Houdaille Shock Rebuilding

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Has anyone used M&S for Houdaille Shock Rebuilding? If so, what was your experience and how well did the shocks work and hold up.

My ’29 went to Lexington and back last year on useless front shocks.

Thanks

Bill

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I used 5-Point. I have yet to drive my car enough to find out. Hopefully I will know in a month. They are supposed to be good, and they were fast and reasonable.

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Bill, about 10 years ago I had M&S rebuild my 1936’s rear shocks. Both leaked substantially after 10 miles on the road after re-installation. I removed them and sent them back, and M&S re-did them without an additional charge, but I had to eat an extra two ways shipping for the re-rebuild. When I called them to tell them I was sending my shocks back, they said they do primarily Fords….

I would NOT use them again. Paul Johnson seems pretty happy with them, but he’s in their back yard, as it were…

George

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I had the front Houdaille shocks rebuilt on my dad’s ’29 143 at 5-Points a little over 3 years ago and they are holding up well.

They survived all three tours at the Oregon Meet along with the miles that have been added since then.

One side did weep a little at first but it has since stopped.

They even seem to be adjusted well for car.

I would love to see a write up on how to do the shocks yourself.

I would tackle the job if I had some direction, first.

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I had M&S rebuilt 10 shocks for me in 2005, and then installed one set on my 1929 Club Sedan. They have been working fine since. I did have to return one shock because it was leaking. They repaired it at no charge.

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Hi Bill:

Here is my 2 cents worth:

I have not used M&S. I had the front ones of the ’29 done by a company I don’t recall (the shocks started leaking almost immediately), so I sent the rears to Apple. The rears would barely move. I was satisfied with their previous rebuild of my MGA shocks. I’ve heard some complaints about Apple, but my experiences with them were good. Apple phoned and indicated that the shocks were too far gone to repair, but they had a stock of NOS Dodge military truck shocks that were identical for the same price of a rebuild. I was a bit skeptical, but I said OK. They said that I could return them if I was dissatisfied. The shocks came painted in military olive paint and seem to work fine. This was about 6 years ago and they are not leaking (yet). There was a good article about Houdailles (I’ll try to find it) that I read a few years ago. Apparently the shaft bushing was designed to weep a bit to keep it lubricated.

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To All:

Here are a couple of addresses regarding Houdailles and rebuilding. The first is a factory manual, the second is a DIY guide.

Apparently these shocks weren’t manufactured with great precision, which probably contributes to leakage.

http://www.tocmp.com/manuals/Ford/Haudaille/pages/houdaille%2013_jpg.htm

http://reocities.com/MotorCity/garage/1205/hreb.html

Regards

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