Shocks: any gotchas?

Bill Schwab:

I replaced the rear rotors and brake pads on my F150 having never done it before and it took me about 45 minutes with a helper. If you can snap Legos together you can do brakes.

I just recently did the shocks on a 92 f-150. Plan on spending time doing it. (You might consider a tetanus (sp) shot as well if yours looks like mine. ) I used the Haynes manual for the information. I believe mine were original (139k miles). What a nightmare. Not that it was difficult, but trying to get the nuts and bolts off the bottom was terrible. I think the Haynes manual recommends removing the top of the shock first, but I did the bottom as that was the more difficult end. I believe I spent 3 hours per on the front ones (rear ones are going to wait until the spring.) I tried penetrating oil (PB) and an impact wrench and nothing.. Ended up using a cut-off wheel to slice the bolts off. A large breaker bar unthreaded the bolt the rest of the way. As for the top of the shock, well, I did manage to start turning it with a long socket, but it just sheared the top of the shock bolt off. I was glad, that was the easy route :) Re installing should be pretty easy, just make sure the bracket is clean where you put the bottom of the shock in, that makes it slide in easier. I put a jackstand under the frame on the corner I was working and also left the floor jack under the arm I was working on, but lowered it some. I'm fairly new to auto repair and I handled it OK, just way underestimated the time. Read the Haynes manual a couple of times and look over the truck a few times before you attempt it, I think you'll be fine. The rear of mine looks like it is going to be just as much fun. I might try only lifting the truck a little with jackstands under the frame and keeping the wheels on the ground, this way the axle can't move anyway. I'm curious as to how it goes for you though. Good luck!

"Bill Schwab" wrote in message news:sCj8h.1155$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net...

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:33:44 +0000, Bill Schwab rearranged some electrons to form:

The rotors *may* be able to be turned down, as long as they are a minimum thickness. Although, I don't think they are too expensive, so it might be easier just to get new ones. I've got 124k miles on mine, and they are in good shape.

David,

The first thing I noted in driving the truck was that the rotors were in some distress. Turns out, the left rotor took a real beating. The mechanic I have trusted for years now tells me it was almost certainly from metal-metal contact, and that it needs to go. That's good enough for me. He says the right rotor can be machined.

Bill

It's not too bad.

Don't necessarily believe them about the thermostat. Sealant got me out of it, but I was impressed at how wrong they were about the parts. In fairness, some things were changed, and maybe the current cover is from a different year??

Sounds reasonable to me. As I read Haynes, they say to place the jack under the radius arm (1996 w/ twin I-beam), but that seems a little nutty. The frame seems a lot better, as that will allow the wheel to "fall" giving much better access to the top.

I am new to auto repair myself, and am trying to pick battles that will teach me something w/o too much risk to life and property. If I save a few bucks at the same time, all the better.

Interesting idea. I will report on it, but I'm not in a hurry.

Bill

On Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:45:17 +0000, Bill Schwab rearranged some electrons to form:

If you're serious about learning to do some things, you might want to get a better manual.

They are expensive, but they are the original factory service manuals.

You can usually find them on E-bay as well.

David,

I ordered one from them just over a week ago; it should be arriving any day now. Thanks for mentioning it though!

Bill