I got my 02 F150 2wd ready for a shock replacement- One front shock was missing the lower retainer bar so I have to go back to the store where I got the shocks at for a new shock. This is only the beginning.

The person who designed the rear shock upper mount has to go back to design school. The location is the worst I have ever seen. Let alone having to spin a nut at least 20 times just to remove. Have they not heard of a through nut before. How are you suppose to work through a 3x3 square hole in the frame!
It was late so I just gave up for the day and I will have to try again tomorrow. I still have to go and get my replacement front shock yet.

So with all that said - what is the easiest way to remove the rear shock - mainly the upper mount?

what are the best tools and angle of approach?
I know I need an 18mm something - Help me get the upper mount off the truck!

 

If you can get it loose enough and have the tools I cut the shaft below that mount.

 

Ratcheting box end wrench... those work pretty slick..

 

On the rear shocks if you remove the lower bolt first you can pivot the shock down enough to make access to the top nut a bit easier. It's still not great but better than trying to fight with it in its normal position.

 

My son and I got extreme with the rear shock removal.

I used a hole saw to cut two holes in the bed of my truck. I know it sounds crazy, but the replacement took less than 15 minutes each.

Future shock replacements will be a breeze.

I plan to fill the hole with expansion plugs- the usual nut can be replaced with an eye bolt, now I can use this as an anchor point.

The holes ended up in the lower portion of the bed ribs this will still let items slide past if I leave the holes open.

Another plus is the hole lets light in so you can see what you are doing.

 

I just completed replacing the shocks on my '97, F150, lar, 5.4, 2wd, 113K and they were not easy to say the least. I have worked on cars and trucks for 55 years and this was frustration.

I had to use a friction disk to cut the top nut/washer or each one as the nut and washer seemed to be an intertral part or at least fused together. No amount of wrench work with grips on shaft did the trick, just friction disk cuttting.

Good luck.

 

To remove the rear shocks easier,cut the upper part of the shock(plastic anyway)open.The inner rod should be visible,now you can clamp down on it with a pair of vise grips.This will allow you to turn the nut easier.

 

Bottom Line. I cut off the rear shocks with a reciprocating saw.

This was very frustrating because there was very limited room to access this bolt.

After spending numerous hours trying to get the driver's side rear shock top nut off, I took out my reciprocating saw outfitted with a 9 inch bi-metal blade and cut the nut and shaft off in about two minutes. I didn't even mess around with the passenger side and that nut was also cut off in two minutes.

The bottom bolts came off easily with an impact wrench.

Screwing the new nut on the new shock using a universal shock removal tool caused an unexpected problem. Because of its length and limited clearance in the work area, the tool jammed against the truck bed and I was unable to get the tool off the nut after I had tightened the nut. I had to loosen the nut to take it off. Luckily I was able to finish tightening it without the use of the universal shock removal tool. I was able to use a ratchet wrench and socket.

Things I tried unsuccessfully to get the nut off.
- Soaking it in penetrating oil
- gripping the shaft above the nut with visegrips
- gripping the shaft below with visegrips
- breaking the nut with nut splitter. I ended up breaking the nut splitter.
- chiseling the split nut with an air chisel.

Successful
- finally used the reciprocating saw. The reason I waited so long to use this was because I didn't think there was room.

If the bolt doesn't come off easily just cut it off. You are going to throw the old shocks away anyway.


Ford f-150 rear shock removal and installation

 

I just got done replacing both my rear shocks on my 97 f150 xlt. Iwas under the truck banging my head against the leaf springs trying to figure out how to get those top bolts off. Luckly I just happen to look in the wheel well and saw that I coud get to the bolts with a standard 9/16 then a deep socket to get them off.
Took me about 1/2 hour to replace both shocks.

 

Welcome to the forum smwkiw

 

I used a torch.

 

Here's my shock story and I'm sticking to it! I copied and pasted my post from several months ago and hope it helps you out.




I just replaced the factory shocks (117000 miles) with the Monroe SensaTrac. I got them from RockAuto, and paid $149.00 which included shipping. These were for my 2003 F150 Extended Cab 4X2.

The fronts were almost an identical fit, with just about the same size bushings as the OEM. Instead of a 22mm nut diameter, the new ones were 5/8 or 3/4 I believe.

Now the back were a completely different story, and if I had done them first instead of the front, I would have sent the shocks back. The OEM nuts were 18mm, and the shocks came off very well. The new ones used a 9/16 nut on top, and an 11/16 nut on the bottom for the hold back when tightening the top nut.

The bushings supplied were quite a bit smaller than the OEM's, but did work. Now however, when I went to tighten the top nut, I could not fit a 11/16 wrench onto the nut which is welded onto the new shock. First, because of the smaller bushings, there was hardly any space between the bottom of the washer under the bushing and the nut.

I ended up grinding down an 11/16 open end wrench to almost 1/8" thick just to get it into the space that was there. I was able to get it held, and tightened the top nut.

On the other side, I had the same problem with one more obstacle. In addition to the small space, there was so much weld splatter on the nut, that the 11/16 wrench I had ground down would not fit the nut. I ended up using a chain wrench around the top tube in order to tighten the top nut.

I was careful and did not crush the top tube, since I held it at the top where the end cap is welded on. Although these shocks said they were made in the US, the workmanship was so poor I will not buy them again. I would stick with the Ford shocks, even though they are more money.

The ride is better, but I think anything would be other than the 117000mile shocks I had on.

 

I replaced my shocks with Monroe Reflex shocks a while back and everything fit the way should have. On the rear I unbolted the bottom of the shock, placed a box wrench through the frame on the top nut and then turned the shock with a pipe wrench. It was tough with the rust buildup but a little PB Blaster and some elbow grease got the rear shocks off.

 

All in all it is a lame shock mount design, but I am sending you rep points for this post.

 

For the rears it's called a Sawzall.

Or a reciprocating saw.

Using a wrench and playing with it for minutes on end is not how you're supposed to do it.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/531268-shocks.html is another thread about the same thing.