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Front Suspension Questions: 1941 Buick Roadmaster, model 71 4 door sedan


Kenneth Carr

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I am in the process of sourcing the parts needed to rebuild the front end of my 1941 Buick Roadmaster 4-door sedan.

I have a couple of questions that have come up while consulting catalogs.

 

I need upper and lower outer knuckle support pin kits (pivot pins). The kit offered by CARS (my preferred vendor at the moment)

does not include the large nut that secures the lower pin (according to salesman). Mine is missing. Does anyone know the

dimensions of that nut? I plan to remove and measure the one I do have on the other side of the car but would like your input. I 

measure the bolt as about 7/8" diameter and 10 threads/inch (coarse?)

 

The kit comes with Tie Rod Ends. These have to be specified as right hand or left hand thread. What were they for 1941?

 

I may have some terms wrong ... I am not very familiar with suspension parts .. please feel free to correct me.

 

Thanks!5ada4daa9f8ee_Nutloweroutersupportpinorpivotpin.thumb.JPG.5d2b3fd4196111883f7b337e303f56a9.JPG5ada4dad54459_threadlowerpivotoutersupportpin.thumb.JPG.f6ae282b7bf21b91e7bfdb321b39c2c0.JPG

 

 

Edited by Roadmaster71
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The tie rod ends are left hand threaded. Another area in the Cars catalog does

specify this for all 1941 Buicks. Apparently the salesman was not aware of it.

Also a friend of mine knows that the adjusting

sleeves are left hand threaded as per the shop manual.

 

I will figure out the nut size when I remove the one that I do have on the

other side of the car.

Edited by Roadmaster71
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  • 3 weeks later...

The order from Cars came in. The parts look good and I reviewed them with the man who will do the install.

The only concern he had is that the brackets that attach the lower control arm rod are an integral part of 

the entire casting. The originals appear to have a stamped bracket that is then welded to the cast

rod. He will install this first. The holes do seem to match up (I measured).

The other parts look good.

 

The salesman told me that a nut was not included with the lower outer

pivot pin kit. It does not have a separate nut but does have a threaded sleeve with an integral

nut on one end. Hopefully this will fit.

 

Almost the entire order arrived in about 8 days. The front springs that I ordered were drop

shipped and they came a few days later. 

 

Some photos are attached.

 

Lower and Upper outer pivot pins sm.JPG

King Pin Set 2 sides 41 Buick model 71 sm.JPG

Lower control arm closeup sm.JPG

Stabilizer 2 per side front and back sm.JPG

Tie Rod End left hand thread sm.JPG

Edited by Roadmaster71 (see edit history)
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What you needed was a Buick Master Parts Book.  I would suggest a 1950 Book.  That way you would have known that most of the parts you wanted fit multiple years and models.  You could have found them on line, usually from eBay, but often from other sources as well.  CARS, as well as Bob's Autoobilia are good quick sources for the parts you need, and you should keep both catalogs on hand to compare prices, etc.  But, nothing beats a Buick Master Parts Book to tell you all of the different places you can look.  Some people don't have any idea that a Pontiac, Olds or Cadillac part will also fit a Buick.

 

I see your car is two-tone green.  Did you recently buy it from somebody in Virginia?

 

Here's a picture of mine.  I'm currently having it repainted, engine and chassis detailed, and chrome replaced.  It has 59K miles on it and a perfect interior ,,,, so, I'm having clear plastic seat covers made to protect the seats and so I can therefore drive and tour it.

41 Buick disassembly 5.jpg

Our 1941 Buick 71 as bought.JPG

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On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 11:56 AM, Dynaflash8 said:

What you needed was a Buick Master Parts Book.  I would suggest a 1950 Book.  

I see your car is two-tone green.  Did you recently buy it from somebody in Virginia?

 

Here's a picture of mine.  I'm currently having it repainted, engine and chassis detailed, and chrome replaced.  It has 59K miles on it and a perfect interior ,,,, so, I'm having clear plastic seat covers made to protect the seats and so I can therefore drive and tour it.

 

 

Earl,

 

I agree ... I do need that master parts book. I will probably order one from Fusick when I get done with paying for this front end job.

I expect to get the car today ... they are finishing as I type this. It will be a big bill. They had to do a lot of work to make everything

fit due to excessive wear on the old parts that everything attaches to.

 

My car came out of Connecticut ... I bought it 16 years ago.

 

It looks like you found a beauty! Perfect original interior? I would do the plastic covers too. That only comes around once and I suspect

you want to use the car a lot. The covers will protect it. I notice you have the bumper end protectors and fog lights too. Nice

extras!

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Thanks for your comments.  I want to rebuild the front end on my car too.  It's nice and tight, but the springs are weak.  I've got lifters in them but it still, in my opinion, sits too low in the front.  I don't like any car that's down in the front, i.e. my new 2017 Buick LaCross.  Even my Dodge Charger looks a little down in the front to me (off the subject).  I have two pair of "elephant ears".  After the car is finished, I sort of plan to have the originals re-chromed by a shop in Melbourne, FL that does g-r-e-a-t work.  But first I want to pay for all the chrome they are finishing up.  Chrome is very expensive.  Since I've had the car I found some NOS and some very nice original, plus the car came with a lot of NOS items like headlights in the box, complete with rings and ornaments, parking lights complete, front fender side spears, rear stone pads and other miscellaneous.  I got some rubber with it, but had to buy a whole lot of new rubber.  The car came with a set of replated bumper ends, but they aren't as good as what the shop in Melbourne can do, so I consider them temporary. It cost me $450 to get a grill I considered good enough to plate.  I'm not sure it was better than mine, or as good, but I didn't want to remove any chrome from my car while it was all together.  None of my chrome was terrible except the rear bumper was really scratched up and starting to fail.  I'll probably sell the old chrome when I'm all finished.  The same day I bought this car in North Carolina, I looked at a two-tone green Roadmaster in Virginia.  The owner had passed away and he had two Roadmasters.  I considered them both parts cars, and almost bought them.  I chickened out.  I changed my mind a few days later,  but his nephew bought the two cars and the better one, two-tone green like yours, was actually brought back to life and offered for sale.  I couldn't believe it after seeing it in the barn, but the nephew must have done a good job.

Edited by Dynaflash8 (see edit history)
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