Re: 1930 745 Shock Absorbers

Posted by tfee On 2011/8/17 9:50:07

On the top of the shock there are two nuts, the smaller one is the fill and should have a copper crush washer under it. I would undo this one first and fill the unit with motorcycle fork oil. Do this with the shock free from the car because you want to get all of the bubbles out. Do this by filling it a bit and slowly moving the arm up and down to push air bubbles out. Once bubbles are out you can check the dampening setting by loosening the large locknut next to the filler. In the center of the large nut is the adjustment for rebound. Turn it CW until it stops, then back it off one and a half turns CCW for the Packard factory setting. Retighten the locknut to lock down this setting.

If you want to make adjustments to this setting at a later date then turning the adjuster screw CW will give you a tiffer ride and turning it CCW will give you a smoother ride. I would caution though that any adjustment should be very small, no more than 1/8 turn. It's a sensitive little valve.

I just went through this on my 733 and all my copper crush washers were ruined and leaking. There are more crush washer in the valve itself. Since you already have your shock off the car I would double check these before sticking it back on the car. I bought replacements through Mcmaster-Carr. Some of the info above is in the 1930 Packard owners manual which you can download elsewhere on this great website.