Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Has anyone rebuilt their own shocks? I have rebuilt mine, with good success and thought of posting what I found and did about it. I have started a draft, but it seems to me it might come across as a bit long winded. Wouldn't want to bore anyone. Your thoughts please, good, bad or otherwise.

Love to see it.

YES, love to see it as well. And I'm sure we all want it to be easily findable later, so how about letting Kev put it in the "How-To & Tech Tip" section, hopefully with some illustrations?

I'd certainly be interested in seeing what you've done.

A long long time ago there was a CCCA magazine article on knee actions, but I don't have it anymore. That box got lost in a move.

here's an article on a mid 30's Chevy with knee action shocks.http://www.antiqueautoarchive.com/folders/Restoration/kneeaction/kneeactionpdfcompressed.pdf

And here is a thread from the AACA:
http://forums.aaca.org/f120/delco-knee-action-shocks-294212.html

Still a lot of work. I send mine to Apple or one of the similar rebuilders. Just make sure you send it UPS or FedEx. If the post office loses the box like they did mine, the insurance is worthless since some brainless knucklehead in the office will ask you for an original sales slip showing how much they cost. At least that's what I ran into.

Thank you all for your input. Please bear with me, then as I go through it and refine it. I will try and make it more of a "How-to" article. I am by no means an expert. I am a licensed millwright with a hydraulic background and when I saw how they worked I figured I could fix them. I made mistakes, and will pass on everything I did. Right and wrong. They are not hard to do, but certain equipment, like a press and possibly a lathe, or access to ones is required. I did take some pictures. Anyway, I will continue with it and will post it as soon as possible.

Those postal insurance rates are highway robbery to boot

David, it was a lot of work. I might do it again. Only reason I did it was if I had sent them away, between the cost of rebuild and then shipping, it would have eaten most of the money I had set aside to fix what needed to be fixed to have it on the road for this summer. The article is almost done. I need to read through it to possibly make changes. Then I am going to have someone else who has seen the shock, to proof it to see if what I have written makes sense. I will post here again when I have talked to Kevin about putting it in the "How To" section and it is accessable to all.

Draft completed and proofed. It has been sent to Kevin and he is going to convert it in to a pdf file and I have asked him to let me know when it is ready.