1951 Buick Special Knee Action Shock refill Help

[Guest Thuff51]

Hello All,

I've owned several late 50's GM but this is my first 51 Buick Special (very cool btw) I'm unfamiliar with the knee action style shock. I hear you can refill them with jack oil but how do you go about it exactly? I see a Zerk fitting and also a silver dollar sized metal cap that looks like you can twist off??

Any guidance would be helpful as I would hate to mess this seemingly simple process up due to ignorance.

Thanks

[Guest shadetree77]

Hello and welcome to the forum and to the world of Buick! First might I suggest that future posts be down in the Buick Club sections of this forum. You'll get a lot more help from me and the other Buick fellows down there. The front and rear shocks are filled with Hydraulic Jack Oil and they must be bled of air. The process is described in the Service Manual. If you have not purchased one yet I highly suggest that you do so. They are incredibly helpful in dealing with all of the Buick engineering quirks. You can download the entire 1952 Manual FOR FREE here: http://www.teambuick.com/reference/library/52_shop/. It is offered up for free thanks to the guys at the Team Buick site. Like I said, it is free but feel free to make a donation if you like. 51's and 52's are very similar so having a '52 manual would be better than not having one at all. The process for checking and filling shock absorbers is in section 6-23 page 272.

I have a thread covering all the work I've done on my '52 Special. It's up to around 37 pages now! You might find it helpful. It is located here: http://forums.aaca.org/f163/1952-special-deluxe-project-315000.html. Might I also suggest that you join the Buick Club Of America? Great club magazine and amazingly friendly and helpful members. Good luck with your shocks and feel free to go on down to the "Me and My Buick" section of the forum and introduce us all to you and your '51. There are quite a few of us working on '51's and '52's and we love pictures!!

[Rusty_OToole]

Unscrew the cap on top and pour in the jack oil. Clean off the dirt first, you don't want dirt in your oil.

[CarlLaFong]

FWIW, the Buick has lever action shocks.

Knee action is a different setup, also called a Dubonnet suspension