VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 38 rear shock rebuild

I have rear shocks that have been added but the orginal shock is still working and on the car. Is there a way to rebuild it or test it? I can't believe it still has resistance.

There are several companies around the country that offer a service for rebuilding vintage shock absorbers.

Your description is confusing? Well, to me at least. Are the new ones on the car at the present time or are the old original ones on there.

The only way I know to test them is to bounce the car up and down and see if it rebounds more than once or so. If it seems that the springs just rebound without no resistance from the shocks then they need service or replacing. (My statements may be confusing, as well.) Anyhow, I hope you get the picture.

If the shock is off the car, brace the unit in a vise or something and see if you get good resistance. Other than that I don't know.
Charlie

You can pull the shock and clamp it in a vice. Work the lever. A working single action shock will give resistance in one direction, double action in both.

Aftermarket shocks are on the car. Also...the old orginal shocks are on there as well.Both sets are on the car. My question is...is there a way to rebuild or see if the old shocks are even working. The long arm goes up and down but there may be no resistance at all. The aftermarket shocks seem to work.They're old but still seem to have resistance.

Clear as mud?

Asked and answered....see posts above.

The '40 manual says to never clamp them in a vise, as it can bind the piston. Instead you are supposed to make a holding fixture of steel sheet (looks like about 1/4" thick) and drill holes in it to bolt on the shock to it. Clamp the fixture in the vise for testing and repair.

If you undo the end link, you can test the shock by hand. In the axle going down direction, it gives resistance, the harder you push the harder they resist. In the up direction it should just spring back on it's own.

I would be really interested in pictures to see how the modern shocks are mounted. This is a change that I would like to make.

Don't clamp the housing, just where the bolt holes are. Also they don't need to be very tight to be able to tell if there's resistance or not. I can understand why they put that in the manual, some doe-doe would try to clamp it tight enough to withstand 10 lbs. of C4.

This is a photo from the first day I owned this old car. The shocks a crudely mounted,but work.



BTW..Notice the bare wire hanging down. Every time I turned the switch on I could hear popping and smell smoke. The ONE AND ONLY fuse never did blow. I have replaced all of that now with modern type wiring and fuse block.

Why would you try and claim this photo was from the very first day you owned the car?
Charlie

I didn't take that photo. That is one of the Ebay photos.It was taken about two weeks before I got it delivered from Odessa Tx to Tennessee. The entire undercarriage is black now,green rims,new tires,new wiring,etc.

BTW..one of our forum members talked me into painting the cream colored rims green...HHMMMMM

Don't mess with me or I'll tell them N.C. boys to weld those floor pans in backwards,you're getting closer to my world now.

I could tell that picture was not taken in Tennessee...There is no Road Kill under the car......ED

Everytime I took something apart there was SAND in it. Odessa must be in a sandy area. The glass was pitted so bad I had to replace all of that.

Thanks for the photo, I appreciate that. The folks at Chassis Engineering make a kit to mount modern rear shocks but they make the lower end to mount to one of the common hotrod axles. I see your upper ends fasten to a plate that is bolted through the frame. The kit I refer has a support made out of square tube that goes up into the hump there and the shocks mount to it on an angle. The bottom of the support has plates that fasten on the bottom of the frame. If I could figure out a way of adapting the axle end, I would buy the kit.