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Topping up lever arm oil


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On the 3A the lever arm is effectivly upside down. How do you top up with oil with out it running out. No doubt a silly question but guidance appreciated. Thanks David Johnson

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David, as Alec said it's better to have them off, but you might be able to fill them in situ.

 

If there's road dirt on the upper part of the shocker, clean it off thoroughly.

 

Near the lever fulcrum you will see a nut facing outwards.

 

That's your filler. A plastic squeeze bottle with a length of tube will get in.

 

Only fill to the bottom of the bung hole.

 

Use the car then check the levels again. (When off the car you work the lever up and down then re-check).

 

Correct fluid is Castrol Hyspin AWH 68 or Moss sells fluid by the half litre bottle.

 

Regards,

 

Viv.

 

PS Some workshop manuals wrongly show a top filler plug.

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Hi David,

 

I was thinking more in terms of the old fluid being somewhat knackered . . . off the car you can at least flush the unit, refill, and work it slightly to get rid of any trapped air bubbles. The resulting improvement can be quite considerable.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

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Correct fluid is Castrol Hyspin AWH 68 or Moss sells fluid by the half litre bottle.

 

 

 

Many years ago I had an A-H 3000 and I recently unearthed at the back of the garage an unopened can of genuine Armstrong lever arm shock absorber oil. I compared it with the Penrite shock absorber oil that I bought from Moss before I discovered that I had the Armstrong can and the viscosities are totally different. The original Armstrong fluid is a much heavier oil.

 

Does anyone out there know why the modern oil is so much lighter? Even though the Armstrong oil must be at least 30 years old, I can't imagine it would have changed its properties in the can, it even had the little aluminium seal that had to be levered out with a screwdriver. And the illustrations on the can showed both the AH front shocker type and the Triumph rear shocker type.

 

Rgds Ian

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Hi Ian,

 

a few years back I tried some original Armstrong fluid and Penrite equivalent in a new (as opposed to reconditioned) 4A shocker, locking the thing into a big vice and operating the lever with a length of scaffold pole. The apparent difference between the two fluids was considerable, just as you have noted. The performance difference was even more noticeable, as in perhaps 25% difference in leverage required . . . . that's in terms of force required to complete a full stroke in X seconds. Can't say I was too impressed with the Penrite stuff - I used it up as jack oil in the end, for which purpose it's proved very satisfactory.

 

One task for the Peerless, investigate lever arm fluid options ! Not high on my immediate list of priorities, but I'll try and find time for some homework in due course.

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

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Many years ago I had an A-H 3000 and I recently unearthed at the back of the garage an unopened can of genuine Armstrong lever arm shock absorber oil. I compared it with the Penrite shock absorber oil that I bought from Moss before I discovered that I had the Armstrong can and the viscosities are totally different. The original Armstrong fluid is a much heavier oil.

 

 

a few years back I tried some original Armstrong fluid and Penrite equivalent in a new (as opposed to reconditioned) 4A shocker, locking the thing into a big vice and operating the lever with a length of scaffold pole. The apparent difference between the two fluids was considerable, just as you have noted. The performance difference was even more noticeable, as in perhaps 25% difference in leverage required . . . .

If reconditioners are using what amounts to the wrong oil, no wonder lever arm dampers get such a bad press nowadays.

 

I too have a couple of cans of Armstrong oil. The last car that needed it was sold in '73. Never throw anything away....

 

Ivor

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  • 7 years later...

Hi All

 

Now i know this is an old old post but it is the only one i could find referring to lever arm shock oil.

 

Just refurbing some lever arms (Bullfire being my inspiration) and going to replace the old dirty oil.

 

I was just gonna buy some Penrite No1 but my local TR parts people didn't have any so i was looking for alternative and found this post, basically saying that the Penrite is way to thin and is not the right thing.

 

Penrite No1 is ISO46 same as what Ed uses in his refurb but is that the same as the original Armstrong oil?

 

The alternativbe is to use Penrite No2 which is ISO 68.

 

I'm assuming that the higher the ISO number the thicker or heavier the oil and thus the firmer the shock.

 

So the question is has anybody got much experience of the oils and are the old comments above post correct and whats the best oil.

 

Cheers

 

KEith

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I wrote a blog post about lever arm dampers you might like: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/armstrong-lever-dampers-explanation.html

Interesting piece on the Electrically adjustable shocks being unsatisfactory in service, I have to disagree as I had them back in the day on Jensen Interceptor and also on a 3.8Mk2 Jaguar as well and I thought they worked very well.

Stuart.

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