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Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 12:00 pm
by ChrisH1953
Hi. This is my first post on the forum so forgive me.
I have a Lanchester special built on a 1953 Leda chassis and running gear. The rubber bushes in the bottom of the front shocks have disintegrated. I have purchased replacements which are two piece. The shocks are on the bench now and I can get the bushes started but not to a point where the shock can be refitted to the lower wishbone.The gap is insufficient to get the shock and rubber bushes in. Do I need to dismantle the lower wishbone to refit the shock absorber? I am running out of ideas! Any advice would be appreciated.

Re: Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 5:25 pm
by Graham
Did you try a bit of a bit of fairy liquid to lubricate and then squeeze them up in a vice before fitting , if they won’t squeeze, hacksaw a few mm of one of the rubbers, other way is to squeeze them in with a bottle jack supported by a wooden block

Re: Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 6:05 pm
by ChrisH1953
Thanks for the response Graham. I have tried the fairy liquid/vice method but the problem is that the rubbers are split between sides and so they slip out before I can get to fit them. I am beginning to think that the wrong shocks have been fitted as the bottom loops seem too small for the rubbers. The metal insert is the correct size though and I have just bought new bolts from John Nash as the old one were well worn so I know they are correct.

Re: Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:29 pm
by Graham
I did mine last year and had problems, I will try and have a look tomorrow and it should come back to me how I did it. I do remember having to drill out the spacers to fit the bolts, but can’t remember if that was the front or the back ones on my lj200.

Re: Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:36 pm
by Graham
This isn’t what I did, but if they are slipping out, why not clean them, put a bit of super glue on them, clamp them in the vice and leave them for an hour, they will break free of the glue when you tighten them. I will try and have a look tomorrow

Re: Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 11:00 pm
by ChrisH1953
Thanks again Graham. I appreciate the advice. I shall try your method with the superglue tomorrow. I have sourced a big enough bolt and washers to really tighten up the bushes in the shock so it may work. I shall let you know. The main problem is the shocker loop “slopes” inwards so it is easy for the rubber to slip back out. I haven’t explained that well but hopefully you know what I mean!

Re: Lanchester Leda front shocks

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 10:02 am
by ChrisH1953
Hi Graham. An Update. Still no joy with the supplied bushes so I decided to check the current shocks carefully and quickly realised that they can been painted. I striped this off and found that they are KYB shocks reference 443143 apparantly these are the same as the Monroe R1515. Clearly not original fitment! It appears that these are standard fitment to early Skodas but appear in all respects to be the same dimensions to the LJ200 originals. The bottom bushes in these are integral so this explains why the new bushes will not fit. These might have been fettled before fitting but I have no way of knowing. I have however sourced new rubbers that I have adapted to fit using the existing metal spacer and I aim to put these back on the car this week. If these shockers are similar to the original fitment then this may help sourcing in the future. In any event I appreciate your input. Thank again. Chris.