Houdaille shocks 2.0

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To all that showed interest in my escapade into rebuilding my rear shocks, I decided to tear into the front shocks that were in much worse shape and needed the check balls replaced. If there is any interest in how the seats and balls were replaced let me know and I’ll post the pictures and a description the best I can.

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G’day Jim. We sure do!!

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Cheers

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Jak.

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I second Jak’s enthusiasm for pics and a write-up.

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Post it please.

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Let it happen, please!

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By all means!

Jim — a PASB article using your previous material is still in the works

but I want to get a better understanding of the details first. I am thinking about opening us a shock that I have to find out more.

Is there any fundamental difference in the construction and operation of front vs rear houdailles?

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Arnold,

The front and rears appear to be the same internally and like the rears there ARE left and right shocks even though they will bolt up to either side. So you have to keep the parts to each shock together. Jim

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Well somehow I lost the pictures and descriptions. I’ll take one of the fronts apart again and start over.

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G’day Jim

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Surely one of we PAS members has saved them & can email them back to you. I will trawl my records.

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Cheers

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Jak.

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Jak,

The pictures I lost are of removong the check balls and seats, I hadn’t posted them yet.

It seems like I’ve taken almost everything apart twice so it’s not a problem at this stage. Thanks anyway. Jim

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All of the disassembly that applied to the rear shocks is the same for the Frt. shocks.

I don’t know if all Frt. shocks are in as bad of shape as mine were, but I think because of the lower position and more exposed to water they might be.

This is what I found inside. After cleaning everything the check balls were at best half rusted away and in 2 places gone completely so this is going to be about the way I replaced the check balls and seats in the bodies and just the balls in the plate since the seat is machined into the plate.

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These balls were half rusted away and the only way to get the balls out is to remove the pins. I put the plate in the mill vise and used a #60 drill in the chuck and lined up the pin with the drill bit, with the drill in front so you can align both of them.

You’ll notice the pins aren’t in the center of the holes in this plate so locate on the pins and not the center of the hole.

Next put the smallest center drill you can get and move the table until the center drill is exactly on the top of the pin, then drill a starting hole. I used a #0 center drill/countersink.

Replace the center drill with the #60 drill and drill the pin out, going clear through into the bottom of the hole about 1/16″ at least. If you are lucky the pin comes out but likely you will have to work the pieces of pin out.

To clean the seat use a short length of 3/16″ hardwood dowel chucked in a drill motor with some valve lapping compound on the end of the dowel and push the dowel into the seat, the dowel will take the shape of the seat. Keep adding the compound until the seat is smooth.

For the replacement pins I got music wire from Ace Hardware and cut them into lengths as needed. After you cut the pins to length flatten one end with a hammer so they will fit tight into the holes. From a bearing house you can get loose ball bearings, through catalogs they want you to buy 100 of each size. These balls were 5/32″.

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This is both shock bodies with the old seats out and new check balls. Notice the left shock didn’t have a retaining pin, the ball seat was spot welded in. I opted to drill holes to retain the seat instead of trying to spot weld in the new seats.

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This is how I cleaned up the bottom of the passage. I think that there is a seat both directions for the ball. That’s the same 3/16″ dowel and valve lapping compound as earlier. Best tip I have is to find somebody with small fingers to twist the dowel.”

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The seats that were pinned cleaned up well and could be reused. I don’t know if the condition of this seat is that important since the oil flow in that direction goes through the slots on the outside of the seat.

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After drilling the center hole in a piece of 1/4″ drill rod with a 1/16″ drill I used a die grinder with a cut off wheel to put 4 slots about 90 degrees apart like the old ones. Mine aren’t pretty but they work.

A 3/16″ ball mill cutter was used to make the ball seat for the 3/16″ check ball. I used a steel ball bearing, I don’t think the Stainless Steel ones were needed

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Here is what the end of one seat looks like, it is parted off slightly longer than the old seat, just to be safe. Repeat the process for as many seats as you need.

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New seats and check balls.

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The seat was pressed in with the solid portion of the seat flutes inline with the pin holes. I pressed in the seats slowly until when you shake the body you can just hear the ball rattle a little, then drill through the seat and install the pin.

The pins don’t need to be a press fit since they are captured on both ends when assembled, they just need to be secure enough not to keep falling out as you’re assembling the shock. Same thing with the pins in the plate.

Now you need to grind off the extra length of the seat flush because the paddle on the shock shaft will close flush with this surface.

The shocks go back together just like the rears, just make sure to keep the pieces of each shock together and align all the witness marks you made before taking them apart.

I have found that the black silicone “Ultra Black”from Permatex, on clean threads, seal the cover the best just put a thin coating on the body threads and screw the cover on. If you put the sealer on the cover threads you will force the sealer into the reservoir and might cause problems later. Sealer should get forced towards the lock ring, if there isn’t a ring of sealer put a little more around the end of the cover and let it sit 10 min. then tighten the lock ring. If sealer squeezes out all the way around let it sit over night then trim off any squeeze out.

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Any questions feel free to ask, I’m not saying this is absolutely the best way to do it but it worked. Jim

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