Tips
1. Definitely wear safety glasses when under the truck in the back. Plenty of dirt fell on my face. Glad I had mine on.
2. When reinstalling the rear shocks, put the top two bolts back in first. Otherwise, you will be fighting to get the top bolts lined up.
3. On the front right. On my '01, I could not get a ratchet on the top nut and it had at least a inch of bolt before it would come off. Additionally, only about 1/8th of a turn could be done at a time. Be sure to have a ratcheting closed end wrench for this nut. It was a knuckle buster for sure and it took alot of time and it is was a nut never loosened up to be able to use fingers to spin it off.
4. When jacking up the back of the truck, go straight to the center of the diff and jack it up there. Anywhere else won't get it high enough to get the jacks under and give any decent clearance.

Difficulty
I would say this was one of the easier auto projects I have done and I have done more than the average Joe. I would rate it a 2 on the scale of 1-10. That being said a few tools that some may not have would make it more difficult. Need a heavy duty jack and heavy duty jack stands. My jack is rated for 7,000lbs and stands are rated for 8,000lbs each.

Rancho 9000XL Review
I started on setting of 9 but thought I was on setting of 1. That made it a rough ride, no better than it was with the original shocks at 118k miles. After I switched it to a 1, then it really smoothed out. I have not done many miles on it yet so it is preliminary at this point but definitely a lot better than the old factory shocks that were on this truck.

 

Did you have any problems getting the front, upper bushing installed? I ordered up Motorcraft shocks and the bushing is different from what came out and I'm having a hard time getting it installed. Hell, I don't even know if I'm installing it the correct way.

 

I did not have any difficulty with the bushings. I only noticed that the Rancho bushings were more substantial than the OEM.

By the way, after a few weeks now with the Rancho's, I am pleased. I have had them on a setting of 1 but think I can going to move up to a 2 or 3. It is a little bouncy at one. Not really a issue but 2 or 3 might be better.

 

Nice write up, reps sent.

 

I ended up using Dawn soap and had to pound the damn bushing in because simply slipping or pushing it in wasn't going to work.

Glad to hear that you're satisfied with the Ranchos. I would have got those but for how I use the Excursion, the Motorcraft shocks will work just fine.

 

I have a gallery with the details about the Rancho 9000X replacement, if anyone is looking for images useful for the replacement procedures.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=33513

I find mine work best on the "5" or "6" setting if I'm not towing.

 

My installation instructions were :

Drive to shop down the street, pay $8 per shock for installation

They put them in the middle setting,
and I put them on 1 for the softest ride and
bumped up the tire air pressure for the best mpg...

 

Would have had them installed if I could have gotten for $8-. Wanted $150- for the four in my neighborhood.

Lowes has a good wrench. Just have it before you start the job.

David

 

My trick for installing the front shocks was to put an open wrench on the
top nut, and then with a second wrench turn the nut attached below
the bottom bushing. Sort of like tightening the shock onto the NUT
vs. tightening the nut onto the shock.

It worked great and was very easy. I even tightened it a bit more
when I installed the air-lift 1000 into the front coils.