MTFCA Forum

I recently purchased a 1914 Touring car that I hope to actually tour with when I finally get it put together. One of the things that concerns me is the lack of shock absorbers on the car. I have driven modern cars with worn shock absorbers and they can be really hard to control when you hit a rough patch of road and I am thinking a Model T might be even worse. I have noticed pictures of several Model T's with aftermarket shocks and I was wondering if anyone still makes shocks for Model T's and if they do, which ones are the best? I am adding Rocky Mountain brakes and will be adding a Ruckstel rear end later and I have noticed they say they will not work with some types of shocks. Any recommendations?

Thank you....Bryan

I think you need to go take a ride in a car without shocks and one with to feel the difference if any. Also, you have to be very careful regarding the design of certain aftermarket shocks, because some are flawed and can cause an accident from collapse. Some shocks are of very good design and strong, others are questionable. I have hassler spring shocks on one of my cars.

As Three Pedal Tap Dancer suggested, drive your car before making up your mind about this. I'm amazed how good the ride is on my '14 Touring with no shock absorbers at all. Ts are low speed cars by their nature & if you drive them as they would have been driven back when they were built there should be little issue. That's not to say there are NO places where shocks might help. A bad washboard road might be one of them but on normal modern roads the ride is pretty good.

Another thing to consider - even though many sorts of accessory shocks were available to buy, they were not widely used. The vast majority of ts got along with the stock springs & nothing else.

Paul

I run rebound straps on the front and rear of my 1924 and consider them a worthwhile improvement. I made them out of the heaviest leather belts I could get at Walmart.

As long as the front end and steering column of your car are in good shape, it will get along just fine without any shock absorbers on most roads.

Stephen

The incompatibility of accessory shock absorbers and Rocky Mountain brakes is real. Many types have different spring perches o be able to fit them, and these get in the way of fitting the brakes.

Allan from down under.

I have a feeling the OP is asking about real shocks. Yes, there are reproduction “Hartford” friction shocks available for the T’s, that cause no interference with accessory brakes or create potential chassis failure points. They simply provide resistance to the free motion of the springs.

The safety concerns stated in previous posts are relative to “Hassler” and similar design era accessory “shocks”. These “shocks” commonly have altered design spring mounts and additional helper type springs made with inferior metallurgy.

Don’t know if they’re still available, but here is a clip from an old thread;