Wear and tear

[Jonah D'Avella]

A couple months ago, I purchased a 1927 model T. Other than a short jog down the road of quarter-mile, it has not been driven for 40 years. The front shackles and bushings are worn badly. How long of driving would it take to do that?

[perry kete]

It's not a matter of how much driving it takes to wear out bushings but the lack of proper maintenance. They need to be serviced at regular intervals. Oil and grease are our friends when we have these old cars.

[TWrenn]

When you replace said worn parts, as you put them all back together, invest in a tube of Lubriplate #105 motor Assembly Grease. It's great stuff. Smear it on the shackles, bushings, etc. Anything that touches anything. Don't just slap it all together and then rely on oiling it through the stock oilers, etc. Just be sure you don't plug up the oiling holes in the bushings, etc. so they DO accept the oil
that you eventually put into them. But using the Lubriplate definitely gives your wearable parts a good head start to lasting a lot longer. Plus, they slide together that much easier anyway. Any auto parts store sell it. About $10 bucks a tube.

[Norman Kling]

Every few day s if you have a daily driver. I oil mine before every tour because I don't drive it every day and the oil does tend to drain out over time. They will also get water in them when you drive through puddles so the oil will keep them from rusting. If you run dry, they wear out quickly especially if you drive through water.
Norm

[Steve Jelf]

On the theory that it's better to wear out bushings than shackles, I use bronze bushings instead of steel. I buy them by size online.

I use them like this on my 1915, but if you want to use them on your late model car you will need to drill oil holes for the oilers. Lots of folks use chain saw oil because it's thicker than motor oil and lasts longer.

Ream bushings to 9/16" for the shackles (hangers) to fit.

[Rich Bingham]

. . . The front shackles and bushings are worn badly. How long of driving would it take to do that?

To address the original question, it depends.

It depends on the conditions of use and the quality of maintenance (or lack thereof). Just guessing, but most fully used Model Ts in rural areas probably saw five to eight years of continuous service over rough dirt roads, with fairly sketchy attention to regular lubrication during their using life. Mileage unknown.

To compare, I bought an older restoration that was driven around 15,000 miles on tours by the person who restored it, and about the same distance by the next owner, also mostly on tours on good, modern roads, and meticulously maintained. The running gear and suspension wear points are a little sloppy but not worn as badly as most "original condition" parts I've found as abandoned relics when I was hunting rust in years gone by.