to the Buick because both cars have the steering linkages located behind the front crossmember rather than in front of it like all of the a and b body GM's after '57. The frames are a little different, but at their smallest points, both measure out to 34 1/2 inches.

Now, granted, this will not be a bolt on fit (nothing good ever is), so it will take some planning before I get this thing installed right. But I want you all to know, you made a fan out of me with the 56 Chevy. I hope to own one in the future. God willing!!! I will keep you posted on the progress. Thank you all so much for your help!!!

 

That has to be the best test I've ever heard of can I do the same thing with Heads. Your right on tri fives there are way to many still going with the thing we put them through.

 

I had a 57 for 20 years. The coils had 1.5 turns cut out of them and never a failure.
I was in an accident with it and bent the a-arms but didn't crack one or destroy the
bolts. just my 1.5 cents!

 

55-56-57 chevs were always popular on the dirt tracks, drag strips, & driven on the streets. good drivers & tough!
they just want to sell you aftermarket stuff. ----------- take off all the chrome & stainless trim, smooth out the dash or add aluminum ball milled trim, change the frame or just front suspension, throw away the front seat, people just keep F-ing them up daily. ---- i fell victim to the 605 steering box myself. stuff i heard & 'thought' i needed to do.

 

We've been driving them since 1955 in my family. Never heard this kind of bunk. Of course, there's always some one who has had (or CAUSED) a catostophic failure of anything you can think of, but those tri-five suspentions are plenty good. 50 years track record speaks for itself.

 

I may be wrong, but it could be that at that time GM was the only manufacturer still using ball bearings in their front-ends, alot of manufactures had moved to the more reliable, longer lasting needle bearings but GM had a vested interest in the ball bearing manufacturer and kept them. Again i have no proof just something i heard along the way.

In my 55 i replaced the balls with needles and have never had a problem.

 

Never heard of using needle bearings. Do you meam Timken tapers like later cars. Big difference. The Old man has been running balls in his 55 hardtop for 40 years. No problems...yet...

 

if they built crap today like they did then ,we wouldn't have throw away cars. 55-57 front ends are fine

 

55'-57' chevys seem solid imho! light years ahead of a pontiac,pontiac suspension of that vintage is junk! sure wish my 55' pontiac was canadian built.