VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 36 Master Deluxe knee action shocks

Hello, I am looking for information about the knee action shocks on my 36 Master Deluxe. The drivers side shock appears dry on the outside. The passenger side is weeping what appears to be oil and is wet around the outside. I have not done anything to these yet. The car is not running so i cant say how it handles. I checked the search feature but didn't find much.

I suspect a seal is bad on the one that is leaking. Can these be rebuilt? What is involved with making them operate correctly? Is there some maintenance that should be done to them? The car has been sitting since 1984.


Regards,
Ken

You will find that the unit that is not leaking is empty.
First, can the front end be bounced up and down? If not, one or both of the units are froze up inside. When empty will be very bouncy. When working properly should recover quickly from a bounce.
When you do fill them and experiament I would use ATF. Its cheap and they each hold over 2 Qts. Other wise hydraulic jack oil can be used.
Often they are just plain worn out from being driven "empty"
later I will send you a copy of an article that was in the G&D a few years back. It covers a simple re-seal job. Will also let you see what is inside the units.

Gene, The shocks bounce quite easily. I am going to add jack hydraulic fluid to them. I got my front clip off yesterday.

Now it will be nice and easy to get at the motor. I think I am going to pull the head off to see what the condition is with the cylinders. I could see radiator fluid in the first cylinder the other day. The rest of the cylinders looked like they had some dry grit and rust from condensation?

Regards,
Ken

The head may be cracked in the cylinder that has the rust....common on a '36. If that cylinder wall is too bad it can be resleved with not problem.
If the front end is jacked up and there is no weight on the wheels/suspension don't bother to fill them for now. Most of them leak (worse) when the wheels are hanging down.

Gene, I was poking around the front end this am. Are the backing plates supoosed to move? They seem to have alot of play in them? One side more than the other.
The motor is about ready to to removed.

Ken

The backing plate are free to move on the spindle. This is necessary because as the large arm moves up and down the backing plate must stay in the same position (can not rotate slightly). They can be slightly loose but if too loose they rattle when going over bumps. There is a large replaceable brass busing pressed into the rear of the baacking plate, often worn and easy to replace.

Did you get the resealing article?

Gene, I did get the resealing article. Thank you. I am leaving the shocks dry for now like you suggested. As for the backing plates when I remove the drums to do the brakes I will take a closer look at the bushing you spoke about.

I decided to pull the head before removing the engine this afternoon.

There were 4 cylinders filled with radiator fluid. It looked like the Titanic inside 4 of the cylinders.

I have only had one engine completely rebuilt and I did not have the chance to see inside the cylinders before the rebuilder had baked and cleaned everything. So I don't know how "bad" this block is. I will have to get the opinion of
someone who can tell if this is rebuildable. It doesn't look good.

Tomorrow I am pulling the rest of the engine out.

Regards,
Ken

Hello Gene, Yesterday I traveled to PA to pick up the 35 207

that has the 41 replacement head that I may need to use if I

am unable to get my head repaired.

I also found a set of knee action shock assemblies with drums.

I bought these from the fella who had the engine and also a

spare radiator. I was comparing the shock assemblies to the

ones that are on my car today. The main support arm that attaches

to the center of the backing plate has a different shape to

it.

The arm on the car has a round shape to it. The set that i

found yesterday has a square or rectangular shape where the arm

attaches to the backing plate.

Are the knee action shock assemblies all the same for

34, 35 and 36?

I was thinking of using this new set in place of rebuilding the

old existing set

By the way I just received my VCCA member number = 45407

What do i need to do to be able to add pictures to my posts?

Regards,
Ken

Don't know the answer to shock questions. But do know the answer to the last one. Nope! You now have member privileges.