Tri-Five Suspension And Brakes - Shake, Rattle & Roll

After years of wear and tear, things get thrown around and jarred loose. The front suspension is one area that really takes a beating in the Tri-Fives. Aside from moving up and down, factor in turning, a handful of moving parts, and so on. When you add it all up, Tri-Fives are left singing their own version of "Shake, Rattle, and Roll."

A good idea would be to replace the worn parts, for two reasons. Number one, there is nothing more annoying than driving over railroad tracks, or just down the street, and having your teeth chatter like in a Scooby Doo cartoon! On top of that, nothing's worse than feeling like you better bust out the wood screws and fasten things down so your car won't fall apart. On a more serious side, it's dangerous. All that vibrating, rattling, and wobbling shouldn't be down there. Classic Performance Products is a company that has a multitude of suspension components for '56 and '57 Chevys. Whether it's replacement parts or upgrades, they've got it handled. For this '57 shoebox, we're going to do a little bit of both. Not only are we going to replace, but upgrade, as well.

In terms of replacements, we'll junk the old used and abused parts and install new CPP parts. Among that list are upper and lower cross-shafts, inner and outer tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves, an idler arm, and a centerlink. As for the upgrades, let's put it this way: braking and steering on these vintage Chevys were never great, therefore, we upped the ante. CPP gave us the first 13-inch Big Brake Kit with 2-inch dropped spindles to come off the line. They also hooked it up with a new 600 steering box for more responsive steering and handling. In the end, this '57 will not only be cured of the shakes, it will be a safer and better-performing machine, too. You can't beat that for a minimal amount of time and money spent.