kishy's 1984 Town Car

[kishy]

Touching a couple topics here. I went digging in the wagon thread for any mentions of the repair bearings, and while there I found stuff about shocks as well.

The Lincoln's shocks are in need of disposal. The rear ones seem to be doing nothing at all, while the fronts are unpleasantly hard. Blue Monroes. No surprises there. However, from the wagon thread:

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I currently have blue Monroes ... on the Lincoln and they behave 100% exactly how I want the car to behave. They are very much a soft shock and I expect I'll see the same on the wagon.
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But then some number of months later:

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I have non-NAPA-branded blue Monroes on the Lincoln and they are absolute garbage, but they will do for now.
...

Weird. Anyway, the car needs shocks that don't suck. The Gas-a-Justs on the cars that have received them have made me pretty happy, though they definitely kill the cloud feeling. Will probably do that unless anyone can suggest a shock that maintains the cloud feeling but actually provides some damping so you don't axle hop all over the place on a rough road.

As for the bearings, I now have the repair bearing in-hand. I went with BCA brand because I've read some good things about them. Indeed, the BCA non-repair bearing for this application is a USA-made bearing. Didn't really think those existed anymore. No way to verify the same of the repair part, as that information is on the bearing race hiding within the assembled part.

The BCA repair bearing is of the style where there is both an inside seal, keeping the gear oil from entering the bearing, as well as an outside seal, presumably mostly for dust intrusion prevention as well as keeping the grease inside. Since it is not oil-lubed, it comes packed with grease and maybe adding more isn't a bad idea.

If, when the axle shaft comes out, I determine that it does not have any wear, I may opt to use the standard bearing as I have a few of it on-hand already. But this way the repair part is available if I determine it's needed.







Excerpts from wagon thread to serve as useful reminders:

make sure you clean up the axle extremely well. I tried two sets of those on my car, neither sealed so it ended up with new axles. The shafts were rusty on mine at the point where the new seal sat though and there just wasn't a usable seal surface. Hopefully yours are in better shape.

I didn't look too closely at the bearings but these seem to have a seal on both the inside and outside, as the bearing is intended to be greased and not lubed by the gear oil (I think). So hopefully as long as the inner seal seals, and the outer one kinda seals, it all works OK.
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The repair bearing install is straightforward, you just need the right tools. Do not get the Harbor Freight axle bearing puller unless you will use it within the warranty. I had purchased that set, then kept it for maybe half a year without using it yet, then leant it to a coworker and it broke for him on the first smack of the slide hammer. He bought me a new brand name set as an apology; these ones are GearWrench brand. Held up find for me. My slide hammer is actually a dent puller kit, so it's pretty lightweight, probably about 3lbs I'm thinking, and it did the job.

Installing the new bearings is a bit different. For starters, the seal is integrated, and the resulting install will stick out of the axle housing a small bit when it's driven in all the way. Make sure you have a metal-faced bearing driver to knock it into place, the plastic ones absorb the impact shock and you won't be able to get it in the final 1/8" or so without a metal face tool. Fortunately my local parts store does the loan-a-tool thing with that so I didn't need to buy one.

I initially used a block of wood to drive the one side in, and that was a big mistake. The wood deformed and pushed the seal in slightly on the top side. I'm going to run it and check after a bit to see if there's oil leakage. I'm thinking there will be, but maybe I'll get lucky.

The repair bearings were Amazon cheapies. The axle shaft on the passenger side does have a very slight groove worn into it, so repair bearing was the right choice. They're Parts Plus brand, and the two were not identical, clearly being made by different manufacturers. One side has two seals, inside and out, and the other side only has one seal, outside. Time will tell which one was better, I guess.
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Might pull this apart tomorrow evening.

I also now have the wiper pivot bushings, and this car has the problem where the driver wiper overruns the edge of the A-pillar at highway speed, so I might take a look at that as well.

[slack]

Touching a couple topics here. I went digging in the wagon thread for any mentions of the repair bearings, and while there I found stuff about shocks as well.
The Lincoln's shocks are in need of disposal. The rear ones seem to be doing nothing at all, while the fronts are unpleasantly hard. Blue Monroes. No surprises there. However, from the wagon thread:
But then some number of months later:
Weird. Anyway, the car needs shocks that don't suck. The Gas-a-Justs on the cars that have received them have made me pretty happy, though they definitely kill the cloud feeling. Will probably do that

That was my same exact experience with the blue Monroe shocks I put in the rear of my CV. They were good when I put them in and went to completely dead and awful within a few months. I've stuck with Gas-A-Justs since. With the stock springs on my GM, it's not overly firm. On my CV with the hard springs, it was like bouncing around in a pick up truck.

[gadget73]

The front struts that were on the Conti when I got it went from OK to seized in about 2 months. They may have been Monroes. I seem to recall they were yellow, but thats all I really know. They got tossed for KYB's purely because literally nobody else makes a strut that is a proper fit to that car. Everything else uses these stupid shim plates to make the U channel piece fit over the spindle and I'm just not a fan.

front of the Towncar has 1990s CVPI Motorcraft shocks that were on clearance from Rockauto. Rear are NOS 1988 vintage Motorcraft, also on clearance. I don't think I've got 50 bucks into the four of them.

[kishy]

That was my same exact experience with the blue Monroe shocks I put in the rear of my CV. They were good when I put them in and went to completely dead and awful within a few months. I've stuck with Gas-A-Justs since. With the stock springs on my GM, it's not overly firm. On my CV with the hard springs, it was like bouncing around in a pick up truck.

Yeah, I learned the Monroe lesson a long time ago, but I don't recall exactly how. I had put yellow Monroes (Gas-Magnums?) on the Ranger and they were trash from day 1. Lifetime warranty from a brick & mortar parts store, and I actually still have them and now the border is open, so maybe I'll see if I can get those swapped on principle. The Ranger is now on KYB Excel-G and they helped it a lot.

I think I did this car with blue Monroes because it needed shocks to pass a safety (old ones leaking) and just got the cheapest thing I could put my hands on. I'll watch for one of those KYB mail-in rebates to come along and then buy a set.

Springs on this car are original up front and Moog replacement single-rate springs in the back, with (usually deflated) Air Lift bags inside them. The back is definitely perkier. I forget if I have Lincoln replacement front springs hanging around. This car is due for 95-97 brakes at some point so when I pull it all apart for that I can do the springs too. It's a little saggy.

Might try junkyard CVPI front coils though. Less money, and won't feel bad or stupid about cutting a partial coil if they sit too high. I want it a little bit up from where it is, not a crazy amount.

The front struts that were on the Conti when I got it went from OK to seized in about 2 months. They may have been Monroes. I seem to recall they were yellow, but thats all I really know. They got tossed for KYB's purely because literally nobody else makes a strut that is a proper fit to that car. Everything else uses these stupid shim plates to make the U channel piece fit over the spindle and I'm just not a fan.

front of the Towncar has 1990s CVPI Motorcraft shocks that were on clearance from Rockauto. Rear are NOS 1988 vintage Motorcraft, also on clearance. I don't think I've got 50 bucks into the four of them.

I don't know why I've never considered Motorcraft shocks; seems like maybe a reasonable choice. I'd go NOS if they came along, but I don't see any closeout options for those at the moment unfortunately. They cost ever-so-slightly more than KYBs which is maybe why I've just gone that direction in the past.

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Last night, I decided to tackle the bearing issue.

I changed the diff oil in this car when I bought it, and I think I also put new seals on it at that time, as well as the wheel cylinders as the old ones were leaky. I checked the odometer and that is only a measly 33,000km ago.
As we observed recently, the seal on the right side has been leaking, which usually (but not always) implicates a bearing or race (e.g. axle shaft) issue.
The wiggle at the wheel end was really minor. Enough to feel and hear, but not really enough to see the axle shaft move. Perhaps bearing wear but not axle shaft.





I opened things up and did the following:

• Right side received the BCA repair bearing. I cleaned up the new riding surface for the seal with very fine sandpaper and it looks like it should be pretty trouble-free. There was no groove on the axle shaft but definitely visible surface wear.
• Left side received an original-design BCA bearing and replacement seal (old, from my existing stock). The axle shaft on this side has the same type of visible wear, but less of it. This will likely require attention again in the future, but we'll deal with that when we get there.
• Cleaned up the backing plates and put the brakes together with new shoes and hardware kits; had to use a new self-adjuster lever on the left side, but otherwise all the self-adjuster parts were quite good, with the screws turning freely. I did note some significant wear on the backing plate where the front shoe rides at the bottom. Our backing plates are not produced aftermarket so I'm not sure how we fix this; weld to fill it in and then grind it back flat?
• Obligatory drain of diff oil: found it pretty significantly contaminated with ground bearing dust. I scooped as much out of the bottom of the diff housing as I could. Oil full of abrasives is a bad lubricant. This rear end is going to need more love in the future, and maybe not really far off.
• Noticed that the cross-shaft/pin has some substantial wear where the gears ride on it. I hooned the crap out of this car in the snow the first year I had it (RE: it was bought to be a winter beater) and I'll bet that had a fair bit to do with it.
• RTV'd the diff cover back on and filled it with new 80W90 till it came out of the fill hole. The RTV job was rushed due to trying to make it to some plans and my poor time management; we'll see if it holds. Permatex Ultra Black. I spread it on the diff cover off-vehicle, allowed it to sit about 30 minutes, then put it on the diff loosely and left it for about another 30 then tightened it down and filled it almost immediately after that. There may be a puddle waiting for me when I go out to look at it.
• The right side wheel cylinder may have been leaking at the front side only; this will be monitored.

Right side:


















Left side:








Maybe time to decide what I'm doing with the axles in my driveway. There's one '97 3.27 open disc brake, and one '88ish 3.55 LSD 11" drum brake. I think the disc brake rear is going to end up in the wagon and the K-code is going to end up in the Lincoln. Not immediately, but eventually. The wagon needs the diff swap sooner as part of parts-swap-diagnosing its vibration, so what's in the Lincoln now needs to hold on for a while longer.

Unfortunately the new shoes aren't doing a great job of actually grabbing the drums and they make kind of a squeaking noise. Panther 10" drums give me nothing but problems trying to get things to work properly. The 11" on the wagon have been pretty good to me and the Ranger 9" have as well, but Panther 10" just don't seem to like being messed with.

[gadget73]

thats a lot of metal in the diff, and the axles don't look damaged enough to explain that. Maybe thats the cross-shaft wear but that much metal I'd think would have something obviously f'd and unserviceable.

[kishy]

Yeah, something bad has happened and is continuing to happen. Probably the pinion bearing eating itself.

Worth noting not all the oil was like that. That's just the goo I scooped off the bottom of the housing. But I'm sure it's not good regardless.

Looked at the wiper problem (overrunning the A-pillar at high speeds/high air speed over the windshield). It's definitely not play in the bushings as the main cause, but it may be a tiny contributor. The bulk of the problem is coming from excess play in the driver wiper pivot assembly. The shaft has egged out the hole in the plastic and subsequently cracked it; there is a huge range of motion there, which translates into an extra huge amount of flex at the end of the wiper arm.

I'm exploring how rebuildable this part is. I think it is, but it'll take some doing.

[GM_Guy]

Yeah, I learned the Monroe lesson a long time ago, but I don't recall exactly how. I had put yellow Monroes (Gas-Magnums?) on the Ranger and they were trash from day 1. Lifetime warranty from a brick & mortar parts store, and I actually still have them and now the border is open, so maybe I'll see if I can get those swapped on principle. The Ranger is now on KYB Excel-G and they helped it a lot.

Sometimes Monroe is the only thing we can get our hands on. And because of that you soon discover Monroes are not something you want anymore. At least if you get them warrantied you can flip them on this side of the border.

Cleaned up the backing plates and put the brakes together with new shoes and hardware kits; had to use a new self-adjuster lever on the left side, but otherwise all the self-adjuster parts were quite good, with the screws turning freely. I did note some significant wear on the backing plate where the front shoe rides at the bottom. Our backing plates are not produced aftermarket so I'm not sure how we fix this; weld to fill it in and then grind it back flat?

Are you lubing up the brake backing plate contact points? I'm not seeing any signs of slippery stuff in the pictures.

[kishy]

...
The bulk of the problem is coming from excess play in the driver wiper pivot assembly. The shaft has egged out the hole in the plastic and subsequently cracked it; there is a huge range of motion there, which translates into an extra huge amount of flex at the end of the wiper arm.

I'm exploring how rebuildable this part is. I think it is, but it'll take some doing.

This part became cast some-sort-of-metal (pot metal? Aluminum-ish?) in a year later than my car, because I looked at an 86 and two 89s today in junkyards and they all had the metal version. That isn't to say they were all good; the 86 one was seized up real good, but both the 89s were usable as-is so that's good.

I will probably still explore how to rebuild this thing because there seem to be no NOS of this item on eBay. Figuring out a part number might enable talking to Green Sales about it though.

On the surface it may seem like nothing but this is totally the type of part that, due to its critical importance combined with its scarcity, could cause a car to get parked due to being fundamentally not roadworthy. You need wipers.

Sometimes Monroe is the only thing we can get our hands on. And because of that you soon discover Monroes are not something you want anymore. At least if you get them warrantied you can flip them on this side of the border.

Are you lubing up the brake backing plate contact points? I'm not seeing any signs of slippery stuff in the pictures.

Interesting bit about Monroe: I understand them to be a significant, perhaps leading supplier of OEM shocks. Looking at pics of NOS Motorcraft shocks, they are pretty obviously made by Monroe (aside from paint, they're identical). Obviously, Ford would have provided certain specifications which Monroe is most likely only applying to the private-labeled part, but still...why even make junk? If a product is sold at all, it should be fit for its stated use, and that's that. But we don't live in that world I guess.

I actually forgot to lube the backing plate, but have now done so. I took both drums off in pursuit of the below issue; lubed the sliding pad areas, made sure the shoe material was clean, brought the adjustment out to almost touching but not quite (which is generous as the drums do have a minor lip).

The driver side drum is making an awful howling squeal during moderate brake application, but not light or heavy. It also does not occur when stopping the car using the parking brake. The same drum is also severely overheating as if the brake is dragging significantly, but it isn't even adjusted out enough to drag at all by hand with the wheel off. I'm really not sure what's going on with it.

The passenger side is working quietly and not getting hot to the touch. The brakes work well, I can confidently ride the threshold to bring the car to a 4-wheel-tire-screaming stop with ease, and it isn't pulling in any direction while doing so on smooth level pavement. But the driver side one has some serious issues going on despite working well.

I suspect (Captain Obvious here) that if I resolve whatever is making it get crazy hot, I will take care of the noise in the process.

[DerekTheGreat]

...Interesting bit about Monroe: I understand them to be a significant, perhaps leading supplier of OEM shocks. Looking at pics of NOS Motorcraft shocks, they are pretty obviously made by Monroe (aside from paint, they're identical). Obviously, Ford would have provided certain specifications which Monroe is most likely only applying to the private-labeled part, but still...why even make junk? If a product is sold at all, it should be fit for its stated use, and that's that. But we don't live in that world I guess...

The same can be said about automotive refinish paint. It's about profit and the lack of standards on the aftermarket side, probably also made in different plants too. OEM always gets the "best" as its demanded by contract and sold as such. If stuff wets the bed before it was promised, the supplier will have to foot the bill. There's none of that on the refinish/aftermarket side. Well, least not in huge dollar amounts. Like sure, they'll send you another part free under warranty, but they're not doing that for hundreds of thousands of cars or covering the entire job. I agree though, why even make junk? It can't be that much more expensive to make a quality product and earn the reputation which goes along with it, as well as the customer base.

...The driver side drum is making an awful howling squeal during moderate brake application, but not light or heavy. It also does not occur when stopping the car using the parking brake. The same drum is also severely overheating as if the brake is dragging significantly, but it isn't even adjusted out enough to drag at all by hand with the wheel off. I'm really not sure what's going on with it...

This may or may not be your problem, but, when that '92 C1500 was a part of my fleet, one of the arms(?) from the wheel cylinders were sticking. I replaced everything except for them. The one failed in such a spectacular fashion that it took out the backing plate. I guess they were engineered such that both of those arm deals must push out evenly or what happened to me is possible. There was no drag, but I don't remember if it made noise either.

[gadget73]

the original wiper arm pivot on my 86 was some sort of molded or cast plastic material, so was the NOS replacement part on it now. I assume we're both talking about the part that screws down to the car with the splined bit sticking out of it where the arm actually mounts ?


Do these things run a short shoe / long shoe setup? Its been such a long time that I really do not remember. If you have that reversed it doesn't work right. Have also seen cylinders seize on one side, making only one shoe operate. Usually gets real grabby on that side.

[kishy]

Yes, the bit that screws onto the car, with the splined head for the wiper arm.

The plastic ones use 3 bolt holes, the cast metal ones use only two, but those two are in the same places so the parts interchange.

Yes, short shoe + long shoe. I assembled them as they were when I took them apart, long shoe to the rear, short to the front.

I did grab the shoes and forcibly jam them around in various directions, especially making sure they moved fore-aft relatively freely, and including trying to squeeze the wheel cylinders a bit, but there's no guarantee something isn't weird inside the wheel cylinder on the offending side. The wheel cylinders were remans which went on the car in 2016, but that doesn't mean they haven't become full of goo or corrosion.

It's just weird that I can take the wheel off, and take the drum off, and it's obviously not dragging. The excess heat is getting into it from brake usage. I suppose if the wheel cylinder is only extending in one direction, maybe the one shoe making solid contact starts rapidly grabbing, getting jerked out of position then grabbing again. I just don't see where the heat is coming from in that scenario.

[kishy]

Annnd fixed. And also fixed!

I swapped the driver wiper pivot for the one harvested from the blue 89 MGM in the junkyard yesterday. This has corrected my excessive wiper slop. The other joints in the system are still providing small amounts of wiggle, but the overall problem is solved and the wiper is no longer able to overrun (or even run into) the A-pillar.

Rambling YouTube video RE: wiper pivot: https://youtu.be/EdPsR3Ctwqo

I then removed the driver rear wheel and took apart the brake. I forcefully jerked the shoes around and determined the issue must be (because there's nothing else) that the front shoe is getting hung up in the groove on the bottom-most sliding pad. I took everything off the backing plate and verified I can push the pistons in the wheel cylinder in both directions with no resistance. I then used a grinder to smooth the sliding pad areas of the backing plate, being mindful that I can't take too much off or the whole thing will just stop working entirely. I got the problem one fairly smooth, lubed them all up, reassembled it, and adjusted it out to only a conservative amount, not what I've been taught to think is truly correct, and took it for a drive.

No more noise, and no more excess heat. The brake seems to be contributing about evenly, maybe a little bit less than the right side, but it's worth noting it got extremely hot (I soaked it with the hose and it turned all of the water to steam) and the shoe material is actually discoloured vs the other side now. Not really thrilled about that but sometimes things don't go how you want.

[DerekTheGreat]

Cool, fixed is good. That one would've probably had me stumped.

[87gtVIC]

Thanks for the video. Always entertaining and informative.

[gadget73]

I've used the gasket grinder on backing plates for that job before. When they get a step worn in it can hang the shoes up randomly. Supposed to lube that, but a lot of people do not and when we get things decades after the fact its a bit late to completely un-do the last jackassery.