Ok...first things first. This is for a '94 Ranger, but I IMAGINE will be good for all years 93-97 (same body style). I ran into a few problems others may not, and you may enounter some problems that I avoided. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a PM. I probably won't reply until at least next weekend though, got a summer leadership school to attend for ROTC. So...off I go.

I went to Autozone and picked up four shocks. I'm not pushing brands here, but I did get the "best" ones they had in stock from what I read on the internet. The price definetly proves that lol. Before leaving for the parts store, prelubricate all bolts with WD-40 or the like, it will make life easier.

You CAN do this without a jack. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You CAN also do it without removing any tires, with the exception of the spare. We'll do the rear shocks first.

So start simply. Remove the spare. Roll it aside, check it's pressure and stuff while you have the chance. Get back under the rear of the truck. truck and take a good look around.

The shock bolts are all 18 MM. I started on the driver's side. Remove the lower bolt, which requires two socks, a wrench and a socket, or two wrenches. Take your pick. Turn both opposite ways from each other until the bolt is removable. Save the bolts and nuts, you'll be reusing them. The shock should not pop out, even with the bolt completely removed. This is due to the slight angle at which the mounts on the rear axle are installed.

Now take the ratchet or wrench and loosen the nut at the top of the shock. You can either A) push the top of the shock off, or B) pull the bottom of the shock out. Take your pick, either will work, and either will probably require a hammer or at least some kind of prying device. I expected a violent extension as the shock expanded, but they were so worn out the just slowly extended. I had to pry the bottom quite a bit and hit it from the front with a hammer for it to finally pop out, then hit the top over to the side and remove it through the bottom. Dual exhaust may get in the way if your installer wasn't careful (more on that fiasco in a minute!).

Take the replacement shock, and remove the cord or the like compressing it, if installed. Be careful, my shocks slowly extended, but I take no responsibility if you injure yourself doing this. Once the cord is removed and the shocks fully extended, get back under the truck. This is where I ran a problem with my truck. I had a dual Flowmaster cat-back installed, and it ran right next to the stock shock. My aftermarkets were bigger than stock, and it wouldn't fit. My solution? Sawzall. No more pipes after the muffler or tips, loud and I like it!

Install the lower end of the shock (typically smaller in diameter than the upper end) in the axle mounting location. Run the bolt through it and finger tighten. You just want it in place now, not tightened down. The reason you do the bottom is under the truck, it's easier to pull than to push on the shock. Pull the top of the shock to compress it, and place it onto the mounting bolt sticking out from the frame. Place the nut onto the bolt and finger tighten. Grab your ratchet (or wrench) and tighten it down. Then grab your other ratchet or wrench and tighten the lower bolt. Ensure nothing is hitting the new shock and all bolts are tight.

Repeat for other rear shock, it's much the same as the driver's side. The only difference really is it's in front of the axle. My muffler did get in the way, but I do not believe the stock one would. Remove lower bolt and upper nut, pry shock loose, slide off top bolt, slide new shock on lower mount, place bolt and finger tighten, compress and mount on upper bolt, wrench tighten upper bolt, wrench tighten lower bolt, give a general check. Remove all tools, stand up behind the truck and compress the rear end. Feel better?

Mandatory break. Now for the fun part.

Using the same 18 MM socket (you definetly need a 1/4 and 1/2 inch ratchet for the fronts), remove the lower nut securing the shock. Do the passenger side first, it's the hardest of the two. I THINK if you don't have A/C you can go in from the engine bay. However, those of us with A/C have a condenser right above the nut holding the top of the shock on.

This is where it becomes a pain in the butt. Get a 1/4 inch ratchet with a long (it MUST be long as the bolt is quite long) 9/16 socket. Looking in from above the passenger wheel, you can see the top of the bolt holding the shock on. The nut is actually in a blind spot, behind a peice of metal holding the coil. One of my friends ended up doing this after I fought it for about ten minutes. The plastic wheel well is right over the shock bolt, and it gets in the way. He put the stock on the ratchet and by forcing it down and the plastic up, finally it popped into place. Get a large pair of channel locks or the like, and grab the top portion of the shock. Ratchet the nut loose and then pull the shock off the lower mount and remove.

Take note of the orientation of the rubber mounts on the stock shock. They should have a lip of sort on both rubber peices (one below and one above the peice of metal it's mounted to). This "lip" fits in the hole of the metal peice supporting the coil. This makes sense when you look at it.

Place the new shock in the hole. The arrangement should go, from bottom to top:
Shock body - washer - rubber support - coil support metal - rubber support - washer - nut. Only LOOSELY finger tighten the nut!
Here's probably the toughest part of the whole job, you need to compress the shock until it fits on the lower mounting bolt. If you HAVE a jack on hand, you can raise the body to make this slightly easier, or just use the jack to compress the shock itself. I didn't use a jack, and I did manage to compress the shock. It was easier than removing the bolt holding it on, so don't worry about, especially considering I got high pressure shocks. The worst part is getting an angle. The best one I could find was laying right under the side of the truck you're working on (caution possible hot exhaust) and pushing as straight up as possible. I did have to remove my mud flaps, but that was easy and well worth it.

Once you get the shock on the lower mounting bolt, reinstall the nut on it and tighten down fully, then fight with the ratchet to get it on the top bolt and tighten it down. Make sure all mounting areas are solid.

Repeat for the driver's side. It's noticeably easier because the nut holding the top of the shock is accessible from the inside of the engine bay. I used I believe a 6, 3, and 2 inch extension to reach it. I then ran out of 1/4 inch extensions, but that was enough to leave it about level with the oil dipstick on my 4.0L. I hooked a power drill up to it and voila, nut came right off with a friend holding the shock. The bottom nut fought me a bit but once it was off that shock popped right off, and the new one went on fairly easy.

Once you have the driver's front shock firmly in place and tightened down, get all your tools out of the way, do another once-over to check that everything looks right, and then take it out for a test drive.

Reactions:

My shocks were noticeably more firm than the OEM ones (from '94 lol), which slowly expanded after being removed, they had little left in them. After about five minutes of getting used to the new ride, I was very satisfied. Cornering felt much more stable, as did braking of all sorts, even very hard braking produced little to no leaning motion in the truck.

Replacing the shocks isn't a paticularly hard job. Start to finish it took me about two hours, that included sawzalling the rear part of the exhaust off, removing/replacing the spare tire, various miscellaneous breaks for what not, and about five minutes of enjoying the new sound of the exhaust.

Tools required: While wrenches may be used in many parts of this project, I highly suggest a good socket set. I used a half inch drive with a 18MM socket for the main shock nuts/bolts, and a 1/4 inch drive with a 9/16 socket for the top nuts on the front shocks. I also used an 18 MM socket on the 1/4 inch drive to remove the rear lower bolts, as they require a socket/wrench for the bolt and the nut at the same time.

Estimated time: 2 hours
Skill level: Basic
Cost: Depends on shocks selected
Drinks required: 1-2
Benefit: Great

Hope it helps somebody!!!

RP
Zach

 

WOW - great write up.

Nice one!!! - I put it in the Technical Information read first, hope thats ok!!!

 

Good write-up. I replaced the shocks on my '97 Ranger last fall and on my '92 F-150 last week. Up North here they put so much salt on the roads that the front shock studs become rotten with rust. You can't hold the studs even with vise-grips and get the nuts off. The cutting torch is a good friend to have in these situations.

 

You have to remove the front tires, if the famous stub breaks.

Otherwise, old mechanics trick was to put the shock on the top stud first, then cut the tie down, and as it opens place it on the other stud.

Another one I was taught, was for just in case the shocks had been stored for a while. After the installation, before pulling the truck off the rack, or driving it, bounce the truck by hand. (push down on the bed and front bumper) This was to help get any air out of the fluid in the shocks.

 

I broke the driver's side stud yesterday! Be gentle with the parts that are part of the truck. I found another post that recommended the Motormite Shock Bolt kit for the repair, picked it up at Pep Boys for $6 and went to work on it today. I cut the stud off with a 4" grinder, drilled a 1/2" hole using six drill bits of increasing size, ground the remainder of the weldment flush with the radius arm, and installed the new stud. We'll see how it hold up. That was a bad feeling when that nut broke off.

 

BigF350, no I don't mind, in fact I'd be proud.

As for the stud breaking off, I didn't have any problems. If you live up north where the roads are salted (they sand here VERY rarely), I could see it possibly breaking off at some point. Just be gentle, take your time. And if it does go, at least there's that repair kit.

RP
Zach

 

Great write up! Too bad I didn't read it before doing mine this past weekend as you have same year truck as mine, but I didn't run into any probs as I still have original exhaust. Only things I find I did different than you is I used an open end wrench on the passenger side front top shock nut from inside the well. If I wouldn't have used a some pb blaster on it twice starting a week before and again when I started on it I think it would have been much tougher. I also used a floor jack due to rotating wheels at the same time.

I put on Monroe SensaTrac's got em for $128 for the set online at shockwarehouse. Made a heck of a difference in ride and should help get all the life out of my tires as possible

 

One other note: Two weeks after installing the Motormite Shock Bolt, the nut and washer holding it in place were gone! When installing, I thought it strange that there was no lock washer for the back side of the radius arm. $.58 later I installed a new flat washer, lock washer, and nut.

 

Wow interesting Pat, glad you noticed it before your shock happily popped off.

 

This is an excellent tutorial that in its former version I used to replace the rear shocks on a 97 Ranger 2wd 2.3 w/M5OD trans. For the sake of other readers I will add a few tips. Be prepared to need some penetrating oil to loosen the mounting bolts. PB Blaster [NAPA stocks] is good but I recommend Kroil. It is not available in stores, you must order it off the internet. Second, depending on condition, consider getting new bolts/nuts from the dealer. Not a big extra cost depending on the condition of your hardware. Interestingly, on the new rear bolts I got from Ford [used for the bottom mount on the rears] the nut was still 18 mm but the head on the bolt was 14 mm. No big deal but it took me by surprise. The mounting bolts have washers built in on them. If you don't use new, make sure the ones you your old nuts rotate-lubricate them so they move easily.

Finally, if you don't have them already, invest in both 3/8 and 1/2 breaker bars. If you can't afford top end tools, consider getting them from Harbor Freight either off the internet [harborfreight.com] or if you have a local store. You may only need them occasionally, but there is no substitute when you do.

 

I guess I should have mentioned that. I live in Texas, no salting of the roads, etc. So my bolts all came off with nothing but a firm push on the ratchet. For anyone who lives up north or any place where roads are regularly salted...you will need some sort of aide to remove them more than likely.

Sorry about leaving that out. I guess I shoulda titled it "Replacing Shocks: A Southern Tutorial"

 

I should have also added my advocacy for torqing all fasteners to their specified values, if you are going to work on your vehicle invest in a torque wrench. Once again even Harbor Freight ones work well.

I will also add my Ranger was a "snow belt" truck. Maybe not as much an issue in other areas of the North. But still a strong reason to keep the underside clean.

 

Again, be careful with that front stud. After soaking all of the bolts with WD-40 for a week, everything came off easy except for that front stud (the last nut of the job!). A half-inch breaker bar is what I used to break it.