Has anyone actually changed the rear shocks on their SPORT TRAC?

[interscope8]

I put 4 RS5000's on and love them! Unfortunately I may be doing a Coil over conversion this summer so I will need some dif. ones haha.

 

[oklagp1200r]

I put 4 RS5000's on and love them! Unfortunately I may be doing a Coil over conversion this summer so I will need some dif. ones haha.

Do replace the rear sway bar also you will def love that feeling when you drive her again!

 

[Sethybaby]

I had a MUCH easier time just taking the bed off. it's 4 bolts 2 plugs. and it only weight 200 or so. it was a piece of cake after that.

 

[DBray6]

Ratcheting wrenches saved the day for me! Removed the spare tire. Dropped down the driver side charcoal canister, 3 bolts and make sure reconnect any hoses that come off when reassembling. Ratcheting box end wrench on top of cross member, 13mm if original shocks, 10mm if aftermarket replacement. Done and cleaned up in less than an hour and I did it in my driveway. The worst part is working blind on top of cross member.

 

[Galactica]

What is that charcoal canister for? Those bolts, especially the driver's side, were a bit of a pain especially since the replacement Monroe Air shocks that I got had a separate bolt and nut. Still, it only took a couple hours to get the rears done and the airlines run. Truck looks slightly lifted now in the rear with 70lbs of air. Makes me want to do a front 2" lift to match! It rides SO much better with the air shocks on the back and the SensaTrac's on the front. Much less side to side roll and almost no jitter on bumps like it had with the originals. They were so bad that they wouldn't even rebound on their own when I pushed them in after I removed them from the truck. They just stayed in...

 

[MidnightRebel07]

The charcoal canister is for the emmissions (very important).

 

[Flounder]

Did Ford change the design of the charcoal box on later Gen I Sport Tracs?

This weekend I changed out all shocks, other than the driver's side rear, replaced the sway bar end links, and greased the sway bars. All of that was pie, particularly because I used a sawzall on the top bolts of the front shocks. I forgot how nicely the Sport Trac rides with new shocks and sway bars and end links without slop.

The rear driver's side rear bolts, even with the spare removed, is seemingly impossible. The charcoal box has five bolts -- two on a metal strap on the left, one in the center, and two on the right (i.e., the setup is the width of the frame, not just on the left side), and hoses that cross the frame. I removed the left and center bolts for more room, but even then couldn't quite get to the top bolts. I didn't want to remove the entire box because I had a tough time disconnecting and reconnecting the hose on the left side.

I'm getting new tires this week -- Michelin LTX MS2 265-70-16, same as I had, which lasted almost 75,000 miles -- and have embraced my fail and will ask the shop to install one damn shock.

 

[HELMUT RONER]

Mine is a 2002 built 07/2002 (there were changes in fuel system parts starting 03/04/2002). I had to lower my fuel vapor canister assembly to access that one top nut furthest to the left on the left shock. Once moved it was easy. Five 13mm bolts hold it up.

Only 2 nuts secure the originals, but the new RS5000 shocks have nuts AND bolts.

 

[Flounder]

Well that looks a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be. Thank you for posting the pictures. Looks like I have a project for next weekend.

I could tell you were a southerner before I looked at your name. Barely any rust! I had to use a lot of Blaster PB before I went to work. I also had to use the sawzall on the front bolts, as I mentioned, and the Dremel on the top right rear.

I cannot wait for my wife and I to move and build. One of the garage bays will have a lift for things like this, and for storage when not in use.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I didn't disconnect anything from the canister on either of my STs. Just unbolted them and moved them out of the way. Actually the piece the canister mounts to is broken on the '01, so I didn't even unbolt it. As rusty as those mounting bolts are, I probably couldn't have gotten them out anyway. I just did the shocks on my '01 last month, and did have trouble fitting a wrench down onto the nut on the leftmost stud. Seemed like the mount was shaped wrong to allow for the wrench. I don't recall having any problem like that when I did my '02 a year ago.

 

[Jake978]

Started to install my rear shocks. The problem is that the top nuts are very rusted, I live in the Northeast. They're so rusted the correct size wrench for it just spins around. I was able to grind off one of the nuts, furthest to the rear on passenger side. I need some direction on removing the rest of them. I can't get enough room to grind the top nuts toward the front. Any thoughts? I though about removing the bed but may have more issues removing that hardware (bolts).

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I did end up cutting/grinding off the one nut I had problems with on the driver's side. It's tight, but doable on that nut even though it doesn't look like it. I think I used both a sawzall and a 4 1/2" grinder. Didn't really like using the grinder in that tight area and so close to the gas tank, but I didn't see another option. I don't know if you can get to any of the other nuts to cut/grind them or not. It's certainly not an ideal way to go.

Anyone else wonder why Ford put the drain holes for the bed almost directly over the rear shock mounts? And why are there drain holes anyway?

 

[Kjhadfield]

If you can fit a smaller size wrench on the bolt- try making your own spray (metal oil squirter) w/ 50/50 acetone and atf. Soak it a couple times beige fore you try again and do it a couple days prior. I've had some real luck with this and won't buy or use anything else

The drain holes I worry about are nearest to the cab. Below is a crossmember? Or something and that damn rust has taken hold there for me as well. I have a bed Mat and topper so maybe getting some rubber plugs wouldn't be a bad idea

 

[Jake978]

The nut and bolts were so rusted they were fused together. I ended up used a pneumatic air hammer to obviate the top forward nut (Left of photo). To gain access to it I drilled a hole in the bed. The rear bolt (Right of Photo) had enough room so it allowed me me to just grind it away. I will glue the new drilled bed plug back in when the shocks are back in. Now I get to do the drivers side.

 

[Alwayssideways]

Jake, you might have been better off taking the bed off.

For the rest of the people doing this. I am in the in the middle of this and although I did get lucky with the top bolts. Gear wrenches(ratcheting wrenches ) are you friend once you pop them loose as long as they are not super rusted. It does look like dropping the charcoal box is the way to go.

I just got super lucky considering I live in the north east and the rust was not bad.

 

[smalltownusa]

First let me say I am not the best mechanic. I'm just an average guy trying to save a few bucks with what hand tools I have available. I had talked to the dealership about shock replacement, and doing all 4 brakes. Needless to say I was in shock (no pun intended) at the dealer cost. Yes they do good work, but it was quite a lot of money.

So here I am determined to do it myself.
I removed my front shocks last evening without too much effort. The rear are quite another issue. I searched the internet this morning, and had a laugh reading "has anybody ever replaced these rear shocks". That's how I felt after trying.

I only have a visual on one upper bolt on the passenger side, and have tried what I thought was all the possible sizes. Some say it's a 13 mm if the shocks are OE, and 10 mm if they have been replaced. I purchased this Sport Trac some time ago with ~20,000 miles so I imagine they were the originals.

Tomorrow I'll try a 10 mm in case I somehow missed that size. Don't want to try and remove the whole box, nor cut a hole in the bed, but I can see were people have resorted to such. At least I'm working in comfort as I added a hanging heater to my garage about 4 days ago.

I've got to replace the shocks, do the breaks, investigate a noisy heater blower motor, and lastly darn it a 4, 2 flash code started on my dash. Apparently the flash code is some sort of impact sensor. Might have to bite the bullet on that one and have the dealer find that one.

Anyway wish me luck as I tackle these one at a time.

 

[HELMUT RONER]

If the top hardware of the rear shocks are not fused together from rust and the shocks are original Ford they are 13mm and you lower your spare tire out of the way and undo 5 bolts that hold up the fuel vapor canister assembly over the spare wheel to get access to the top nut on the left side shock.

There are 5 bolts that hold the assembly up.

 

[smalltownusa]

Helmut thanks I did lower that spare tire, but I will take a look at the fuel vapor canister.
tomorrow AM.

Can I remove the rear shocks without jacking anything up? I imagine I might have to when installing the new shocks.

 

[SoCal2V]

smalltownusa -

I did it with the truck jacked up so that the rear suspension was fully extended and gave me extra room between the axle and chassis to work; if you wanted to back it up on ramps instead or even do it with the truck on the ground you technically could. +1 on dropping the spare and that vapor canister assembly. I managed to get through the job without the ratcheting wrench mentioned in one of the above posts but I really really wished I had one. It would have been worthwhile to buy a small set of them even if only just to get through this job.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

You do need to remove all the bolts from the vapor canister, but you don't have to disconnect it or remove it. With the bolts out it will move far enough out of the way to give as much access as you're going to get or need.

No you don't need to jack the truck up to install the shocks, but putting it up on jack stands or ramps will give you more room to move under the truck.