Are Modern Shock Conversions worth it?

B

BlueSunoco

Well-known member
On '35-'36 Ford Cars and Pickups?

Joe's has modern type tubular shock kits for both front and rear that are reasonably priced, mostly bolt-in with some drilling...

Our '36 is missing some kind of mounting brackets for the original rear shocks. Just pondering options. Good? Bad? Not worth changing? Stay original hunt for original parts? Thanks for your input!

I have Model A friends that changed to these on their Model A's and each one told me in that instance, don't go to them stay with original Houdaille shocks.
 
Good originals IMHO are better than the replacements unless you double shock ea wheel. Some conversions work better than others but all are dependent on the tube shocks which I believe should be strong double action to work right.
 
I believe this is/was a British company making copies that were superior to the originals. Stipe Machine was also making some, but they may be only for Model A's and not your year truck.
 
Most tube shock kits come with cheap shocks. You best bet is buy the good brackets and then buy a good brand name shock
 
I'm looking for shocks that were installed back in the day. Our '35 has tube shocks that were installed anywhere from the late '40s through the '50s we believe. I can't find any brand or part number information on them. There are plates spot-welded onto the lower bodies but nothing to see. Does anyone have any part numbers or brands?
 

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TJ said:
Most tube shock kits come with cheap shocks. You best bet is buy the good brackets and then buy a good brand name shock
Click to expand...

^^^ This is good advice in my experience. My '38 came to me without any shocks. I bought a tube kit for the front end and mounted them. I soon found the shocks suppled with the kit too soft and ineffective. I bought KYB shocks and replaced them. The KYB shocks worked well but within a short time one of the brackets broke using the stiffer shock. That is when I sourced some original shock and had them rebuilt. Originals are adjustable and work great.

Maybe the key to tube shocks conversion is to find good brackets, I can't help with that.
 
(1) There is or was someone who rebuilt the Houdailles. (2) My '47 long-door coupe came from factory with tube shocks on rear and Houdailles on front .... they cast or welded brackets on the rear axle and frame above. My existing Houdailles seem to work okay. I believe the 1948 Ford came with all tubular's. (3) If someone with a 40's era Ford wants photos and/or dimensions of the rear mounts I could get them A measurement of the center-to-center mounting bolts (car at rest) may help obtain a suitable size shock. (4) Few years back I bought a pair of used conversion brackets for the front, together with their used tubulare shocks. I now do not intend to install them. To determine a shock size for the front of a 40's I could measure the tubular's that came with them to ID a tubular shock size.
 
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