Big waste of time. I got new shocks for the van. Should take a couple of hours to put on.
WRONG!
Got the wheel off. Had to run out to get a 21mm socket. With the fancy wheels there's not enough room for my impact socket around the lug nuts.
Got the left front up on jack stands. Bottom nut is frozen solid. Of course it's in a place where I can't get the impact driver on it. And it's an 18mm, which I only have for 3/8" drive.
Had a look at the rear shocks. At least the bottom mount is accessible. However, it looks as if the gas tank must be removed to get anything on the top nut, at least the one on the driver's side.
Guess I need to take it to a pro. But from what I've seen that won't be cheap. All part of the plan?

 

Know a good place in Memphis if you're not to far away.

 

I'm waiting for a big shock blowout SALE at my dealership …. let them conquer the headaches.... LOL.

 

Have the engine out of my '05 E350 w/5.4 motor---the front shocks are just downright simple to change then. I think if you try reaching up from under the engine you'll find the upper shock mount stem and nut where you could fit a boxed end wrench. IF your current shocks have the lower nut or wrench flats accessible through the coil spring this might be "easier" to accomplish. When installing new shocks use an anti-seize product on the stems so next time is much much easier.

Rear shocks are somewhat easy if the spare tire is removed, if its present that is. The upper mounts are very accessible then, using a Sawzall makes removing them fairly easy. Again use anti-seize on the upper threads for easy removal next time out.

This is NOT an easy task but I'm too cheap and not trusting to just hire this out.

 

I'm finally getting around to replacing my shocks too. In case you don't want to pull the engine to access the top bolts , I did find a thread with a great tip on accessing the top bolt on the driver's front. I checked under my carpet and whoot! I have that grommet an it looks like a box wrench may just get in there and make life much simpler. Thanks coolfeet!!

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...5-minutes.html

 

After I removed the massive trailer hitch and spare wheel, I was able to see where the rear top nuts are. The passenger side doesn't look too bad, but that driver's one, ouch. Fortunately, I have the tank out now to replace the fuel pump so that driver's rear top nut will not be the curse word generator it looked to be.

So, a word of advice that may be helpful to someone... If you have to drop the tank (midship in my case, not sure if they all are), it may be a great time to do the rear shocks if they're getting older.

 

Update, I know I'm not OP...

Got the rears off today. Time kept me from getting them sooner. The driver's rear was cake. Nut is completely accessible with the tank out. Passenger rear was tougher to get to with the exhaust bracket there. I removed the bracket bolts and angled it down to expose the nut. It was easy from there. 10 minutes for both. PB Blaster is your friend. The forum had me terrified of the task ahead, but it wasn't bad at all. Whew. Have not tackled the fronts yet but I'm a little more confident, anyway.

 

Good news on the rears! I'm about to DIY my own on an '05 E350 extended body so will keep all your experiences in mind Warren.

The only real problem up front is accessing the top nuts--here's something I thought might be helpful:
I've not tried CoolFeet's idea but I didn't have too as my motor was already being replaced. The video above shows how to do this without benefit of firewall hole but if it makes just one side "easier" it will be well worth trying.

A word of caution is the bottom stud and nut----on occasion removing the nut even carefully and with a week's worth of PB Blaster the stud through the radius arm breaks off. If that does happen Dorman makes a kit to replace the stud without replacing the entire radius arm: p/n 31001. I found one locally for just about $8, actually in stock too @ Advance Auto. This video while more than a bit tedious has a few good suggestions, he does show the general process:
Again using a shock with the wrench flats below the lower bushing and washer makes next time replacement infinitely easier as does applying anti-seize to the stem threads.

You'll do fine with this chore, keep your arsenal of curse words within easy reach.


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Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I am going to begin by using the access hole from inside the cab and see if I can get it loose without a saw. Hope it isn't too bad.

 

I just did the rear shocks on my van... 4 hours! In both cases the top nuts are next to impossible, I managed to get them loose but not all the way off because of corrosion and had to cut the stud with a sawsall. A smaller saw of some type would really help as there isn't a lot of room to work but just so you know it is possible. I did not drop the tank but i did drop the muffler and tailpipe, that made the passenger side a little easier but still no cakewalk.

 

I was fortunate for a couple reasons... First, the PB Blaster was successful, which is a huge help. Unbolting the hanger bracket allowed me to push it down and get a good angle for the passenger rear top bolt, and I was actually able to spin the tube as the wrench on top stayed lodged against the frame. And of course, I have the tank out for the fuel pump replacement so that really did make all the difference there.

Now, after seeing JWA'a second video, I am certain that stud will break on me on the fronts. That's more typical of my kind of luck.

 

I am the same way ( cheap, untrusting ) but with age, I have found that sometimes I have no choice anymore.

 

Sure--that's an issue for me as well now---a robust 67 at the moment!

It takes me all night what I used to do all night but I still get the job done. Not in record time mind you but I plan around that so it works out well enough.

 

Well, it's a good thing I need a new tailpipe because I may cut it off to get that top nut on! It was a piece of cake to remove the old one, but it's tight as heck for old, meaty fingers to get the new one on...That bracket is, as we know, exactly right in the way of clean access..

 

Thank you Ford engineers ….. LOL