With 60,000 miles on my 2010 Platinum F-150 it was time for new shocks. I had noticed a degradation of ride and handling in the truck over the past 5000 miles and I was ready to try something different.

I read everything I could find on the subject. I posted here and asked the question. I e-mailed several manufacturers and had a running conversation with one. Finally I decided I would purchase a pair of Fox Factory 2.5's.

The Fox shocks: Beautiful, overkill, look like hand built masterpiece's! The ride; well lets just say that they are off road race shocks.... In spite of being promised that these shocks will not be "too stiff" out of the box I found then exactly that. Door panels began to rattle, the dash squeaked and the rear shocks even made a lot of noise! They are also delivered with a bunch of pre-load to level the truck. I lowered the front pre-load (just a couple of side spanners to adjust the collars) and this helped. The shocks were simply way too stiff for the New England roads I drive on regularly and that noise over bumps coming from the rear shocks was getting much worse!!! I replaced the heim joints in the rear shocks as this was part of the noise but they still rattled over bumps! More investigation showed that Fox supplies a shock designed for the 2004-2008 F-150 for the rear. Ford specs a longer (1.5" or so longer!) shock for the 09-12 F-150. Was this the cause of my rattle? Was I just topping out too hard?
The other issue I had was the front remote reservoir hose interfered with my stock wheel tires on hard turns. This is a tight installation and incredibly cool looking but I could not find a position where I could avoid interference....
Well the shocks were returned! What to do now?

I now began looking at a much simpler/cheaper solution as the stiffness of the Fox shocks really put me off. I decided to give the Rancho RS-9000's a try. What is not to like I thought? Adjustable damping, the correct length rear shock, urethane bushings so they will be quiet! Should be perfect!
I used them for less than one week before I decided that the combination of rebound damping and available compression damping left me with a funny mix of too stiff on small bumps and wallowing on other roads. Weird! In order to stop the truck from a wallowing/floating feel on some roads I really had to jack up the adjustments and then the shocks felt about like the Fox shocks. Door panels rattled and the truck "stuttered" over small bumps... Sigh.....

Off they came and this time I just installed a new set of Ford shocks. Wow, what was I thinking? I liked the ride when I bought the truck and it is, once again, a decent compromise. These shocks are 1/2 the price of the Rancho shocks and about 1/8 the price of the Fox's!!!!

I did not try a set of Bilsteins as I find they are usually too stiff for my taste but I know they are beautifully built shocks. If I where to need a stiffer suspension this is probably where I would look.

I am thankfully out no more than the time it took to install the three sets of shocks and my door panels are once again quiet over bumps.

Rifboy

 

Great info though wished you had a chance to try out the Bilsteins. I put the Bilsteins on my last truck which I thought was too mushy on new OEM shocks and made it more of a truck feel. Sounds like Ford stiffened up shocks for the newer trucks as I've been pretty happy with it.

 

Good information to know. I just order a 2013 F150 Eco crew with the 20 inch wheels which have the p275/55/20 tires. To me, those tires have too low of a profile to look right on a truck. Considering a taller tires with perhaps a level of some sort. I struggle with what to do. I do not want to spend a couple thousand to make it ride like a wagon. I did order the 4.10 gears. A slightly taller tire should not kill it. I read where some guys had a 275/65/20 fit on a stock rim with no rub.

I presently have the same truck in a 2011 model and love the ride. Just would like to have a little more aggressive look. I suppose the smart thing to do would be leave it stock and enjoy it. Any thoughts?

 

275/60/20 will fit on a stock height truck with zero clearance issues. It's roughly a full inch increase over stock diameter. There are some more "aggressive" options in the 60-series rubber, like those from Toyo, Nitto, and Cooper.

Sorry to the OP for the .

Great info given on the shocks...reps sent.

 

With my '09 SuperCrew max tow, the OEM shocks were replaced @27,000miles. I have always found Ford shocks to be too soft, particularly on rebound. When I pulled off the rears, they had about 1 inch of movement with NO resistance, then the usual soft damping. No wonder the truck felt like no shocks were on it on small bumps.
Went with Bilsteins, regular ride ht in front. Ahhh, actual damping. My next new Ford will probably get Bilsteins (or Konis) right out of the gate.
Hopefully you will get another 50K miles out of your OEM replacements. Happy miles. For me, OEMs were never an option.

 

X2 on that.

 

Nice article and write up. I've never had any shocks that were stiffer than OE but I've never replaced any with Ford shocks either. I've always gone with Monroe or Gabriel OE gas filled, nothing fancy but they lasted great.

 

X3! Great minds...

 

Time for another update on the shock absorber story...
40,000 additional miles on my 2010 F-150 Platinum and the second set of factory shocks were beginning to fail. By fail I mean that the truck was beginning to hop sideways on small bumps and in general it just was no longer pleasant to drive.

I like the ride of the truck when the factory shocks are fresh. Problem is they have a very short life span. The one shock I neglected to try the first time was a Bilstein 4600 series. As a European auto mechanic for 32 years I have installed my fair share of Bilstein shock absorbers. As much as I respected the product I decided they would be too stiff for the F-150.

Well I now know how wrong I was! Faced with yet another 4 wheel shock swap I decided "wtf" why not try a set of Bilsteins. All I can say is "Wow!".
Should have done this in the first place. Best riding shock I have had in the now 100,000 mile F-150 by far.

Just thought I would share.

 

I had to use a bed pillow to put behind my back, I traded the truck in for the plushest best riding truck I have now. My 2013 F150 crew cab will never get the shock treatment!