I picked up a 41 Pontiac over the weekend. One thing that has me going a little are the knee action shocks. I have some spare upper control arms of my 55 Pontiac that I could make work in place of the the upper arms with the knee action shocks. Finding a regular shock and getting it mounted I don't think would be too big of a deal. Has anyone else done this? Unless I could find them cheaper, Kanter wants $195 apiece or is there someone that can rebuild them ?
Here is how the front end is set up on my '48 chevy. (disks and shocks) I did not do this, this is how I bought it. I was going to post to see what people think of it. Is this a good way to have done this? Maybe it would work for yours? Before i put the sheet metal back on I wanted to clean up the front end and replace all the components. (bushings, etc)
i was going to suggest that too... why not just add a shock if those on it are shot? i don't think there's a reason to change the existing setup unless it's binding up somehow and affecting how much the arm travels.
i was going to run the same setup on my 54 olds. i heard on mine 48-53 pontiac upper arms will "bolt right in place" of my knee action. maybe there are some that will to that for yours? metalmike Screamin Demons C.C.
That will work fine for the dampening action, but if your knee action units are worn out, you'll still have the equivalent of worn out upper control arm bushings.
oh that'll **** if mine are worn then... didn't think about the bushing part, just figured i could live with not so good shocks... guess we'll see!
Put some "automatic transmission conditioner and stop leak" in the stock lever shocks and if it doesn't run out you're good to go. On a tangent, I always thought this '35-'39 Chevy suspension was "Knee Action" http://old-carburetors.com/1935-Chevy/086.htm
Pontiac knee action lasts year was 48, you'll need 49-up ,but i'm pretty sure my 55 lower arms will bolt in to my 41 and already have the shock mount in the lower control arm and may just do that. added: here's what the Pontiac arms look like. BTW i've already replaced my 55 arms with 58 Pontiac arms and converted over to ball joints. I might even do that to this also.
My grandfather has a '36, and I could swear the owner's manual called it "knee action", too. Now if I could just remember where it is, I could find out...
I had a 34 Chev Master series coupe with the knee action front end. Basically, the axle is bolted directly to the frame, and the suspension is at the outer ends of the front "fixed" AXLE---a great big honkin' shock absorber, filled with hydraulic fluid, and the coil spring INSIDE the shock absorber. reports are that it gave a very smooth and controlled ride for the first 2 years untill the hydraulic seals wore out, then it was "bouncing Betty" time from then on. I got the entire front axle, parallel leaf springs, spindles, and spring hangers off a 51 chev pickup, and it was very close to being a "bolt on".
This was a common British practice all the way up into the 80s' If you look at some of the Brit cars you might find something on one of them. MGB for sure had them through out their production life until it stopped in 1980. They also used a pretty good lever shock on the rear axles.
You want power steering fluid and stopleak ATF will not lube the parts. The shocks in the photo have a problem: If the upper and lower mounting aren't pointing in the same direction the shock will try to twist and bind....and limit full bump travel..... They will wear out sooner at best and break off in the worst case..... honest
I ran gear oil in mine and they worked for awhile, but the worn bushings are what kills the system (and the tires). If a later model arm will bolt on, do the conversion. Mounting a tube shock was an often used "fix", but that didn't cure the alignment problems that came with worn bushings, which is why they were leaking in the first place. .
that kanter price doesn't sound horrible for new parts.... anybody have any idea how many miles you can expect out of them before they wear out again?
Lessee...the last set lasted for 65 years.....So probably sometime in 2080 you should look at them again.
The Pontiac MPC shows 3 differant upper arms from 49-57. 49-52, 53-54 and 55-57. Like I said I converted my 55 over to ball joints with the 58 arms, the lower were a bolt in and already have the lower shock mount for inside the spring.
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