Thats nice....Great quality on the springs right? Too bad they clearly havent changed anything if were seeing reports of F150 springs breaking too.

 

I have never had a broken coil spring in 40 years of driving, 31 years of that as a Trooper with many Chevrolet's and Fords with coil springs. Jumps, bridges, pot holes, back roads, pursuits, etc. Some of those cars went 130-140K. I've owned many personal vehicles with coils, and currently own a pair of T-birds, a GM, my '07 and a '77 F-150, and my wife's Subaru Forester.

But I live in Virgina. We don't see quite as cold temps, and we see fewer pot holes and other really rough stuff on the highways.

I think that spring was broken a long time, and it would not surprise me if an allignment guy failed to see it.

Most of the breaks I've seen posted about on internet boards are down at the end near the last coil, where everything above is a spring still springing and that beklow is the pigtail resting in a spring bucket or other solid point. Take a really cold morning after a really really cold night, hit some deep pot hole 3 mins after leaving the house, maybe just some hard ice that was broke up the night before and refroze in chunks maybe 3-5" high.

That point where the spring goes from free coils to coil bind at the pigtail end .... that's where they break.

Just an opinion, but if there's a way to break a spring otherwise, in normal traffic, I can't believe that I never found it here, in my driving both on and off the job, through my "toad years", years hauling mail with Ford trucks, my troopin' years, etc.

 

The break in my spring wasnt real old, at the most, 3 months (Jan, Feb, March) i have my wheels off to look at everything at least every month (im a little parranoid at times) and the time before i found the break that i had everything apart was early Jan. and also the body shop that fixed my truck after the wreck would have had all the body parts off with that spring in clear view, at the beginning of Feb. So im putting it at 3 months max, but the scary part is if it happened before march, i drove 800+ miles during a trip to NJ with a broken coil. And my sping was a clean snap, both faces of the snap were nice and smooth.

 

I want to replace the shocks on my 2006 F 150. The shocks go through the front springs. Do I need a spring compressor for this job?

 

Yes, make sure you have some substantial spring compressor or take it somewhere, they are pretty stiff. (thats what she said) ba da dump!

 

Or you could check and see if a loaded shock is available and replace both at once. On my old Taurus loaded struts were available, but I went with each separately as the loaded version was only available in the higher end Monroe and I elected to save the $20 each and install the coils myself on the less expensive strut.

 

Just did A 4 wheel brake job to my 04 FX4 with new discs all around... was taking a break and starring into oblivion when I noticed the spring was broken exactly like your pic shows... went to other side and same there... Thought truck was just getting older and sluggish through the corners... Ordered 2 Monroe quick struts off ebay p/n 171361 Includes assembled with spring $161.00 each and adding 2.5 leveling kit at same time. Was due for shocks anyway but wierd both springs broken... 107000 miles...

 

Replaced both struts with springs monroe quick struts #171361 and added 2.5 leveling kit from summit engineering off ebay (you dont have to turn the strut reverse and all aluminum) was fairly easy to change rides like a dream agian and the leveling kit... exactly what this truck needed! The replacement was fairly straight forward...
1. remove sway bar links (both sides) from bottom of a arm 18mm wrench before jacking...
2. jack truck up remove tires.
3. remove 3 nuts on top of strut tower 15mm socket.
4. remove LARGE like 30mm nut from lower shock leave bolt in for now.
5. loosen upper ball joint nut 22mm dont remove till ball joint separated or when it does, will drop fast.
6. hammer around ball joint where the shank is, should pop apart with some finess took 5 or 6 hits... might have a ball joint separator handy...
7. support lower a-arm with another small jack and remove ball joint nut.
8. lower smaller jack with lower a-arm all the way down, be careful not to stretch lines to hub and not to separate the cv axle, remove large lower strut bolt.
9. remove strut, bottom drops down behind caliper, top comes out first...
10. install is reverse of removal... if leveling kit installed align asap..

this should take around 45 minutes a side with no unforeseen hangups... and doing it in the driveway...

 

Another one...

Both of my springs were broken on an 04 FX4.

I replaced them with monroe quick struts from amazon. $281 shipped for the pair. Easy change, the only thing to watch out for is you need some very large sockets for the lower bolt, don't recall the exact size but it is over 1 inch.

 

I dont get all these springs breaking on these F150's

 

here we go, a 2 year old thread back to the top


i just discovered the same problem, broken spring. and it solved the same problem you had with drifting and tire wear and alignment. I was just wondering what you guys used as a replacement strut and how do you like it after all this time? would you recommend it?

 

I didnt use a replacement strut, i just replaced the spring. You need a spring compressor to do it thought. I just happen to have a father in law that owns a parts store that changes springs out on struts for people. But if your just asking about a replacement spring. I just went to the ford garage and bought one there. They were the same price as the aftermarket springs so i figured i might as well just put factory back on.

 

I WAS IN MEXICO LAST WEEK AND HAD THE CAMSHAFT SENSOR KIT CHANGED AND ASKED THE MECANIC TO CHECK UNDERNEATH AND YES ALSO FOUND OUT BOTH COIL SPRINGS BROKEN ON THE BOTTOM ON MY 2004 FX4 195000 MILES BUT HE SAID IT WAS SAFE TO DRIVE BACK (ABOUT 30 HOURS) POSSIBLY IT WOULD LOWER AT THE FRONT MORE CAUSE ITS ALREADY ABOUT AN INCH OR TWO LOWER BUT DRIVES GREAT, I WAS DOING 80 TO 100 MPH MADE IT OK, SHOULD I REPLACE JUST THE SPRINGS? IT DRIVES GOOD, AND WHERE SHOULD I GET THEM?

 

I drove mine with a broken spring for what i think was a few months before i realized it. I would just go to the ford garage and get a factory replacement.

 

If the truck still has the original shocks I would replace spring and shock on both sides. I think Monroe makes a replacement spring and shock assembly that you just install without needing a spring compressor.