Talk to me about Roller Perches

[afrett]

Spring Perches

[JonK]

I understand that the shock can only dampen, compress, rebound at a certain amount but restricting it's lower mount from moving at all practically vs. allowing it to pivot freely is the difference. If you want to use rubber perches enjoy, if you want to use rubber strut rod mounts enjoy. I have switched both to roller and heim joints (I did build the adj. strut rods myself).

I'm not attempting to justify the amount I paid for my roller perches as I did get them at a good discount, some key parts are worth the extra investment for the payoff. You can build your own roller perches, I don't weld yet so I bought a set and I didn't need one more delay to my restoration.
DazeCars, Roller Spring Perches

If you want double rollers I'm sure you can find out from John how he makes his:
See 'Track roller perches' at the bottom
Opentracker Racing Products - Roller Spring Perches

I believe the roller perches are allowed in vintage racing, I bet you won't find one without them, John has raced them a lot as well as others on the boards.

The OP asked, 'Talk to me about roller perches', at least he's getting both sides.
Jon

[gtonavy]

Luke

I put the Opentracer roller perches on this spring. By far the best single suspension upgrade I have ever done. Smooths out the ride. You dont feel the pavement cracks in your hands any more. Steering feels lighter

Noticed the difference after about 100ft of driving.

[RichA]

Originally Posted by buckeyedemon

seems that if it was such a significant improvement it would have been worth the dime to upgrade.

Ford made a lot of decisions to make the cars cheaper instead of better. In my view, this was very much the trend in Detroit in that time period. They had to weigh whether or not an "upgrade" would be noticed and valued by enough people to matter. I think "look pretty and have some doo-dads" was the thinking for how to sell US cars, and good handling was pretty far down the list.

They made that trade-off with a lot of things. Not painting the inside of the cowl, for instance, or not putting on torque boxes.

Also, I suspect that stiffer modern tires, especially wider ones, likely amplify the effect.

I've felt the difference. It may or may not be worth it to you.

[Fstbk]

I have seen pictures of shocks that have had broken housings due to seized stock style perches causing them to twist, but I cant find them right now.

[ynned]

Originally Posted by RichA

Ford made a lot of decisions to make the cars cheaper instead of better. In my view, this was very much the trend in Detroit in that time period.

+1. Yeah, back then you were expected to throw your car away every 2 years. I'm no expert, and I've never seen broken shocks, but I've removed several ucas which have been broken at the perch mounting holes from the frozen perch making the bolts flex the metal at the mounting holes. I never took pics, but it was obviously failure from the bolts wiggling the metal til it weakened and broke.

[Fullbasement]

You know the spring perch doesn't move many degrees, even when the suspension travels through its entire range. Maybe 5 or 10 degrees. So I have a hard time believing all the descriptions of wonderful improvements in driving feel. Going through a hard turn with a worthwhile sway bar the perch might rotate 1 or 2 degrees.

The main issue with the stock design is they wear out after several years and they're a pain to get to and replace. I'm sure a lot of the ones we deal with are freaking 20 or more years old.

[RichA]

Originally Posted by Fullbasement

You know the spring perch doesn't move many degrees, even when the suspension travels through its entire range. Maybe 5 or 10 degrees. So I have a hard time believing all the descriptions of wonderful improvements in driving feel. Going through a hard turn with a worthwhile sway bar the perch might rotate 1 or 2 degrees.

The main issue with the stock design is they wear out after several years and they're a pain to get to and replace. I'm sure a lot of the ones we deal with are freaking 20 or more years old.

I wouldn't suggest that it moves a lot, but that it moves more easily. With the rubber mount, in all locations (except one) the perch is torquing on the spring and shock. If that one location happens to line up with your normal ride height, you'll get a nice ride. If it's off, the shock will be binding and the spring will be unevenly loaded. I don't think it takes many degrees to put enough pressure on the shocks to make them sticky.

I agree with your implication that if someone took a brand-new (ie., soft) rubber perch and replaced a 20 (or more) year old perch, they would feel a huge improvement right there (for a while). Maybe even most of what they get out of the roller. But in a couple of years as the rubber hardens, they'll likely lose that feel. Of course, Ford only cared about how the car felt off the showroom floor.