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Can anyone give me any info on the lever shocks on the Midget? I have
a 76 that has some very soft rear shocks, that allow hop on any kind of
washboard road. Is there a way to rebuild them? My Haynes book gives no
information about them. Thanks
I had the same problem with soft shocks, and as far as I know, they
are
not easily rebuildable. They are able to topped off with the special
hydraulic fluid used in them (vict. british and others sell the fluid)
Typically, a soft shock will need to be renewed, tho. And the little
buggers are NOT cheap (70-100$ with a core).
Other than normal? Have you removed the shocks to test the arm? Also check the shackle bushings, they may need replacing. Does anybody out there make urethane ones?? If the arm is just soggy and there is no play on the splines, try refilling with new shock oil. After being on the road for twenty some years the shock oil just vanishes? The rear shock is under very low stress, unlike the front one. I have done this a number of times over the years and it always seems to work very well. You could of course buy new ones, rebuilt ones, uprated rebuilt ones, or scrap them altogether and convert to telescoping types. I am sure there are plenty of people out there that will advise the conversion. This is quite expensive for the rear and even more so for the front. It is my experience that it is usuallly better to keep this part of the car stock. Unless you plan to put this car on the track. Try the oil trick first it may just work and save you some money. If you do descide to replace these I have found the prices in Hemmings Motor News advertisers to be the best.
When I replaced the fluid in mine I used Synthetic 10w-30, and it worked great. I figured if it didnt work for this, it wont work for the "special" stuff. When you do this make sure that you work the arm of the shock alot so you work out all of the air. When the air bubbles stop forming then you can replace the cap. I really recomend trying this first, replacements are not cheap.
I agree with doing an oil refill first - definitely worth a try-
but IMHO you must use the correct hydraulic oil as engine oil will have
completely the wrong set of additives, and may have different temperauture
characteristics. I.E. it won't work so well when it gets hot.
Over here in UK, rebuilt lever shocks are freely available at about USD
30 each.
A couple of people on the MGB board have recommended Apple Hydraulics in
the US
as good for rebuilt exchange units. They are in NY state, are they also
nationwide ??
I have heard of people putting everything from motor oil to 90W hypoid
in lever arm shocks. (The fella who tried the 90W ended up replacing all
4 shocks outright, as well as cleaning up the 90W on his garage floor.
He fractured all 4 shock casings.)
I recently topped mine up with Dextron ATF, and have run about 1,000 miles
with no problems yet. If they've been down a while, it is a pain to get
all the air out, though.
I've got a complete set of front and rear lever shocks from
a '76 Midget that I don't need any more...there available
for the standard core price ($75 ea).
Keep the greasy side down 'cause they roll better that way!
The hydraulic oil sounds good to me. Being a novice, I replaced
the shock oil in the rear of a B, with Castrol Motorcycle fork oil.
It seems to work, well. Plus, it has seal swellers.
Motor oil doesn't sound right to me, but I not to familiar
with the characteristics of the synthetic motor oil.
I'd be interested in polyurethane bushings for my B. They work
great on my A-arm bushings.
Does anyone have a way of removing the old shock oil with the
shocks on the car? Yes, I know this sounds lazy, but I thought
of siphoning the oil with my vacuum pump. However, that won't
get all the crud out.
By the way, if your shocks leak, I believe its time for a
rebuild.
When you have to top up lever oil there is something wrong
Probably a leak in the leaver arm. Don't repair the absorbers
It's best to replace the shock absorbers completely and always do both sides
at the
same time. You can exchange your old ones for rebuilds by
good suppliers. New ones are very expensive (as I found out)
On the front of my B they were one more of the parts that had to be
sent off for rebuilds. While cleaning them up for shipment I noticed that
the shock valves unscrew and allow you to drain the shock fairly efficiently
-- especially if you don't want to -- as well as letting you get the crud
oput of them at the same time.
It was in taking a close look at the front suspension that I found out
why the PO gave up. I guess I haven't had that much sense yet.
I'm a bit late on this thread but I've read with interest this business
of topping up the fluid. I never realised you could do this and always
exchanged them for reconditioned units which I found went soft really quickly.
I eventually converted to telescopic. (see other threads)
I recommend the conversion.