Strut/Shock - when do replace?

[astrand1]

So are these the only aftermarket shocks for our trucks? What about bilstein? Or others? I don’t need an adjustable shock. Just looking for something in the rear for now to see if I can quiet down the movement a little. A little less spongy so to speak.

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[21st Century Truck]

So are these the only aftermarket shocks for our trucks? What about bilstein? Or others? I don’t need an adjustable shock. Just looking for something in the rear for now to see if I can quiet down the movement a little. A little less spongy so to speak.

AFAIK yes they are the only ones.

I kept my Eibachs at the stock height, front and rear (lowest ring position). It also completely eliminated the Buick movement. Several thousand miles on them now, with and without towing... worth the $$$ and the work. Plus, they are likely to last much longer than OEM shocks.

 

[astrand1]

AFAIK yes they are the only ones.

I kept my Eibachs at the stock height, front and rear (lowest ring position). It also completely eliminated the Buick movement. Several thousand miles on them now, with and without towing... worth the $$$ and the work. Plus, they are likely to last much longer than OEM shocks.

Another question. On their website the picture of the shocks don’t show a dust cover at all. Do they come with one?

 

[21st Century Truck]

Another question. On their website the picture of the shocks don’t show a dust cover at all. Do they come with one?

We reused the OEM rubber pleated covers. Ditto for the OEM springs and spring tophats.

Note: whether You choose to do this Yourself (not that hard actually) or have a shop do it, Ford instructions indicate the OEM bolts for the bottom of the front and the rear shock need to be thrown away and new ones need to be used.

The rear shock bolt and nut, which are huge, need to be torqued to 380 foot-pounds. It takes a very large torque wrench to do this. I don't recommend the airgun ugga-dugga method here.

For both these reasons I'd recommend a DIY job, or careful selection of a reliable shop that actually follows specs.

I was quoted about $2,400 USD for this job by a pretty reliable Ford dealership here, and separately about $1,700 USD by the local Trick Truck aftermarket truck shop. That is separate from the needed 4-corner alignment afterwards which runs about $300 USD. I ended up doing it DIY in a US Army auto craft shop which had the lifts and the appropriate tools, me being retired Army and all that, which ran me about $216 USD for two eight-hour days of self work and including $25 per shock for the shop mechanic to change out each shock inside the OEM spring & tophat on a wall-mounted spring compressor.

 

[WXman]

Besides the slight boat feeling since I am in a truck, I don't think the stock strut/shock are doing a bad job (especially with the slightly higher rate springs on the Platinum) but I wish it was better. That being said, when does everyone recommend replacing them? I have only 34K on the truck, so I feel I am about 1/2 way through its normal life (~50-60K).

If doing a replacement, what is recommended and has it been tested with the different spring rates?

OE shocks and struts typically last 100k miles or more. I would not replace them until you see them leaking. You'll be surprised how many miles you'll get out of them.

 

[21st Century Truck]

OE shocks and struts typically last 100k miles or more.

With Ford OEM shocks, that's not my experience. Our two Fusion Energi cars had shocks that were completely worn out at about 30 - 35 thousand miles, both cars (2013 and 2015 models). My Lightning had a visibly leaking front shock by about 65 thousand miles, and when I then replaced all four, all four were completely worn out.

"Worn out" in my definition = easily compressible to their full compression with one hand, end against the ground.

 

[DarkL1ghtn1ng]

Been following this thread, and I have a question. If the linked Eibach kit is used, does that raise the front 2.9"?

 

[WXman]

With Ford OEM shocks, that's not my experience. Our two Fusion Energi cars had shocks that were completely worn out at about 30 - 35 thousand miles, both cars (2013 and 2015 models). My Lightning had a visibly leaking front shock by about 65 thousand miles, and when I then replaced all four, all four were completely worn out.

"Worn out" in my definition = easily compressible to their full compression with one hand, end against the ground.

Interesting. My ’19 Super Duty at 85k miles still had perfectly good shocks all around. I know that because I spent $500 on Bilstein replacements and when I took off the old shocks they had the same compression. And I’ve got a ’05 F-150 with 230k miles that still has OE shocks on it right now. In fact out of all the Fords I’ve had in my life I can’t recall having a leaky shock or worn out shock on any of them.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Interesting. My ’19 Super Duty at 85k miles still had perfectly good shocks all around. I know that because I spent $500 on Bilstein replacements and when I took off the old shocks they had the same compression. And I’ve got a ’05 F-150 with 230k miles that still has OE shocks on it right now. In fact out of all the Fords I’ve had in my life I can’t recall having a leaky shock or worn out shock on any of them.

Well, I hand-compressed the worn-out Ford OEM shocks from both Fusions and also from my Lightning - the last one this past November. BTW these weren't the only shocks I had changed out - I had also changed out my BMW's shocks some years earlier, and other shocks on my youthful clunkers, so I have memory of multiple manufacturer shocks, old and new, OEM and aftermarket, expensive and cheapos to compare against.

The Fort Knox auto craft shop tech who did the shock remount with the Eibach shocks into the OEM springs and tophats on his wall-mounted spring compressor just laughed at how blown the OEM shocks were.

it's often (not always, yet often) hard to judge until the OEM shock is off the vehicle. Especially on heavy-duty vehicles with strong springs. With sedans, it's easier IMHO.

 

[Karlos]

The rear shock bolt and nut, which are huge, need to be torqued to 380 foot-pounds.

Can someone explain to me the torque numbers here ? I understand (barely) bolt stretch & strains, but I can't see why a cross-bolt like this would need anything this extreme. Maybe the hole the bolt is in is so sloppy Ford doesn't want it bouncing around, or the casting member is so soft the bolt can start walking around ?

 

[21st Century Truck]

Can someone explain to me the torque numbers here ? I understand (barely) bolt stretch & strains, but I can't see why a cross-bolt like this would need anything this extreme. Maybe the hole the bolt is in is so sloppy Ford doesn't want it bouncing around, or the casting member is so soft the bolt can start walking around ?

I'm not a suspension engineer... perhaps some mix of factors like the very heavy weight of these trucks, + the almost 50 / 50 weight distribution between the front and rear, + the design of the independent suspension arms in the rear, + ???

The hole for the rear bottom shock bolt is pretty accurately machined, from personal experience. The bolt itself is both long and massive for an application such as this.

 

[Black_Lightning]

Well, I hand-compressed the worn-out Ford OEM shocks from both Fusions and also from my Lightning - the last one this past November. BTW these weren't the only shocks I had changed out - I had also changed out my BMW's shocks some years earlier, and other shocks on my youthful clunkers, so I have memory of multiple manufacturer shocks, old and new, OEM and aftermarket, expensive and cheapos to compare against.

The Fort Knox auto craft shop tech who did the shock remount with the Eibach shocks into the OEM springs and tophats on his wall-mounted spring compressor just laughed at how blown the OEM shocks were.

it's often (not always, yet often) hard to judge until the OEM shock is off the vehicle. Especially on heavy-duty vehicles with strong springs. With sedans, it's easier IMHO.

Hi 21st Century Truck! I'm getting ready to swap out with Eibach's on all 4 corners. Could you share the tips and tricks you have from the job (and from the shop tech and Woody)?

Thank you in advance!!!

 

[21st Century Truck]

Hi 21st Century Truck! I'm getting ready to swap out with Eibach's on all 4 corners. Could you share the tips and tricks you have from the job (and from the shop tech and Woody)?

Thank you in advance!!!

Sure.

I have some Ford tech manual pages on disassembly / reassembly of the front and the rear. Unfortunately my old laptop broke but I still have the paper versions. I'll dig them up, scan and attach them tomorrow.

What you need to get from the Ford dealership ahead of the job:

- for the rear shock, its bottom bolt and nut which are really huge and long. These two bolt and nut pairs are non-reusable items, and the torque for these two rear bolts = 380 foot-pounds, which takes a specially long / large torque wrench. These bolts and nuts are unique for the Lightning (all trims) among Ford F150 trucks because of its independent rear suspension. Also, two nuts for the front upper control arm ball joints... the bottom nuts. Same no-reuse caveat on Ford OEM instructions.

For the rear shocks and for the front shocks, the Ford manual indicates that the three tophat bolts per shock (all four shocks) are also non-reusable. I do know that many Ford truck owners reuse these 12 bolts (3 per tophat)... I chose to junk my old ones and use new ones.

Tricks: I had a lift at my disposal, which helps. Having done the job, I think a set of four jackstands can work as well... it all depends on how limber You are he hee... a strong teenage boy or two can come handy here.

Rear shocks:

Trick #2: The rear shock needs to be manipulated with a floor rollup hydraulic jack or a really stable jack. I recommend popping off the bottom nut, then slightly compressing the independent suspension casting arm from the bottom until that huge horizontal bolt comes loose and out. Then just unscrew the tophat from its mountings and the shock assembly will ease down.

Trick #3: Once the new shock is in its tophat, I bolted up the tophat with appropriate torque into its top position, and then I used a transmission screwjack to compress just the bottom shock eye so that it lined up with its suspension casing holes. Because the rear bolt is mounted at a tilt, this is a PITA and can get tricky... a regular jack has the contact head that is too wide, and not angled well for this. A transmission support screwjack has a bi-angled top narrow enough to do exactly this. I'd borrow or rent a transmission support screwjack from a shop or from a tool rental place.

Trick #4: The same rear suspension independent casting needs to be compressed again after You put the new horizontal bolt in, to tighten the nut to 380 foot-pounds. This is a PITA... it took two of us, one to hold the extension and nut steady and the other to crank the torque wrench until it popped at 380 ft/lbs. Note: when torqueing the bottom nut to the bottom bolt, the rear suspension casting arm on that side needs to again be compressed to an approximate full load... I eyed the rear halfshaft on that side until it was parallel to the ground to replicate this full suspension loading, before we started cranking that torque wrench. For this, use a floor hydraulic jack or a transmission screwjack, as appropriate.

Front shocks: much easier, because their bottom bolts are pretty standard drop-in regular size truck bolts.

I don't know which Lightning trim You have. My XLT did not have any headlight-leveling linkage on its upper control arms... if Yours has that headlight leveling linkage on the front upper control arms, it doesn't make things harder just more complicated with more steps.

I found that, despite OEM instructions telling me to disconnect all kinds of linkage on the front wheel assembly, I just undid the UCA ball joint on its bottom, then popped the upper ball joint up out of its knuckle, then I pivoted the entire UCA upwards, and the front shock assembly just dropped right out... ditto for reassembly. After the new shock was assembled into the spring and tophat, up went the tophat, then the bottom T-bar got shimmied onto its place on the lower control arm (not a major problem at all... just use a long flathead screwdriver), its two bolts dropped right in, and then I pivoted the UCA right back into the ball joint knuckle mount.

All this assumes that you or a local shop have access to a good wall-mounted spring compression jig. Otherwise, to replace each shock in its OEM spring You'll have to use those manual spring compression jigs that frankly make me nervous... they are available for rental at a tool rental shop. Also, You'll need to reuse the OEM shock rubber bellows covers for the new Eibach shocks.

Don't forget an all-corners alignment afterwards. About $300 or so at a dealership.

I'll dig up the OEM disassembly & torque papers tomorrow in daylight and scan them here.

Hope this is helpful. You won't be disappointed by the Eibachs. FYI - I set my Eibachs at the stock height (lowest ring groove on every shock).

 

[Black_Lightning]

Thank you for the detailed write up and scanning the shop manual pages! Eibach's are on their way

 

[21st Century Truck]

Thank you for the detailed write up and scanning the shop manual pages! Eibach's are on their way

Here are the Ford OEM 9 pages of instructions.

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