I just picked up a set of Rotoflo shocks at a local swap and need some info on them. All I know is they are cool old English shocks that I have seen on a couple cars. Mine are locked up. How would you go about rebuilding them? Do you unscrew the back plate? It has a large X that looks like it takes a special tool to remove. What's inside? Are the materials available readily, or are they some rare fiber containing asbestos or something, thereby no longer made? I have three with a S curved arm, and one with a straight arm. Anybody want to trade arms? I'd like to have matching pairs at least. What cars are you running them on? Is the damping rate adjustable with tightening a screw, or do you need different fluid? Is there fluid in there? Hopefully somebody out there has some and can help a Rotoflo newbie. PS: At the swap I was also able to pick up an original Filcolator beehive filter with an extra NOS top, complete with decal. This was a VERY good swap for me.
I've got some Olde English rod-special-racecar type books and will see what they say. The name certainly sounds hydraulic...
After my post here I Googled Rotoflo and came up with a place in England that rebuilds them. Also found note of an auction house that sold a "lot" of old English type race parts that included a Rotoflo from a Talbot 150. What is a Talbot 150? Didn't Clark in PA have a set? And one of the Aussies too?
I have a set also but luckly mine work. Bruce, to help with the research they were a Universal Damper manufactured item. I vaguely remember reading something about a fluid plastic being the material inside? I'd like to know more myself but my web searches have turned up nothing... Chris Ha...alchemy found an answer while I was typing...let me know if you get info from them?
My first look at the post title.... I was trying to figure out the abbreviation. Rolling on the office floor laughing (something). I need more coffee. Dan
Rolling on the office floor laughing (something). I need more coffee. Dan[/QUOTE] Yeah--I remember their ad jingle... "And down go troubles, down the drain! Rotofloooow!!" Didn't manage to dig down to the British level of the library last night--will probably find something tonight.
I have a set but mine work. Try bolting or clamping them to somthing then work them. Mine are pretty stiff. I don't think they have fluid in them. There's a sprint car in the eastern museum of racing that has them on it. Otherwise that's all I know. Clark
That museum is developing a pretty good library, I understand. Might be worth asking them if they have anything.
Myke...they are the Rotoflows. Fred...sorry. don't want to sell mine. I've got 4 now to go on my 34. Larry got lucky with a wanted add on the Ford Barn. Clark
I've got a pair of them. They were locked up and when I finally got them apart (yes, the back screws off) they had what seemed to be some form of soft rubber in them - when I spoke to the people who refurbish them they said that it should be fluid, but that it used to set hard over time. They refurbish them but it is expensive - about $300 a pair I think as they sleeve them and fit new seals if I remember correctly. I think they said they could supply the fluid. Anyone with a bit of time on their hands, and some machine shop equipment, could probably refurb them. Mine have '32 shock arms with a splined piece crudely welded in to suit the shock shaft, although I don't know if that was a factory or homemade job. They were supposedly quite popular with racers back in the day. The pic shows them, with one dismantled.
OK, I found mine again today - I really must tidy this place up some time! My note with them says that the company that repairs them is Special Engineering Services and their website is www.sesparts.freeuk.com who look to do some nice, but pricy, work. My notes also say they wanted £150 - that's $300! - EACH to rebuild them, including sleeving the body. That's why mine are still sitting there doing nothing, and I put the original shocks back on my '34. The mounting plates are for Ford mounting and are factory stamped so I assume the Ford shock arm conversion was part of the kit. Larry, I'd let mine go for $100, but it looks like postage to the US would be around another $100 (we have a VERY expensive postal service!).
I have a full set on my flathead powered dry lakes modified & they all work great. They are filled with natural rubber, from what a friend of mine said when he rebuilt his, that are on his track roadster.He found a rubber lab. and they figured out how to reproduce the same type of rubber that is used in them.He has rebuilt a few sets for close friends only and being disabled it's a chore for him to do, so he is not interested in doing more of them, as I asked him that question a number of months ago.Thought i'd save you the question if he would do others.
Rem, yours looks different than mine. My shocks look like Myke's. I have gotten mine to turn a bit, but they are still way too hard to use as-is. Hey Lakes, if your friend won't rebuild any more, maybe you could at least find out some proceedures or secrets and post it on here?
Alchemy, mine have Model A1 cast on the top. They look smaller than Mykes - mine are mounted on the bracket (stamped A1/7) which adapts them to the Ford chassis holes. Mine were rock-solid when I got them, but a bit of heat from a blow torch softened the inside enough to get them undone (destroying the set rubber in the process). I am sure the guy I spoke to said the material was a very thick fluid, which was why they sleeved and sealed the units (I think the high price might be more of a reflection on their usual customers' resources than actual work involved, although £150 doesn't buy much machine time here). If the rubber was 'set' then they would be like springs, not dampeners, although if it is fluid, then why an adjusting screw and nut on the shaft? Or is it rubber fluid, and compressible? Or maybe there are two types? I had considered converting them to a sort of friction shock, but haven't gone any further with that. I'll get some more detailed pics of the insides if you like?
Those shocks that I showed a picture of are not mine. I wish they were. I found the picture here: http://www.earlyford.no/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1971
They do come in two sizes. I have both at home, so will take some measurements and post them tomorrow.
Turns out that I have three pairs, all different ... A1. These are the same as the ones that Rem has. The mounting holes on these are 2 1/2 inch apart. A1/338. These are the smallest and have 8 ribs on them. The mounting holes are 3 inches apart. We had these on the front of a '27 T roadster and they worked well. A2. These are the largest and have 12 ribs on them. The mounting holes are 4 inches apart. They look like the ones in the photo that Myke posted.
Simon, the adaptor brackets on mine take them out to 4" as well, I guess to allow the use of 'medium' units directly on the Ford chassis? Can you confirm what is inside them? There is a fibre seal and/or bearing on the inside top face, but I don't see that it would have been able to seal even a very thick liquid inside. Can you rotate your levers through 360 degrees, or do they just turn a few degrees either side of horizontal, then spring back?
I had a play with a pair last night ... After running some bolts through the mounting holes and clamping them in the vise, I tried moving the arms. They are pretty stiff, but can be moved by hand, and will move right through 360 degrees. There is a couple of degrees of spring back when you stop pulling on the arm. The feeling is pretty much the same as if you are compressing a non-gas filled tubular shock absorber by hand. Then I removed the locknut and adjusting bolt to check what is inside. It is not a liquid, but more of a putty like consistency. You can push a screw-driver into it and it comes out clean and leaves a hole in the surface. I'm not sure if they have hardened up over time, but they feel like a shock absorber should and I am sure they will work fine.
That putty almost sounds like highly viscous silicone paste...the stuff tire dressing is made from...is it white, or clear?
It is translucent and slightly blue rather than clear (if that makes any sense). I would say the shocks date back to the fifties - would silicone have been around that long?
Hello! I have also found two A2 Rotoflow to my 5w coupe now. Are here someone know how i take them down ? Are there tread on backplate so i can turn with a tool in X or how i do ? Thanks. Jan
There is a comment back up the thread that says the back screws off, but I haven't tried it on mine. Why do you want to pull the backplates off them? Do you have some replacement fluid that you can put back in?
They are filled with natural rubber. Find that rubber tree & your all set.I run 4 of them on my flathead powered dry lakes modified & they work ok, but I do like the way they look.
Hello! There are soft rubber in now and the arms dont move. I have plans to restore this but dont know anything about them. No i dont have replacement fluid ,there is a rubber in know and not fluid i think it dont work with that but not sure. Thanks. Jan
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