shock Fluid
 

What fluid can you use in original shocks

Tks

Re: shock Fluid
 

All the venders sell fluid for original shocks for less than 10.00 dollars. 1 pint will do 4 shocks.

Re: shock Fluid
 

I like oil in my shocks, since the original glycerine attract moisture and causes rust.

Re: shock Fluid
 

The stuff used in jacks.

Re: shock Fluid
 

The correct answer is...

Read the article.

Seems people have lots of ideas of what is correct. Well back in 1966 in Model A News an article was printed that pretty much gives you the answer.

Now my experiences working with shocks with zero play and a slight amount of play. By play I mean the wings to the body. By slight amount of play, just that-the shocks were super tight and very tight. Oh and I had one that was just fairly tight.

I found that Automatic trans fluid is too thin. A huge difference in the amount of resistance between the zero play and very slight play shocks. The fairly tight was fairly loose. None came close to the time required by the Service Bulletins using my guess of a shock tester arm.

I found that hydrualic jack oil to be a bit looser.

So two fluids to strike from the list of possibilities.

A guy at work gave me some motorcycle shock fluid. I would rate it slightly thicker than the ATF and jack oil. No difference.

So after talking to someone they mentioned this above article. So I dug deep into my collection and found the attached article.

I think that should shed some light on what you should be using.

I would like to point out that if your wing has any play in the body without the nut on top then you are likely are going to need thicker fluid.

I would also like to point out the article was 'scanned' using an app on my iPhone. The app is call Genius Scan and it lets you correct for angles if you are not directly over the top of the article and it makes it a PDF. Probably a good app if you want to do a quick scan of something like an old book at a library.

Re: shock Fluid
 

Thanks for all the replies

Re: shock Fluid
 

I have a can of Fidelity Shock absorber Fluid manufactured in 1937. The weight is approximately 10 to 20 weight. This is an estimate, but it's clearly not as light as ATF and, from what I see, not as heavy as 30 weight oil. I would have thought it would be heavier. I would have thought that the jack oil would have been a good replace too. I can't say how much it's changed since 1937.
Terry

Re: shock Fluid
 

Kevin, thanks for the article info. The checking of the shock , was that done with a certain amount of weight and checking how long it took to drop the arm ? thanks lots. have fun modelAtony tony white Lafayette, LA

Re: shock Fluid
 

I made a guess based on the pictures in the service bulletins.

The arm came out in front of the bumper and then I guessed how big the weight appears to be.