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.