Removing shock arms

N

nathanmac

Member
Anyone have any tips for removing shock arms? Maybe I just started with a super frozen one, but they seem tricky to say the least.

I attempted to press one off - I made a sleeve to go over the adjuster to press on the end of the shaft, and managed to get some flat bar under the arm itself, but when I had a bout 10 ton of pressure on it in the press, it was all just too much and bent up the flat bar. There isn't much room between the arm and shock itself to get adequate support, and there doesn't seem enough space for a puller to get a decent grip either.

Am I going at this the wrong way? I've started on the worst of my shocks in case I do irrepairable damage - but there must be a way. I haven't applied any heat as yet - looks like I might need to do something like that to break the 70 year grip it has?

Any advice appreciated - I'm the sort of person that will try work through a problem and fix something myself rather than send it away - where's the fun in that?!

Thanks in advance.
 
Nathan, I'm like you when it comes to doing my own thing restoring my old Fords but I drew the line when it came to shocks because I knew it would take special tooling, equipment, and knowledge to do the job that I didn't have. I let Bill Wzorek in MA rebuild mine and he did a very nice job. You could send him a pm and ask him how he gets those arms off. I'm sure he would help you with some good advice.
 
Hi John thanks, I'll send him a message. Being down here, there aren't any places in my town that specialise in shocks. I remember as a kid 'helping' Dad with Model A shocks, but I don't even have an exploded diagram of V8 houdailles. I've got some A shocks that have been blasted and sitting in kerosene for aeons in case they are ever needed.

I'm the sort of person that likes to know how things work - so when I've got this flogged out one to bits I want to trace how things happen when everything's going up and down!

One last question for those that may know - are the internals the same front to rear on respective shocks? I may be able to build up one spare set of shocks if I can use the guts of a front shock into the worn one.

Cheers.
 
when louie was doing the shocks before bill took over. i used to stop at his spot at hershey & ask him if he had king kong working for him. without the proper tools & know how you should send them to bill wzorek. it,s cheaper than a stay in a hospital.you did not say what year some modles you need a special spaner or you will destroy it
 
Well i'm working on getting the right know how.... what's this special spanner you speak of - do you have a pic by any chance? They are 1941 shocks

I'm guessing I'm maybe 10000 miles away from you guys, so freight may be more of an issue than you've considered.
 
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