The Ford Barn

MartyAndrew · 09-12-2013, 11:27 PM

Hi all. I have disassembled all 4 of my shocks on my 29 Coupe, bought new seals and am now experimenting with reassembly. All 4 were very clean inside, with no pitting at all, and at most one small gall between rotor and stator on one, and rotor and cover on another. They each had black, semi-hard glycerin congealed in the bottom 1/3 of the reservoir. I'm guessing glycerin because gas and brakleen wouldn't touch it, but acetone or soapy water cleaned it right up.

The LF shock is all back together and mounted on the frame for checking forces. I have a crescent wrench on the rotor, and when I pull up I get only a little resistance, and when I push down I get a lot. It doesn't lock up with the needle valve all the way in but it does get much easier with it screwed out a turn or two.
The rotor seemed plenty tight with very little wobble. e.g, hard to see the gap change visually, but with some oil in the gap, you could see it appear and disappear when I wobbled the rotor. I don't have something to measure 0.0005" with so I can't say for sure how tight the fit really is.
I blew thru the check valves in the stator wings with compressed air and they seemed to pass WD40 in one direction, but not the other. Are these check valves where my problem is? If so, what is a good way to check them?
I also cleaned the vent plugs with a razor and a sharp 3-corner file, and had to replace the lead in both corners of one of the stator wings. Just cut some off an old sinker and packed it in there with a drift. (didn't realize the seal kit from Snyder's included lead BBs til I opened it later!) The other wing still had its lead so I just re-packed it a little.
The ball check at the bottom of the cover was cleaned out too and rattling good. However I couldn't get the balls in the stator wings to rattle when I shook the body, but I put it back together anyway.
I used 10W30 motor oil just to get it together and see how far off I am, or not.

So, the question is, what should I do next to try to get this shock working right?

Thanks to anyone with advice!
Marty

kingbee · 09-13-2013, 12:11 AM

It is normal for the shocks to have more resistance in the rebound direction....

J Franklin · 09-13-2013, 12:21 AM

They are 60/40 action shocks.

Kurt in NJ · 09-13-2013, 08:49 AM

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Sounds like you are getting the shock to work correct

Have you read the rebuilding article in the service bulletins?

i made a test arm from a damaged cutoff shock arm --using the picture of the test arm on the car(picture in service bulletins) it is about 24" long, by looking at the weight on it I figured it at 15 lbs ---for 23 degrees of travel it is about 1 min at winter temps, 15 seconds at summer temps---and easy to lift(compression)---on a real good shock the needle valve closed almost stops movement, yet the weight can be lifted without a lot of effort.

At this time I am using atf for fluid, originally it was hyd jack oil that also listed shocks as a use, when I changed the oil in the front forks of my motorcycle i thought that motorcycle fork oil will work, then i researched fork oil, found a oil test chart online and atf was amongst the oils tested and it ranked with the better fork oils for foaming, if the shocke are tight enough that the test time are good atf works, if thicker oil is needed fork oils come thicker ----but in my opinion if it gets to needing "gear oil" like 90wt I don't see how proper operation can be had---it will be too thick to move through the check valves.

You're doing good, make some notes on how the adjustment changes each shock so if you want to change the adjustment on the car you know what position of the adjustment valve keeps each shock working the same relative to the others--

09-12-2013, 11:27 PM	#1
MartyAndrew Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Southeast Michigan Posts: 52	Shock forces uneven Hi all. I have disassembled all 4 of my shocks on my 29 Coupe, bought new seals and am now experimenting with reassembly. All 4 were very clean inside, with no pitting at all, and at most one small gall between rotor and stator on one, and rotor and cover on another. They each had black, semi-hard glycerin congealed in the bottom 1/3 of the reservoir. I'm guessing glycerin because gas and brakleen wouldn't touch it, but acetone or soapy water cleaned it right up. The LF shock is all back together and mounted on the frame for checking forces. I have a crescent wrench on the rotor, and when I pull up I get only a little resistance, and when I push down I get a lot. It doesn't lock up with the needle valve all the way in but it does get much easier with it screwed out a turn or two. The rotor seemed plenty tight with very little wobble. e.g, hard to see the gap change visually, but with some oil in the gap, you could see it appear and disappear when I wobbled the rotor. I don't have something to measure 0.0005" with so I can't say for sure how tight the fit really is. I blew thru the check valves in the stator wings with compressed air and they seemed to pass WD40 in one direction, but not the other. Are these check valves where my problem is? If so, what is a good way to check them? I also cleaned the vent plugs with a razor and a sharp 3-corner file, and had to replace the lead in both corners of one of the stator wings. Just cut some off an old sinker and packed it in there with a drift. (didn't realize the seal kit from Snyder's included lead BBs til I opened it later!) The other wing still had its lead so I just re-packed it a little. The ball check at the bottom of the cover was cleaned out too and rattling good. However I couldn't get the balls in the stator wings to rattle when I shook the body, but I put it back together anyway. I used 10W30 motor oil just to get it together and see how far off I am, or not. So, the question is, what should I do next to try to get this shock working right? Thanks to anyone with advice! Marty

09-13-2013, 12:11 AM	#2
kingbee Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Northern Chicago suburb Posts: 105	Re: Shock forces uneven It is normal for the shocks to have more resistance in the rebound direction....

09-13-2013, 12:21 AM	#3
J Franklin Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Oregon Posts: 5,969	Re: Shock forces uneven They are 60/40 action shocks.

09-13-2013, 08:49 AM	#4
Kurt in NJ Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: on the Littlefield Posts: 6,159	Re: Shock forces uneven Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Sounds like you are getting the shock to work correct Have you read the rebuilding article in the service bulletins? i made a test arm from a damaged cutoff shock arm --using the picture of the test arm on the car(picture in service bulletins) it is about 24" long, by looking at the weight on it I figured it at 15 lbs ---for 23 degrees of travel it is about 1 min at winter temps, 15 seconds at summer temps---and easy to lift(compression)---on a real good shock the needle valve closed almost stops movement, yet the weight can be lifted without a lot of effort. At this time I am using atf for fluid, originally it was hyd jack oil that also listed shocks as a use, when I changed the oil in the front forks of my motorcycle i thought that motorcycle fork oil will work, then i researched fork oil, found a oil test chart online and atf was amongst the oils tested and it ranked with the better fork oils for foaming, if the shocke are tight enough that the test time are good atf works, if thicker oil is needed fork oils come thicker ----but in my opinion if it gets to needing "gear oil" like 90wt I don't see how proper operation can be had---it will be too thick to move through the check valves. You're doing good, make some notes on how the adjustment changes each shock so if you want to change the adjustment on the car you know what position of the adjustment valve keeps each shock working the same relative to the others--