MTFCA Forum

Need help identifying these shocks that came on a chassis I recently bought. Thank you.

Thank you, Ed. I couldn't find any information about them anywhere (and I still can't). I'm grateful to at least now know who made them. Have you, or has anyone else reading this, had any experience with them or have any thoughts as to whether it is worth putting them on a car?

Steve Jelf wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 01, 2022 3:49 pm

It was another brand of aftermarket shocks that killed Ken Meek, but I'm very wary of using any of them. The stock ride is good enough for me. The link to the full accident report is defunct, but this gives a good summary of what happened. An accessory that I would be willing to use on a pre-1919 T, if you want to call it that, is the under-axle wishbone. In fact I do have one on my 1915, and I have no intention of changing to a correct one.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/25 ... 1342495776

Thanks for posting this Steve. Newbies need to know about this and us oldies need to be reminded.

It looks to me like running one of the types of acessory spring perch/shock units (illustrated in the older thread) with the nut not absolutley tight on the shank on an early axle with the over-the-axle radius rods could result in destroying the radius at the top of the shank portion of the perch, and perhaps also allow it to hammer against the vanadium steel axle beam, which might spot-harden that portion of the shank, thus weakening it considerabley. Any such parts in use ought at least to be very carefully examined for any evidence of damage or abuse. Adding 5:1 steering gears and a 17" steering wheel to an older T would offer some advantage in the case of a front axle assembley or tire/wheel failure. A T that is driven often can benefit from modern hydraulic shocks and fully-rebuilt wheels. 30 MPH may be safer than 60 MPH, but it's still 44 feet per second, and that's way more than enough to wreak havoc on the human body.

The shocks that failed in the Ken Meek incident were an obviously flawed 2 piece design. It has a weak riveted pivot part that failed. There are many good varieties of accessory shocks that perform just fine as intended. They are not all accidents waiting to happen. With any accessory, study the design carefully, and ask questions of your fellow T guys as far as safety issues or wear concerns. Here are the shocks that failed in the above incident from the above link.

Did the riveted joint fail, or did the shank break off the assembley?

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 01, 2022 7:40 pm

Did the riveted joint fail, or did the shank break off the assembley?

The shank broke off.