Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

I bought a set of these years ago and they leaked and I never put them on a car.

Has any body rebuilt them or are they rebuildable ??

The needle valve is not the same as a regular shock

Any advice would be appreciated.

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

Are you talking about the M&S Shocks, or the Petes shocks made in the 70s and 80s that have Chicago on the covers?

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

I am talking about the Pete's shocks .

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

I have a couple of sets of Petes shocks, I posted some photos of one that I took apart recently, here is the link - Post # 12:

http://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread...923#post339923

I will be working on this shock this week, there are three 'O' rings which I obtained from a local hydraulic shop.

Darryl in Fairbanks

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

OK I will be interested in your posts on rebuilding them. Did they all leak oil when you got them?

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

Bill,

So far I have only worked on 2 of the 8 shocks that I have. Both were damp with fluid and had very little fluid inside. I believe that they were all leaking, I am not certain why as there are only three 'O' rings. One big fat one around the shaft, one inside the adjustment and the large diameter one between the cover and the locking ring.

Mine have been mounted on two different Pickups for about 30 years. I never had them hooked up for more than one summer if I remember correctly.

One of them seems to work after adding fluid, the other I have taken apart twice and reassembled twice and can't seem to get it to come around. I am going to disassemble it again in the next few days and reexamine it. I may try a different fluid, right now I am experimenting with 10W-40.

Now that it is above zero for the first time in 6 weeks I will try and remove the other 6 shocks and examine them also.

I will let you know what I find.

Darryl in Fairbanks

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

If I remember correctly the guy who put on the seminar at Hershey said you had to use 600 weight oil in the Petes shocks. He also uses Indian Head gasket shellac compound on the threads of the outer cover to prevent leaks.I heated some old shocks in a charcoal grill for for four hours and then dimp them in a bucket of cold water for a minute as he suggested and the shocks came apart easily.

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

Bill,

Good information about the oil, in Pete's ad it only mentions "Filled with Oil Only - No Glycerin"

I was going to try Hydraulic Jack oil next.

600W oil is to heavy to use around here, but I will try the 85W-140 Gear Lube that I use in lieu of 600W and see if it helps. Although I think there is something else going on because the first one that I tried seemed to work just fine.

Are the shocks that you heated up and took apart Pete's or Original shocks?

Darryl

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

They were the original and most of them were frozen up with no oil in them.

Re: Antique Auto & Parts SHOCKS
 

I find that 90W gear oil seems to work OK and not so likely to leak.