Front Shocks

OK, So to get my '80 B on the road, I knew I had to replace the clutch slave cylinder and while I was at it I should do the right thing and go through the brake system and since I have to replace the steering bellows then I might as well replace the bushings and as I was wrenching on the front end I noticed the whole crossmember moved so I need new pads. Sound familiar? So as I am looking at the crossmember on the floor with the shocks still on them I noticed that although both sides have pretty good resistance up or down, the drivers side arm will slowly drift down if left up. This appears to be an original as the pax side is much cleaner. Neither one leaks. Is this acceptable or another item for the list?

Drifting down when released isn't a problem. If they have fluid in them, do not leak and operate smoothly up and down with some resistance they are probably good.

Clifton

Then I have wasted a lot of money over the years. If a shock can't keep it up on the shelf, I replace it.

Peter - I asked Peter Caldwell (World Wide Auto Parts) the same question. Below is his response. Peter's company rebuilds lever shocks. They rebuilt mine a year ago and I was very pleased with their product and great service.

"It is normal for the weight of the arm alone to be enough to allow it
to drop. At very low and slow load, not what would happen during use,
the very small bypass passage is used so that the oil is not using
the valve at all. "

From personal recent experience with excellent rebuilds from Peter C, I can confirm that the damper arms very slowly drift downwards under their own weight when on the bench.

Smooth as silk once on the car and absolute top quality rebuilds (from what I can see/feel)!

Thanks guys,
I think I will stick with the existing shocks for right now as I think they should be serviceable for a while. I'll put Peter Caldwell on my list for the next round of overhauls after its back on the road.
Pete