Well I finally cut the cords and walked away from job #2 that I'd been doing for the last 4 years almost. It was fun but working as I did I didn't have time for my family but now that I'm back to working "part-time" at just 40 hours a week I have time for my wife, my soon to be 4 year old son and my 6 month old micro-preemie daughter It also means I have the time now to give Brutus some TLC. He's faithfully taken me to and from work, several trips out to Lockhart TX for BBQ runs and a trip to Dallas with only 3 let downs in the year I've owned him, one of which was my own fault. I change my own oil and try my hardest to do the maintenance with my own two hands.

I already topped off the power steering with some new synthetic ATF....Mobil 1. I also plan on at the very least draining and maybe dropping the transmission pan to change the filter and see the condition of the magnet. I will be replacing that with Mobil 1 ATF as well. Maybe if I can bribe my papa with a few IPA's he may be willing to help me do the full drain and fill procedure on the transmission and maybe even help me change the brake fluid when he comes to town in a few weeks.

I also have planned changing my coolant out with an ELC....already have the coolant and will be adding a filter to it...just trying to decide if I should stick with my already purchased Sinister diesel one or order a new water pump from dieselsite.Com and get the one with the integrated filter. Toreador_Diesel had mentioned how his sinister model had failed but I think the one I have has upgraded fitting to address the fail points he ran into.

Today I swapped out the front 2 shocks for some brand new Rancho 9000XL's (Matt I know you said Bilstein and I was about to buy those til I saw the rebate deal Rancho had going on, and a lengthy conversation with the techs in the shop) andwow what a difference they made! The old ones were procomps and they came on the truck when I bought it 20,000 something miles ago. I tenitavely have them set at 5 for the fronts and the front seems to be much less...unsettled? I'm really happy with it so far and plan on doing the rears later this week.

I do have a question for those that have done the shocks themselves. The procedure laid out here https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...30&postcount=6 says I have to jack the rear end up to make the swap. Is that just assuming a stock height truck? My rig has a 4" super duty lift on it so I sit about 6" over stock height and can easily aces the bolts I need to get at. Or am I placing this beast on jacket ands to support something that may fall once the shock comes out?

 

More time with the family is always good!

I didn't jack mine up for it's shock replacement and yours is 2" taller than mine.

 

I'm glad I finally took the plunge and let go.....I was missing too much.

OK that's about what I figured...the instructions must be from the stock ride height stand point. That will make the job a whole lot easier now...thanks WE3ZS! Reps sent

 

Happy to see you giving that Ex some love!

 

No need to jack it up for the rears. I had to remove the tires for the fronts though. This big boy didn't fit in there to do it with the wheels turned...lol

 

Lol....I feel you on that....I almost took the tires off but I just barely was able to fit my big head in the wheel well going in sideways

 

Stopped by the local Auto Nation Ford stealership to pick up a transmission filter for my upcoming flush and the parts guy quoted me almost 50 bucks for the blasted thing! Fortunately I had done my research and promptly showed him the price from white bear lake....formerly Tousley. After some furious typing on his calculator, inquiring if I was a Ford employee and telling me he couldn't match that price he came to within about 2 dollars of the price White Bear Lake had. I figured that would more than cover what the shipping would've been plus I got to walk out with the part today. Now to sit down and figure when these 2 kids will let papa work

 

I have a wholesale account open at my local ford, really not hard to do at all.... Under one of my companies, and excursion is owned by same company.

 

Nice! Kinda like Toreador_Diesel has. Well I'm in the process of setting up my own business selling BBQ and maybe catering too so maybe I can work out the same deal with these guys here....thanks for the idea!

Tried to rep ya but I'm in jail still.....so please accept this as my reps sent your way til I'm set free again

 

Well, I have a three day weekend that just started and nothing planned. Should probably throw in my CVD's and banjo's but after last weekend's shenanigans I have zero motivation to wrench on my own truck right now.

 

Hmmmmnnm.....well I'm just looking at changing out the fluids in the truck and maybe adding my coolant filter....I'll have to check in with the warden and see what all she has planned for the weekend and maybe we can meet up and lend each other a hand

 

I apologize for the shading in the pic but that sun is really beaming out here in Texas right now. I have a question for those of you with lifted excursions that also run a dual stabilizer. Is the stabilizer supposed to rest on that bar underneath it? I'm not thinking it should but that's how it's always been on the truck since I bought it. My truck's steering is a bit loose and part of my plan in giving it some TLC is replacing the stabilizer like I did the shocks in the hope that that may help it out some.

 

Replacing stabilizers is a bandaid fix for covering another symptom if your steering is loose. Have someone turn the wheel back and forth while you watch all the steering components for play.

 

I will....I have some suspension noises going on too as I make turns....not really noticeable at speed but it's there going into the neighborhood.

The stabilizer won't get replaced til I get my rebate back from my shocks purchase so I should have time to get the front end in better shape. I did have the sway bar links replaced already and that helped immensely with some of the low speed creaks and groans

 

BTW, that's the tierod the stabilizer is rubbing against