Shocks: any gotchas?

Do you have a service manual for this vehicle? If not, get one -- the Haynes manuals are not the best but they are adequate, affordable, and widely available -- a Haynes manual will show you how to do this.

I am no expert but my experience with shocks is that replacing them is a simple process -- BUT -- loosening the bolts that hold the shocks can be a sonofabitch. Be certain the vehicle is securely on the jack stand -- might want three wheels on the ground with only one corner on a jack stand -- you may have to put a lot of weight onto the wrench to break loose the shock mount bolt, or, yours may come right out with nothing more than a good heave.

Just my $.02 worth.

Ditto for above.

Also, use LOTS of wd-40 (or other penetrating oil). If the nut gets tight while loosening, tighen the nut, spray it with wd-40 and try loosening it again. Repeat untill nut is off.You might also try a propane torch on those really stubborn nuts. You'll destroy the rubber bushings in the shock in the process. (but the shock needed replacing anyway right?) Heat it up, spray it with wd-40. It will smoke a lot, but the thermal shock (hot nut / cold liquid) can sometime break free the stuck nut. Repeat a few times. CAUTION: wd-40 is flamable, so keep a water spray nearby to put out the flames. I found out the hard way...

Hope this helps.

Mike

Mike, Joe,

I have the Hayne's manual. It seems clear enough, except for the additional support on the axle, which I _think_ conflicts with the jacking instructions. A shop manual from Helm is in transit.

Would you consider an impact wrench? I have seen them cheap enough to get my attention, and it seems like something that could get me out of a lot of ugly situations. One question is whether there would be room to use it.

About the torch, this is all happening kinda close to the gas tanks[*] for my tastes. Are there any precautions that can make it safe?

[*] For good or bad, my truck has dual tanks. Naturally, it gets a second life as a short-haul weekend wonder :) One thought I had was to get them cleaned and use one of them for my emergency/generator gasoline supply. Otherwise, I'm not sure how much good it will do me.

Bill

The last time I bought shocks, the shop charged $10 each to install them. That has got to be the best $40 I've ever spent. The book was confusing as to which shocks were needed for the application (lifted CJ5), and it turns out the guy made the wrong selection first. The bolts were rusted and bent, the threads mashed. I see no point in replacing a shock when the shop will do it for 10 bucks.

WD40 is great stuff for lots of things, but as a penatrating oil , well it just doesnt. PB Blaster is great, CRC has a product works pretty good as well.

Shocks are a nut and bolt job, the amount of difficulty is in getting to the bolts. some upper bolts on rear shocks can be a real nightmare to get to using hand tools. and one has to be carefull not to over tighten some mount designs.

Whitelightning

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:28:09 +0000, Whitelightning rearranged some electrons to form:

Amen on PB Blaster. It stinks, but it sure works a lot better than WD40.

Impact is good if you can get to the nut/bolts. The top ones are usually the tough ones to get to.

I my case, I had the bed off to repair some frame damage and to replace the rear gas tank. So changing the rear shocks was a no-brainer. The gas tank was rusted on the underside under the straps. $150 from Canadian Tire, $750 from Ford. Guess which one I bought!

To your question about the torch on the rear shocks: if you smell gas, then don't even think of using it! Otherwise, you'll be OK as long as you are outside with good ventilation.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the heads-up.

If penetrating oil, breaker bars, and impact wrenches fail for different reasons, I'll probably resort to the pros. Fire and octane don't mix well.

Thanks!

Bill

Mike,

The top ones in front look like they will be the worst to reach. An impact wrench might actually fit elsewhere. My 2 ft breaker bar will hopefully take care of the top front. It looks like it might be tricky getting a deep enough socket in there, but there should be room for the bar itself. Of course, I am trying to envision how it will look with the truck on stands and the wheel removed.

Now that I think about it, fire and octane DO mix - that's the problem =:0

Bill

Hello all,

The picture in my head was vivid, but incorrect. The front end is indeed a twin I-beam, and the recommended jacking point is under the radius arm. So far, all I have seen are instructions for changing a tire. Any thoughts on getting a pair of jack stands under the front? Raising one side at a time, perhaps in a couple of steps comes to mind. Is there an accepted procedure?

Bill

Bill Schwab wrote:

Just did front and back on a heavily rusted ranger. Thin/thick wall sockets, swivels, adapters, various wrenches, etc., never seems like I can have enough of those. Unusual situations with a tool that fits just right is a good feeling. Still trying to get the metrics all together. Easy rollaround 2 or 3 ton jack and four-point jack stands are safer than three. I've a HD 3/4 ratchet & socket set (standard though, 1"- 3 1/2" or so), also includes a nice swivel-head 3/4" breaker bar. Nicer yet, got the set for $39. Been on that thing more than a few times with a 6' length of pipe -- exploded out the insides of black impact sockets on a steering box once. BP Blaster and slow and easy. Shouldn't be so many bolts for an impact to matter that much (up to tired forearms and aching hands). Little wire brush and tack hammer is sometimes all it takes. BP Blaster and work those threads clean with the brush, little crack here and there with the hammer to shatter bonds, back out a few more threads from the nut, then back to cleaning. Repeated until everything was nice and loose. Top bolts up front were rusted beyond consideration - besides, the new Gabriels included everything needed up there. Went through the studs and bolts with 4" Nikita grinder like hot butter (careful around brake lines). Supposed to get a rebate - be $75 total then and they're nice shocks. Truck sat up perky with them. Beat out and replaced the upper control arm after that with a 2lb mallet. No more bumpidy-ker-clunks. $67 TRW part - shops were asking $400+. Found a good shop alignment pit next day for $70. Probably got a reasonably clean truck that's not rusted and threatening siezures - shouldn't be too major.

I thought I was just getting old when I took my E-350 to Sears for shocks but they had a super sale on their best with free or almost free install. I knew I did the right thing when they had three guys working on one shock at a time with very BIG tools and very short cuss words. I overheard one complaining that "Those are always a bitch" Your F-150 might be better but I really think about getting cut-up or really hurt anymore. Brakes, I'll do, shocks aren't worth it!

Tom,

No argument, I have it a little backwards in terms of cost/benefit. However, brakes must be correct; lives depend on it. Ditto steering. The shocks look like something I can handle, and it will be good experience for me. Eventually I will start thinking in terms of convenience vs. cost; for now, I am picking battles that I should be able to win. Brake jobs and critical suspension components aren't my first pick.

Bill

I have an ok collection of small metric sockets, and metric combination wrenches from Enco. I will grab larger sockets as I need them.

Mine are four-point.

I have been hearing a lot of good things about BP, and will get some before messing with the shocks.

The real reason I am thinking of an impact wrench is that I want an air ratchet anyway (mostly for non-automotive work). There are some good deals on sets with both tools.

I'm optimistic that penetrating oil and my breaker bar will do it. Failing that, your solution might be about the only option. However, I would probably just take it to the pros if I can't get the top nuts off.

Bill

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 15:53:36 +0000, Bill Schwab rearranged some electrons to form:

Shocks *are* critical suspension components....

True, but they are dampers bolted into place as opposed to press-fit supports. It seems a lot better place to start than a brake job or replacing bushings.

Bill

Ordered a bunch of metric sets and seems half of them are missing every other increment. 19mm to 21mm w/ the 20 missing, etc. Cheap Harbor Freight stuff and doesn't matter pricewise, just odd after using standards up till this ranger. Pawnshop stuff for a lazy afternoon.

Liquid Wrench but they say BP's better. First time I ran into it was by recommendation for a air ratchet sticking, spinning up erratically.

I bought a 90psi, 60gal Campbell Hausefeld unit for a one-car house garage. Cut up a tire for pads beneath the three feet to keep it from walking - beats drilling concrete and bolt setups. Watch for sales and got most of the airtools for $20. Big can of airtool lubricant to keep them happy.

If I can't "see it" then I start hitting the shops and asking for advice. Tell them what I'm thinking and whatever I'm not seeing right or not at all, and they straighten me out. Some won't talk - some will. Ball joints for instance. Reading around in here and the likes about how they're pressed into the control arm. One guy in parts autosupply says he had used a BJoint press to get them out of Rangers before. Another guy at a regular repair shop keeps a rental bay for sideworking at night. Stopped in late and he said -nah- do the whole upper control arm. That and I had the control arm prices bassackwards. $67 TRW controll arm w/ pressed ball-joint part at Advanced Auto, whereas AutoZone (and others) couldn't pull anything up but an individual ball joint for $30. Well, I got both and everything (including a AZ rental press) and ended up returning all the AutoZone parts. Would have been a ball-joint nightmare in comparison to just replacing the whole control arm - trying to press out the balljoint on the truck or even taking it off and salvaging the control arm with my 100lb benchvice and the rental press for the balljoint. Guy side working was dead right - few bucks more for the whole assembly made the difference between a couple hours and no telling when (my favorite is taking in pressed parts into the household refrigerator prior to reassembly).

Get the new shock - hold it side by side to the old. Put the tools to it and partly disassemble - look for problems beforehand. Sometimes I keep and take my own parts in if there's a problem. It's a mixed bag, depending, and can go either way. Sometimes it's convenient if all they're doing is sitting around scratching their asses, sometimes they'll ask if I bring my own eggs when I go to a restraunt for breakfast. I was getting $200 quotes on the control arm w/out labor.

Brakes are simple, just replace EVERYTHING with new, good quality parts. Flush and bleed. Best of luck with everything.

I recently replaced my shocks on my Superduty, all four in about an hour, with air tools. No need for jackstands, the only prep I needed to to was turn the front wheels to get better access to the bottom front shock bolts, and remove the spare for better access to the top rear bolts. Of course I soaked all the fasteners in PB Blaster for a couple days beforehand, made it a lot easier.