I was reading a thread on here about lever shocks and had some questions. Are the friction shocks like speedway sells the same shock or would it be better to find a used set and have them rebuilt? I like the vintage look of the originals and was wondering the best way to go, I've had no experience with them what so ever, from a little research it seems the Fords are the way to go, any info I should know before attempting putting a pair of these on my 28 A sedan?
Someguys will argue but the best thing about friction shocks is that they are legal as shock absorbers. From there how well they work gets into friction material and spring tension. I had a friend back years ago with a T bucket who had cut friction disks out of about every material he could find in his quest to get them to work the way he wanted and his did work fairly well at the time.
I worked at a salvage yard years ago, right after I started the owner started buying a lot of foreign cars, I remember the MG's and Triumphs had them. Some others may of had them, I can't remember. I think they had alum housings.
Here's a before and after showing MG rear shocks replacing friction shocks. I used the Speedway friction shocks on an A speedster years ago. Friction shocks work, but it takes a lot of time, effort and constant adjustments.
Local old timer told me to use a torque wrench and pound up a washboard road ,and adjust them ! Sounds hard on paint and everything!
Friction shocks and the Model A and the foreign car shocks mentioned are all lever action. The latter are hydraulic and the Model A are adjustable and made byHoudaille. The foreign were Armstrong. Friction shocks predated hydraulics, the mst common and best being the Andre Hartford which are still available new, from England. They had various configurations designated by the number of blades such as three into two, with special hard wood discs in between, a pair of profiled flat steel springs and a center bolt and indicator to adjust stiffness. For your Model A use the original Houdaille’s
Britisch cars used those .... 28 Dreyer you just beat me... here's the link : https://www.holden.co.uk/c/hardware/brakes_suspension/shock_absorbers
Had a pair of Hartford’s on the rear of my avatar, and a pair of Houdaille’s on the front. Just the way the resurrection worked best and the pre-war era of the car.
I used 49 cadillac rear lever shocks on the front and rear of my 30 roadster. Fine tune by oil weight. Got a 392 hemi in it and needed to control the weight of it.
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