Shock absorbers retrofit

[Skvitt]

Not brand-specific, but rather general question. Has anybody retrofitted this style shocks with modern telescopic ones. It seems like rear ones can be retrofitted quite easily, front will be more complicated. Not that something that I need to do now, mine seem to be work fine, and no leaks, but in future who knows....

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Well if it is for the car in your avatar it may be apples and oranges but I know tube shock conversion kits exist in the Model A world.  Most require at least one hole in the frame.  If it were me I would go to an Apple Hydraulics or other shock rebuilder and restore yours unless it was unfeasable for some reason.  

Edited June 13, 2023 by Steve_Mack_CT (see edit history)

[1912Staver]

A reasonably common conversion on British sports cars that use lever shocks. Kits are available for all the common makes / models.

[60FlatTop]

2 hours ago, Skvitt said:

mine seem to be work fine, and no leaks, but in future who knows

You're good.

[Skvitt]

The question is more educational/curiosity for me. So far I didn't find anything wrong with mine, except that one of the connecting links to the frame was shot and the other one is almost new, and I could only find new ones sold in pairs, then I just thought that must've been someone who retrofitted them with tube shocks.

[Rusty_OToole]

You need shocks of the correct length and a means of mounting them. Have seen upper mounts off fifties Ford pickup trucks that bolt to the frame, and there are aftermarket brackets made for specific cars. Lower mount bolted or welded to the lower control arm. For the rear, a mount on the lower spring plate and some kind of bolt or mount on the frame or unibody.

 

It's going to be different for every car. This kind of open ended question is impossible to answer in less than a million words. If you know what car you want them for, do a web search and see what you can find.

[drhach]

For the Buick, isn't the front shock actually the control arm too? Anything is possible, but that seems like a lot of work. 

[Fordy]

3 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

A reasonably common conversion on British sports cars that use lever shocks. Kits are available for all the common makes / models.

My Pommy Ford Prefect has a bracket bolted to where the lever shock body mounts that provides for the upper mount for the telescopic units and the lower one bolts to where the lever actually attached.

[Terry Bond]

They look very similar to the rear shocks on our MGB.  I think replacement of these with standard tube style shocks is dependent on the type of vehicle.  We tried a conversion setup on the MGB several years ago and were not happy with it.  We've used the standard stuff since.  Over 50k on the car since it was restored and still going strong.

Terry 

[1912Staver]

1 hour ago, Terry Bond said:

They look very similar to the rear shocks on our MGB.  I think replacement of these with standard tube style shocks is dependent on the type of vehicle.  We tried a conversion setup on the MGB several years ago and were not happy with it.  We've used the standard stuff since.  Over 50k on the car since it was restored and still going strong.

Terry 

Hi Terry, what didn't you like about the conversion ? They are quite popular.  Did the ride end up being too stiff?

[Terry Bond]

The main issue we had was they did not seem to do anything at all.  This had everything to do with the way they mounted.  The rube shocks were mounted at a rather steep angle using existing holes in the frame.  At such a steep angle they did absolutely nothing to dampen any  up and down motion like the originals did.  We also had problems keeping them bolted in place.  The rocking back and forth motion kept loosening the nuts holding them on.  We tried jam nuts, special lock washers, Nyloc nuts, and finally resorted to castellated nuts and cotter pins before changing back to the stock style shocks.  Hopefully the kits have improved since then, but I'm ok with original stuff. 

Terry