shock absorbers knackered?

[travellinbob]

WOW, thanks for the replies. The shocks are monroe brand. Oil filled, no spring. They were off a 1970 volvo 144. Rear fitted and coupled with factoey springs. There is resistance when pushing down and also when trying to pull back.
 I cannot afford a coilover conversion on the front of the moggy so am trying to use me scone and find an alternative.
  Thanks for hte help guys.
     cheers, michael.

[Mave]

TRex, I appreciate the effort you\'ve put into the thread about how "shock absorbers" work, but I think it confuses the difference between springs and dampers. The spring is there to absorb the shock, but as it has no way of getting rid of the energy it rebounds and, as you said, you end up bouncing down the road if you have no damping. The damper (unfortunately AKA shock absorber) is there to absorb the energy of the shock, both in compression and rebound; it doesn\'t necessarily re-extend in isolation as it\'s the spring which causes this in normal operation.