Stupid Shocks!
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Elder User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 878
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From: Cornelius, Oregon
Stupid Shocks!
Well, I had ordered some shocks a while ago, 'cause i figured that at over 100k miles the stock ones had to be shot (which they were). So yesterday was the day I chose to put 'em on. I had read on here all about how the driver's rear upper mount is a pain in the rear, but I figured How bad can it be? Well... it is bad.
So, I turned the air suspension off, got the rear up on jack stands, spent half an hour looking for an 18mm socket and wrench, only to give up and settle on a 19mm. Took the pass rear off, got the new one in. Total time, about 20 minutes (excluding looking for the sockets). So far so good.
Roll over to the other side.... wow, that is tight up in there huh? Spent a little time trying to figure out how to snake my hand up in there. I pull the tire off, thinking maybe it'll be easier from that side, but although you can reach the bolt from that side, I can't get the socket in there with any leverage to turn it. So back underneath I go and I finally got the ratchet on the bolt. Crap... it's way tighter than the other side. The 19mm socket keeps slipping off. Shoot. So I extract my hand from the plethora of hoses and junk up in there, dust myself off (side note: I REALLY need to wash the undercarriage sometime!) and head to the local auto parts store.
Apparently I wasn't the only one doing shocks on a ford today, because they were just about out of 18mm sockets. They had exactly one left, a 1/2" drive deep socket. Hmm. that's gonna be a bear to get up in there, but I guess it'll have to do. Grabbed an 18mm wrench too while I was there for good measure.
Back under the truck... takes some finagling but I finally get the 1/2" ratchet up in that tiny space (I don't have enough 1/2" extensions to try it that way) and get the bolt off. Yay! Battle's half over! Or at least I think it is. Phew, and it's only been 2 hours! Whee!
Now, new shock in hand I try to get it back up in the bracket. Did I mention that the little clip nut thing keeps falling off? Oh yeah, that things a pain too. So, I'm trying to get the shock up in there, keep the nut from falling out, but it's not fitting. There's no room to wiggle the shock side to side to try and work it up in like you can on the other side. Hmm... This sucks. It goes in to the point where the metal sleeve in the shock end hits the bracket, then I can't move it any further. Spent some time trying to pry the bracket a little wider before I got smart and brought out the port-a-power with the wedge attachment and widened it out. Work smarter, not harder right?
Ok, now we're getting somewhere. The shock fits! Got the nut clip up there, got the shock in there too and now it's time to snake my arm through the maze of hoses and wires and get the bolt in. So far so good, got it up and in, but the nut clip isn't in the right place, so the bolt won't thread in. Hmm. Grab a screw driver and try to line it up with the hole. No dice, it's to tight to slide the nut clip around. So, have to pull down the shock, reposition the clip and shove the shock back in. Still no good. Using the screw driver it feels like the nut is lined up, but the bolt won't go through enough to catch any threads. I spent probably an hour getting frustrated and still not getting anything to line up.
So, I pull it all part again... take the nut clip and pound the nut out of the clip. I enlisted the help of my neighbor to slip the nut on the bolt once I get it through the shock and mount. Well That goes pretty smoothly (why didn't I think of that an hour ago!!!) now it's just tightening things up. That goes comparatively smoothly relative to the rest of the process, but it's still a major pain trying to work the ratchet up in there. Anyway, I finally get it all done and tightened up. Phew. That only took me 4 hours to change two shocks. I decided that the fronts would have to wait for another day, cause I was too frustrated to even think about them.
Moral of the story: I'm selling this hunk-o-junk before I have to change shocks again!
So, I turned the air suspension off, got the rear up on jack stands, spent half an hour looking for an 18mm socket and wrench, only to give up and settle on a 19mm. Took the pass rear off, got the new one in. Total time, about 20 minutes (excluding looking for the sockets). So far so good.
Roll over to the other side.... wow, that is tight up in there huh? Spent a little time trying to figure out how to snake my hand up in there. I pull the tire off, thinking maybe it'll be easier from that side, but although you can reach the bolt from that side, I can't get the socket in there with any leverage to turn it. So back underneath I go and I finally got the ratchet on the bolt. Crap... it's way tighter than the other side. The 19mm socket keeps slipping off. Shoot. So I extract my hand from the plethora of hoses and junk up in there, dust myself off (side note: I REALLY need to wash the undercarriage sometime!) and head to the local auto parts store.
Apparently I wasn't the only one doing shocks on a ford today, because they were just about out of 18mm sockets. They had exactly one left, a 1/2" drive deep socket. Hmm. that's gonna be a bear to get up in there, but I guess it'll have to do. Grabbed an 18mm wrench too while I was there for good measure.
Back under the truck... takes some finagling but I finally get the 1/2" ratchet up in that tiny space (I don't have enough 1/2" extensions to try it that way) and get the bolt off. Yay! Battle's half over! Or at least I think it is. Phew, and it's only been 2 hours! Whee!
Now, new shock in hand I try to get it back up in the bracket. Did I mention that the little clip nut thing keeps falling off? Oh yeah, that things a pain too. So, I'm trying to get the shock up in there, keep the nut from falling out, but it's not fitting. There's no room to wiggle the shock side to side to try and work it up in like you can on the other side. Hmm... This sucks. It goes in to the point where the metal sleeve in the shock end hits the bracket, then I can't move it any further. Spent some time trying to pry the bracket a little wider before I got smart and brought out the port-a-power with the wedge attachment and widened it out. Work smarter, not harder right?
Ok, now we're getting somewhere. The shock fits! Got the nut clip up there, got the shock in there too and now it's time to snake my arm through the maze of hoses and wires and get the bolt in. So far so good, got it up and in, but the nut clip isn't in the right place, so the bolt won't thread in. Hmm. Grab a screw driver and try to line it up with the hole. No dice, it's to tight to slide the nut clip around. So, have to pull down the shock, reposition the clip and shove the shock back in. Still no good. Using the screw driver it feels like the nut is lined up, but the bolt won't go through enough to catch any threads. I spent probably an hour getting frustrated and still not getting anything to line up.
So, I pull it all part again... take the nut clip and pound the nut out of the clip. I enlisted the help of my neighbor to slip the nut on the bolt once I get it through the shock and mount. Well That goes pretty smoothly (why didn't I think of that an hour ago!!!) now it's just tightening things up. That goes comparatively smoothly relative to the rest of the process, but it's still a major pain trying to work the ratchet up in there. Anyway, I finally get it all done and tightened up. Phew. That only took me 4 hours to change two shocks. I decided that the fronts would have to wait for another day, cause I was too frustrated to even think about them.
Moral of the story: I'm selling this hunk-o-junk before I have to change shocks again!
...I could change all mine again in probably an hour in my driveway...
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2004
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tips on shocks
I don't know if this will help you---but I did all four and posted some tips here:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ghlight=shocks
I didn't find the left rear too bad---but I had a hoist---but I put numerous extensions on the ratchet and that helped that I didn't have to get the wrench up next to the shock---think I did it over the drive shaft and then over to the shock on the left.
You might want to read the front tips since you are about to tackle that---actually I had more difficulty with the fronts---to snake em out and in---
Good luck and let us know your experience.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ghlight=shocks
I didn't find the left rear too bad---but I had a hoist---but I put numerous extensions on the ratchet and that helped that I didn't have to get the wrench up next to the shock---think I did it over the drive shaft and then over to the shock on the left.
You might want to read the front tips since you are about to tackle that---actually I had more difficulty with the fronts---to snake em out and in---
Good luck and let us know your experience.
