Overhauling Andre Hartford shock absorbers from a Riley 9 Monaco

overhauling the classic Andre Hartford shock absorbers from a Riley 9 Monaco

[@russellnixon9981]

Good vid , no faffing about , just good clear instruction, look forward to seeing more. Would be interested to see the rest of the car.

[@TweedsGarage]

Thanks Russell, check out kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2rPo4qibrSfbqs and you will see what they are attached to.....and it's current state of repair.

[@ces7515]

Excellent resource, thank you for posting this 😎

[@TweedsGarage]

My pleasure, glad you found it useful

[@roadrelics8162]

Very helpful video ! Thank you

[@TweedsGarage]

Glad you found it useful 👍

[@roadrelics8162]

@@TweedsGarage Yes, I was hesitant to remove this kind of dampers from my Citroen 5HP (1926), but now I know what to do. I am also glad to know that the friction plates are still available from Hartford. Great !

[@peterk2455]

Bloody brilliant, I've got hold of a pre-war Crossley 1127 IOE in a chassis, and couldn't for the life of me work out how the dampeners mounted. The Hartford type may just be the job.

[@TweedsGarage]

Very nice, i did look at a six cylinder pre war Crosssley ( the same engine used by Lagonda with a bit of reworking ) a while back but i don't think i would of had the room for it in the garage. I don't have any affiliation with them apart from ordering parts from them but www.vintagecarparts.co.uk have a range of chassis mounting bolts for the Andre Hartford shocks which may be of use to you

[@peterk2455]

@@TweedsGarage Sorry for the very late reply. I will send them an email as it's bloody hard finding parts in Australia for the less well known models. Thanks for that.

[@jjmac3561]

Very interesting and informative. Is there a flat on the bolt that the either the adjuster number plate or indicator lines up with? Wasn't clear on the rebuild. I think you could do with a sand blasting cabinet.

[@TweedsGarage]

i did have a blast cabinet but unfortunately for the amount of times it was used it didn't justify the amount of valuable workshop space it took up, so had to go. The indicator has two upward bent tabs that locate on the side of the adjusting nut so it indicates the movement.

[@rockcrusher4636]

When I watch these from 2020, that was a much younger man, which car gave you all the age? Nice video, thank you for sharing. Cheers.

[@TweedsGarage]

I think it's the flat cap, it adds 10 years 😄

[@gennettor8915]

Just one thing - although they are pre-oiled it doesn't hurt to oil the wooden discs by soaking them overnight in (originally) tallow, but thick oil (SAE 140) will do as well. Elsewhere on internet it is recommended NOT to oil the discs at all but that is very bad advice; the shock absorbers will not work properly if the discs are dry and will actually soon break down. Also it is not explained here how to set the tension - the best way is to place one arm on an old fashioned bathroom scale (not digital) and push the other arm down in a fluent movement and adjust the nut so that you get the required reading (40 Lbs on my 1500 kg Lagonda at the front, about 25 Lbs at the rear).

[@TweedsGarage]

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind when i finally get some miles under the Riley , i did preload the units with luggage scales after i stumbled across some info for the loadings for lighter cars ( found after making the video which is always the way of things) . Thanks for watching .

[@ScooterandJobe]

Hi. Where did you get the new discs bushes from?

[@TweedsGarage]

Its been a while so can't remember if it was www.sportsandvintage.co.uk/andrehartford Or from www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/categories/vcp-andre-hartford-shock-absorbers-friction-discs The laters website has all the parts on view.

[@ScooterandJobe]

@@TweedsGarage Thanks for the links!

[@austinswallow]

How difficult would it be for the manufacturer to make replacement parts that fit exactly??? The over-long bush represents a waste of material, and over a production run they would have been able to produce additional items, so in their interests to get things right. I don't think I bought these for my overhaul so I won't have to fettle - none of this should be necessary if someone did their job properly and paid attention to detail. So much stuff for the older cars is not machined to the correct size, at different times I have brought it to supplier's attention the errors, doesn't seem to make any difference as the parts are still wrong, sometimes, there is a success, but there is a whole host of people not doing their jobs properly, rant over! Great video!

[@TweedsGarage]

i know what you mean, i had a Norton head overhauled and ordered new valves and guides from a well known specialist, when measured they had 5 thou clearance which was bigger than some of valve/guides taken out!....when i spoke to the mechanic in their workshop he didn't see a problem with 5 thou clearance and said its what they used on their rebuilds.....when i pointed out that Norton recommended 4 thou was the maximum recommended clearance before replacement he couldn't see the problem.....so parts were returned and i had a set of guides made with the correct clearances.