i'm thinking of useing lever shocks on my roadster. i have some A shocks but everyone tells me they suck! do any of them work good??? if so what are they off of? i want something i can find , not something rare, and hard to find what are you guys useing? or what would you recomend? hummmmmmmmmm
I dont know about Model A Shocks. But 38-48 is good ones. But they must be in good working order, i would check Hemmings and buy a renovated set. The good thing with this shocks are that they are adjustable The earlier ones can be that to, i just lack knowledge.
Well, I can tell you, I've run both tube and lever shocks and they both work good provided they're in working order. Just took the Terraplane shocks off my sedan though 'cause I wore 'em out; replaced by tube shocks now. Either way, if you're running a beam axle (of course you are, right?) jack up the front end and check for lost motion (wheel movement without shock movement) in your linkage/bushings/etc or you'll most likely be fighting wheel hop at highway speed. Hope this helps... --Bob
Another option for a hydraulic lever action shock is the ones off an MG sports car. Can't recall the name of them off hand, but they are pretty common as they are used up to 70's and 80's. They are not quite the same appearance as Houdaille (sp?) Ford shocks. The MG shocks have two reservoirs with pistons that move by the lever, you can change the oil viscosity to change the shocks stiffness. The shocks may be expensive new, but look at junkyards, that's where i got mine.
Terry they are called Armstrongs and you want the rear ones the fronts are funky i got a pair on e-bay for $20 after trying a couple of differant angles on my key words
The original Ford Houdaille shocks were really quite clever and effective. I don't know anything about Armstrongs. The lever shocks at Speedway are friction, not hydrraulic, right? Think about this: Ferrari used Houdaille shocks as late as the early 1960's on its cars. --Matt