My old lever action shocks were worn out so i needed to figure out something to make the car ride nicer on the road. First of i needed somewhere to mount them. In front of the control arm there is a sway bar so it was no room to put a tube shock there. So it had to be behind the control arm. I also wanted to keep the bumper for the control arm. The control arm was unmounted and the rivets next to the steering knuckle removed. I did spend a couple of hours in a car part store and found a couple of shock absorbers for Saab that had a good length and rubber bushings with large holes. Back in my shop i simply made a shock absorber bracket with a 3/4 bolt for the lower control arm. The upper bracket was made of a 40*40*5 mm square pipe and welded into the frame. Had some issues with the brake hoses so i had to make a bracket for them so the not would abrade against the shocks. I have driven it about 50 miles and so far it has worked fine.
Just had my ' 50 Buick out over the weekend and I came to the realization that these lever action shocks have to go. How did this set up work out for you? Did you just leave the original shock intact?
The OP was in 2011, and he was last on the Hamb this February. I would say that you must keep some fluid in the lever action front shocks to lube them as they are also the upper A frame.
I wonder if these affect the turn radius or are they far back/tucked in enough so it doesn't matter, interesting solution. Replacing/rebuilding the fronts seems to be a 450.00 just for parts deal, and then you need to realign the frontend.
The Jalopy Journal
