Rear air adjustable shock absorbers for 1960 Buick Electra 225

pascal

Newbie
I want to install rear air adjustable shock absorbers on my 1960 Buick Electra 225 convertible to tow a Serro Scotty trailer.

I checked on internet (Rockauto, Summit, Ebay, ...) without success.

I found some (Monroe MA700) for Le Sabre and Invicta, but they do not fit for Electra.

I thought suspensions were the same on Le Sabre, Invicta and Electra, but they seem to be different on Electra.

Which air adjustable shock absorbers should I use ?


Pascal
 
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Originally there were three part nos used on the '60 model rear shocks:

5552329 LeSabre/Invicta (less wagons) standard duty

5552330 LeSabre/Invicta (less wagons) heavy duty
Electra/Electra 225 standard duty

5552332 LeSabre/Invicta wagons
Electra/Electra 225 heavy duty

By '72 only the 5552332 was available at the dealerships and was specified for all '60 models. With all this interchangeability on the originals, the MA700s should work in your car.

Another supplier (Gabriel) shows a standard replacement shock no 82155 as fitting all series of the '60 Buick.

Monroe also specifies the MA 700s for use on some Cadillac limousines which weigh a lot more than the Buicks.

The Monroe website omits a lot of Buick series of the early 60s in their parts selector. My guess is their research Dept quit too soon on the senior series cars. This looks like a good question for their tech talk response function. Maybe they can use the OEM part nos to confirm the applications for all 1960 Buicks.
 
they get back to you with anything? their 5759's are useless on the front as t-bar wont accept 3/8's bolt and too small to drill out. (my 62)
 
a shock has relatively few critical parameters.

compressed height, total throw when the suspension is fully extended, valving of the body, etc.


their 5759's are useless on the front as t-bar wont accept 3/8's bolt and too small to drill out.



therefore, this isn't really a problem. simply use the 5/16 bolt ( or whatever it takes ) and use washers and bushings as necessary to take up the slop.

the car is actually carried on the springs, so worst case is the bolts break off and then that corner of the car is a bit bouncy.
 
actually, if you go to RockAuto and you look up the FRONT shock for this car it, like i said, calls out this shock. no, i'm NOT able to use smaller bolts, the T bar is too short to even try. but, if you are on rockauto, then you can see the specs for this shock, and it gives you the dimentions of the Tbar and the bolt sizes and it is absolutely correct, a dead match for what came off of it. so i have a call into summit, who will open a box for me before they ship it, and call monroe to ask them why in the f they are not making the shock according to their own cut sheet if its the wrong size. if it's the right size then they'll ship it. so far, they were supposed to have called me on monday and still as of now, wed. morning, i have heard nothing from them. did i mention the gabriel shocks that were sent to the autoshop did not fit either as they were the same as the monroe?

anyway, still ISO. Just want to mention that i am talking about a NON air adjustable shock here. sorry to the OP. however when i did do a search for one myself for the rear, i was told they dont make any by gabriel, who used to and i think still does, make Hi Jackers. ALSO want to say i had no trouble at all with the monroe's fitting the REAR of my car with the shock called out on rockauto

well, update, i just got a box that was delivered yesterday with new shocks in it. guess what, i opened it, they are the right part number, and they are STILL WRONG!!!!!
 
a little late but no hurry apparently. the p/n is correct. Monroe was just making them wrong until i pointed it out to Summit. after about 3 weeks, i got the right shocks in the right box. still no word on rear air shocks.
 
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