Anyone have experience removing knee action shocks? First requirement: I'd prefer to avoid serious injury or death. I have a couple different spring compressors, but they're not usable here because the only access into the spring is from the bottom only, as the knee shocks block the top where I usually drop a threaded rod through. How did they do it back in the day? I considered jacking up the lower arm, but not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling on that approach. What say ye?
I see you have no replies yet. My knowledge is limited, but I know that there's a little bit of information available for working on the Chevy front suspension of the same era. I don't know if they're the same or similar and if it would help you.
In consulting the shop manual for my 40 Buick, which should be the same, says to jack up the lower control arm. Loosen the upper spindle bolt clamp, and remove the spindle bolt. The shock should be attached by 4 bolts, two of which are tapered to hold the camber alignment. Servicing the shock itself requires special tools, and is best left to companies that do it.
What's the plan for front suspension? If you're removing it for good, then simply remove the whole crossmember as an assembly and don't bother taking it apart in pieces. There must be 20 small 3/8"-NF bolts and nuts holding the crossmember in, but then it will all roll out in one assembly. There's people doing restorations that actually want them too! I sold mine for $250!! A big surprise to me. I was going to scrap it all when I did the I beam axle swap.
I plan on keeping them, at least for the foreseeable future.. I’ll add in a tube shock also. I just want to fully disassemble the front end and clean, blast, paint the bits and pieces.
The procedure I went through assumes the motor and sheet metal are there, but I don't think that will work as pictured. There is not enough weight to take the tension off of the spindle bolt. You could change out the 4 lower control arm mounting bolts one at a time with long threaded rod and gradually release the spring, or get a set of clamps that attach to each side of a spring.
I wrestled with the knee action for a couple of years on my 40 chevy coupe. Spent way too much, too much time/effort for minimal results. Finally used an orig. Mustang 2 front, welded it in. That was about 40 years ago, today its just as good as new, rides great, steers super, and with p/s is just a kick to drive. Just sayin'-you might consider a swap.
If they don't leak much and you need a quick fix, add heavy duty motorcycle shock oil to them and they will work pretty well.
I tried this once on my 39 Chevy. Only lasted a couple of days. Then I tried STP. DO NOT DO THIS! What a mess. Sold the car before I resolved the problem. ..bjb
When I did that on my '39 Poncho it lasted about a year...guess mine were in better shape than yours Jokester
Mine don’t leak that I can see. I’m just wanting to completely disassemble everything for a clean, paint, and reassemble. I’m thinking f I add in a tube shock, I’ll be ok. Maybe many moons from now, I’ll consider a suspension upgrade, but right now I’ve got bigger fish to fry…
This is what my 1946 Motor manual has. You will have to save it to your computer and then enlarge it a bit most likely. There may be a double on one page as I am using a mix of computer and phone. The bottom half of page 783 down away from my wife's fingers has the instructions you are asking for. Set it solid on stands under the frame (block up the rear too even if you leave the rear wheels on the shop floor) and use a jack under the lower control arm.
The Jalopy Journal
