Rear shock removal not fun.

[Frank trac]

I with the help of a good friend changed the shocks on my 05 ST yesterday and after much swearing and using just about every tool in the box we got it done and it only took a little over 2 hrs. When the service tech at the local Ford dealer told me he recommended I have them change them I laughed and said I'll do that job on my own. Now I know why he smiled as he said "ok". Any of you who have done this job know what I'm talking about. My guess is the assembly line installed them before the bed is dropped down on the chassis and bolted to the frame. Just a guess.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I had read all the threads on here about changing the rear shocks, and the job went pretty well on my '02. I think it took me a couple of hours or so, but most of that was time spent deciding how I wanted to route the lines and where to put the valve for the air shocks I put on it, and one of the fittings had a slight leak to deal with. But I had no problem getting the old ones off. I changed the shocks on my '01 last year, a year after the '02, and it was a different story. First off, everything was rusty. And I had the right tools and had everything out of the way, but I couldn't get a wrench on the top driver's side. The nut seemed to be recessed in such a way that a socket wouldn't fit down over it. Ended up getting my grinder up in there somehow and ground it off.

And yeah, it makes sense the bed would have been set down on a rolling chassis with the shocks already installed.

 

[swshawaii]

re: Shocking shocks

 

[KajunBndit]

A few months ago, my daughter had helped me changed mine, she was the gopher so I can stay on the ground. IT had taken me about 3 hours. It wasn't really hard to do, but you had to disconnect a few things, ratchet wrenches were needed, and some patience was needed. I live here in South Louisiana where in the the winter time salt is not laid down on the roads so the underbody of my truck looks normal. I have a 2004 Sport Trac. I have been reading a lot of posts about changing shocks, body mounts. Read everything you can, and then if you still have questions, ask. Be prepare. I can't thank ExplorerForum enough for all the help that I received and my truck is better for it.I am going to put my floor console on hold for awhile, I have something else coming to my mind about it but my truck does now have over 120,000 miles on it and I am thinking about changing the timing chain but don't know if I should do it myself, I know I don't have the tools nor the know how...... Comptemplating

 

[Frank trac]

A few months ago, my daughter had helped me changed mine, she was the gopher so I can stay on the ground. IT had taken me about 3 hours. It wasn't really hard to do, but you had to disconnect a few things, ratchet wrenches were needed, and some patience was needed. I live here in South Louisiana where in the the winter time salt is not laid down on the roads so the underbody of my truck looks normal. I have a 2004 Sport Trac. I have been reading a lot of posts about changing shocks, body mounts. Read everything you can, and then if you still have questions, ask. Be prepare. I can't thank ExplorerForum enough for all the help that I received and my truck is better for it.I am going to put my floor console on hold for awhile, I have something else coming to my mind about it but my truck does now have over 120,000 miles on it and I am thinking about changing the timing chain but don't know if I should do it myself, I know I don't have the tools nor the know how...... Comptemplating

Timing chains (3) as far as I can gather that's a pretty big job unless you are lucky and don't have the SOHC 4.0 then your indeed in luck and you only have a timing belt to change.

 

[KajunBndit]

I do have the V6 4.0 EFI (SOHC)

 

[Frank trac]

I do have the V6 4.0 EFI (SOHC)

The last I read is that your motor and mine also have no less then 3 timing chains two in the front of the engine and one in the back and from what I can gather the job is not easy and the rear one will require removing the engine. This job is the only reason I've thought about trading in my 05 ST for something else while the timing chain is not an issue and my mileage is still fairly low by todays standard at 87000. From what I gather the issue is not the chain it's self but the chain guides that are the culprit and Ford even did a recall for certain years but mine is not one of those years and they claim they fixed the problem on later models (mine included). I'm not at all sure that this is true and I don't know what the cut off years are. Good luck and let me know what you decide because I'm on the fence about this.

 

[KajunBndit]

The last I read is that your motor and mine also have no less then 3 timing chains two in the front of the engine and one in the back and from what I can gather the job is not easy and the rear one will require removing the engine. This job is the only reason I've thought about trading in my 05 ST for something else while the timing chain is not an issue and my mileage is still fairly low by todays standard at 87000. From what I gather the issue is not the chain it's self but the chain guides that are the culprit and Ford even did a recall for certain years but mine is not one of those years and they claim they fixed the problem on later models (mine included). I'm not at all sure that this is true and I don't know what the cut off years are. Good luck and let me know what you decide because I'm on the fence about this.[/QUOTE

Well I can't afford to trade my truck in and I am not having any issues as of yet but I would like to do preventive maintenance on it before I do have a issue. I figured the motor will have to be removed. The plastic cassettes are which I am concerned about, I thought it had just 2 timing chains, I hope there aren't 3 LoLoL. I will be thinking hard about it for the rest of the summer and yes I will let you know what I will do Frank trac. Thank you for your reply to mine.

 

[SoCal2V]

The 3rd chain if my understanding is correct, is only on 4WD models and is for a balance shaft, wtf ever that is.

Rear shocks, they do suck a little. I had read here about ratchet wrenches and figured I'd be fine with regular wrenches. And I was, but it sucked balls - one nut in particular I think it was on the driver side shock, I probably fought with it for a solid 45 minutes because of the lame ass spot and angle needed to get to it. Ratchet wrench for sure next time, lol.