Centurion shock absorber question

[Malcolm Towrie]

David, thanks for the information. I stand corrected. I thought these fittings were obsolete but I see Amazon is still happy to sell me all types of them!

Mike, I suspect the 4 gallons per suspension unit is correct. Each unit is about 3 feet long, about 10" wide and the shock absorber section at the top is about 6" deep, which works out to be a volume of about 8 gallons. I'm reluctant to commit 16 gallons of oil to the 4 suspension units that have shocks without being sure that it's doing something useful. According to our expert here, the T-54 didn't have shocks either. So did they go out of fashion after the war?

What puzzles me is if you neglect the shocks because they are not effective, what happens when they'd seize up?
Malcolm

[Mike Cecil]

Tony,

I put a thank you up for the grease info yesterday, but it seems to have evaporated (must have hit the wrong key!)

So... thank you. All adds to what we know.

Malcolm, 4 gallons each: that's going to be expensive, but better to put at least some oil in each, I'd suggest. You are not going to war in it, so enough oil for the very limited use it will be subjected to, ie just enough to prevent seizing.

Mike

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Towrie

What puzzles me is if you neglect the shocks because they are not effective, what happens when they'd seize up?

To my mind, there is a huge difference between a shock that is moving but not absorbing much shock and a unit that is behaving more or less as a solid steel rod (seized). As stated above, enough oil to stop it becoming solid would seem to be good.

[Malcolm Towrie]

I agree, I'll fill up the reservoirs. The spec'd OM-13 is a very thin hydraulic oil, with an ISO viscosity of 12-13 cS. These lighter oils are expensive, so I think I'll use the common ISO 32 hydraulic oil. I can get 20 litres for $50, so about $200 total. That's no problem. And we'll only be out $200 if it all leaks out.


Malcolm