67 Caravel Shocks

[1967-Caravel]

I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not but I did buy the Heavy Duty Gas charged shocks and not the old cheap hydraulic shocks which don't dampen worth a flip. These should work well for the amount of traveling and camping I do. Thanks......

[1967-Caravel]

For all you guys who said "just bend the bracket" and put your shock on..............Did you have to heat it up with a torch to do this? That bottom shock bracket must be 3/8" thick and I don't see it just bending easily.

[TomW]

Originally Posted by 1967-Caravel

For all you guys who said "just bend the bracket" and put your shock on...Did you have to heat it up with a torch to do this? That bottom shock bracket must be 3/8" thick and I don't see it just bending easily.

Oddly enough, this image of a horizontally mounted shock from member Pick's photo gallery was headlining the opening page before I read your post:



The top mount is bent to allow shock replacement, and doing so requires no extraordinary effort (I used a large adjustable wrench).

Heat should be avoided around a Duratorque axles as the core is made of rubber rods which could be damaged if care is not taken.

Tom

[1967-Caravel]

On my 67 it does not look like this. The lower mounting bracket it small and thick and is behind the drum and that is the one that there is not enough clearnance to put shock on. The other upper bracket is a vertical shock tower that is mounted to the inside body of the inner fender so the shocks mount vertically up and down. I guess I'm going to have to drop the axle down for clearance to put the shock on. Thanks guys.

[C Johnson]

Originally Posted by 1967-Caravel

On my 67 it does not look like this. The lower mounting bracket it small and thick and is behind the drum and that is the one that there is not enough clearnance to put shock on. The other upper bracket is a vertical shock tower that is mounted to the inside body of the inner fender so the shocks mount vertically up and down. I guess I'm going to have to drop the axle down for clearance to put the shock on. Thanks guys.

Dropping the axle down a bit is the easiest way by far. I too looked at the bending method and had the same thought process/result. It won't take you too long once you get started.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by 1967-Caravel

I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not but I did buy the Heavy Duty Gas charged shocks and not the old cheap hydraulic shocks which don't dampen worth a flip. These should work well for the amount of traveling and camping I do. Thanks......

Increasing the resistance offered by a shock is not always a good thing. The shock stud can handle just so much before it fails.

In time, with your "gas" shocks, you will probably find that one or the other shock "studs" has broken.

Andy

[Action]

Originally Posted by joqin

I bought the more expensive original equip. shocks from Inland RV because they dampen in both directions! A car shock keeps your car from bottoming out-one direction. The new shocks actually restored the proper height of the trailer relative to the tire and axle so I have more wheel well room. (still only 3/4" on the frig side) joe q in flyover land (MN)

Shocks should not make any change to ride height. Exceptions would be air shocks. And gas charged shocks. The diff a gas charged shock would make should hardly be measurable. And neither gas shocks or air shocks are recommended for an Airstream.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Action

Shocks should not make any change to ride height. Exceptions would be air shocks. And gas charged shocks. The diff a gas charged shock would make should hardly be measurable. And neither gas shocks or air shocks are recommended for an Airstream.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

Correct.

Shocks as used by Airstream, DO NOT level anything.

They are motion restricters, period.

Artificially lifting the trailer with "air shocks" will cause the shock studs to break.

Andy

[axleman]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Artificially lifting the trailer with "air shocks" will cause the shock studs to break.

Andy

Additionally, air shocks will not allow the torsion axle to resume its neutral position. This will cause undue ware on the internal rubber cords.

Just two cents from a retired Axledude!

Regards,
Henry

[scottanlily]

Air shocks in general are to (make up) for a weak rear suspension on
cars and trucks .Back in the 70s ,we loved Gabriel high jacker air shocks on our older mustangs and camaros ,the result was a harsh rough ride ,but we could get those Firestone Super sport tires under the back wheel wells and the air shocks rigidness would keep the wheel wells from ripping up the sides of the tires as the suspension moved .They do put the strain on the shock mounts
but they didn't break too often ,(i never had one break) but its not the way to do it thats the point ,and if you put them on a trailer with verticle shocks
they will give the trailer a rough ride and thats no good .so a good set of shocks is good ,you don't need gas shocks ,the idea is to control the
tire/wheel rebound ,you don't want a stiffer shock ,gas shocks will be stiffer.
No question ,a high quality hydraulic shock will be fine .

Scott