F15a shock absorbers

[Dave Schindel]

Jacques, thanks for the explanation . Mine was indeed stuck together enough that I thought it was one piece ! Great pics . Thanks so much.
Dave

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Dave,

Good news.

I am just curious if you could confirm if it is an O-ring seal at the cover when you take the lower ring off?

The reason I ask this is that I am having second thoughts if that is an original seal or if the rebuilder just gave that O-ring to me. It could have been something he tried and which didn't work. Would account for all the silicon sealant he used. Memory is a bit hazy from all those years ago. I seem to remember digging out black gunk from between the cover and the ring on the one I took apart.

If it is not an O-ring used there then perhaps its back to cutting out a bit of neoprene to make a flat gasket for that area or trying smaller diameter O-ring material. The parts manual does show a flat gasket there and it is speckled which could be representing rubberized cork material. That would compress into the "V" quite nicely.

Cheers,

[Dave Schindel]

Jacques, I took one of mine apart and there was a white fiber gasket in between. When I re-assembled it I made one large oring out of two smaller ones by cutting and super-gluing the ends together. I didn't think the oring would seal against the threads,so I used a wee bit of silicone gasket maker where the oring sits and screwed the reservoir down onto the ring.I will find out tomorrow if it is holding or not.It seemed to fit real nice and I got good compression on the oring.

[Dave Schindel]

Jacques, when I unscrewed the reservoir the gasket seemed like some kind of a packing similar to what would be used on a pump shaft.it was well embedded in the threads and came out with a wire brush quite easily. I think packing in the form of a heavy string would be ideal but no idea if such a thing even exists.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for that information.

I deleted the post saying it was an O-ring between the cover and the ring.
Not sure how it got into my box of shock absorbers but it ain't there no more.

Apologies to all for the red herring.

There is no great pressure in the reservoir so a good thread sealer and gasket maker such as Permatex should do the job.
Sounds like it would be almost impossible to source the original sealing material. Anyway, if more modern materials does the job why not use them.

Look forward to hearing there is no seepage on yours.

Cheers,

[Dave Schindel]

perfectly dry so far. Now I know how I'm going to do the other one.

[Harlé Sylvain]

Hello
I order some o ring for the shaft, but I find this system a bit strange even if it looks to work.
What about using this seal https://jeepest.com/fr/boite-vitesse...ue-bv-m38.html from a M38 jeep it looks to have the same size as the houdaille original packing fels seal ?

Regards
Sylvain

[T Creighton]

Hi Dave,
I did a big restoration on my F30 10 years ago.
Three shocks were bone dry due to the seals perishing.
I did not want to wreck them taking the arms off and therefore the reservoir cover without having the proper puller.
I managed to free up the threads on the reservoir cover and the lock ring until they could be turned easily by hand.
I wound the cover up as far as possible and the ring down as far as it would go.
That allowed enough room to take the old triangular ring out, clean up the groove and then slip a new standard o ring (can't remember the size sorry) over the arm and down into the groove. A bit of loctite teflon thread sealer in the groove first.
Then wound the cover back to the correct alignment and locked it with the ring.
Also fitted new small o rings under the small pressure adjusting screws in the centre of the shafts.
After lots of flushing out and refilling with glycerine then working the air out by much levering on the arms they all seemed to work ok.
I did all four and so far no leaks anywhere.
Cheers, Terry

[Ganmain Tony]

Thanks to all the gentlemen who took the time to contribute to this thread.

You have saved me asking multiple questions. I must say whilst clearly the O-ring solution works. I do really like the look of that felt seal that Harley posted a link to.

Trouble might be - how do I get some in Down Under?

Any way. The reason why I pulled this shock apart was that it was leaking. I have noticed that there was a bead of sealant around the cover and Im 99% sure the leak is from the seal around the splined shaft.

I could not get the arm off. Took it to an engineer who said it was a brute of a job.

Getting the cover off turned out to be OK. I used an oil filter strap.

My theory is if it is leaking then at least it is preserved inside and therefore in good condition. It proved correct in this case.

Some pictures