MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Lever Shocks

Does anyone have some experence in rebuild and customizing the old lever arm shocks? I want a slightly firmer dampening than stock but with the original style of shock. Can the fluid viscosity and porting/valving be altered to achieve these results? ... what would these specifications need to be? Thanks to anyone who can help.
Rob
Rob41

I did this with my shocks - which were rebuilt Apple units. The only problem was I couldn't find thick enough fork oil. 20W was the heaviest I could find.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rhodes/shock.html

Tim
Tim Brand

I redid mine with 30wt oil and they are good....I flushed them out with varsol many times then just as many more with 10w30 oil before putting in the 30wt
Although they had a firm ride before they are great now...I noticed the before and after difference when they were in the vice and how much harder it was for me to move the arm up and down with the heavier oil.
Charlie
Charlie Ballard '75 TR6

Charlie,
Why did you flush with 10w30 before putting in the 30wt?
Mike
Mike Parkhill

Hi Mike,
There was a super fine sediment in the original oil so after soaking and flushing with varsol I wanted to get rid of all the varsol so I figured a good few cycles of 10w30 would do the trick.
Charlie
Charlie Ballard '75 TR6

Thanks Tim , Charlie and Mike ... great link Tim. Looks like they may even be able to be customized for external adjustment with a little machine shop magic! I'll do some playing over the next month and let you know what happens. Thanks again for you feed back.

Holiday Cheers, Rob
Rob Gibbs

Hey Rob,

I did try motor oil and gear lube but found it got foamy when "exercising" the shock in a vise on my bench. I set mine to "full stiff" but with my suspension, I need even more dampening so I've been looking for some 40WT fork oil. I think Harley Davidson may have it.

Happy Holidays!
Tim
Tim Brand

Rob, take some pics when you get the adjustment gizmo done, I'm really interested. Unless you're going to patent it, of course, hehe. And if you're thinking of setting up the shop for a run of these, I'm sure you'll find a few of us who'd act as guinea pigs for the experiment. Great idea!
Tom

Hi Guys,

I rebuilt the shocks today/yesterday increasing both the compression and rebound rates... machined brass washers .323 ID x .500 OD x .078' thick... use a "P" drill bit for ID. Thanks Tim! I did find a fair amount of metalic in the old oil and flushed them very well with varsol and then with a commercial water soluble cleaner then with compressed air. For now I am using a 32W hydraulic oil... will look for some fork oil in a 30-40W when I get closer to civilization in a week or so. The housings have been bead blasted and clearcoated while the arms were painted SG black... hope that is right to stock?! They seem to work well on the bench... won't see road opperation for a year at least. Ugh.

I think that the custom valving is do-able but I will wait till I have less of a major project ahead of me and more play time.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! ... My wife says that good little boys get TR stuff under the tree! Be Good!

Cheers, Rob
Rob

This thread was discussed between 10/12/2004 and 18/12/2004

Triumph TR6 index