Ford Friction Shock question

[OldNYJim]

I'm building an AMT '29 Ford, and I picked up some Replicas and Miniatures resin friction shocks to replace the molded-in ones on the frame:

Now, these ones make sense to me, I get how they'd work and that I've installed them right:

These ones tho...I'm not so sure:

Would these operate correctly, on a 1:1 car?  I can't quite figure out how ELSE they would be mounted but I cant really figure out if they would actually function properly...

Any pointers would be much appreciated! 

[jas1957]

The vertical link attached to the axle more or less like you have it.  You might have them mounted upside down.  I just went through this recently with a ‘34 pick up.  Google ford friction shocks, a bunch of pictures on the web to give you a better idea.

[Ace-Garageguy]

13 hours ago, CabDriver said:

...Would these operate correctly, on a 1:1 car?  I can't quite figure out how ELSE they would be mounted but I cant really figure out if they would actually function properly...

After WW II, friction shocks fell largely out of favor, the hot setup being tubular (or "airplane" shocks, as they were referred to then). It wasn't until the resurgence of interest in period cars and rat-rods that anybody really wanted them again...kinda like flatheads.

Here are some aftermarket shocks with a similar mounting. In this case, the arm is mounted towards the top, and the link extends down to the axle.

OEM model-A shocks, mounted the same way...arm at top, link going down to axle.

The thing is, though, multiple mounting options will work. Since these (below) operate by friction, there's no necessity to mount them in any particular orientation...so long as the links to the suspension allow full travel around the center axis of the shocks in both directions.

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[BigTallDad]

They remind me of the "knee-action" shocks I had on my 1:1 '47 Chevy.

[Russell C]

One of my assortment of somewhat in-progress projects is a Revell '31 Ford, and I had no idea that those levers were on the frame, but I ended up figuring them out via searching the words "Houdaille shock absorbers" in the various street rod websites. Here's just one photo among many I bookmarked as a reference to how these can work:

[Vietnam Vet67]

Ford shock absorber guide:http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/shockidentification.htm

[Flat32]

Actually the Houdaille shocks ar not friction shocks.

http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot.com/2015/03/tech-series-houdaille-hydraulic-shock.html

 

[OldNYJim]

Super helpful, thanks for the photos, links and advice guys!  One of Ace's pics gave me a good idea of what I was meant to be doing...looks much better!