Replaced Shocks on my 2003 ST

[aquabid]

Okay let me say first I am not a wrencher, normally I take my vehicles in to a local mechanic get work done.

I have an 2003 Sport Trac XLT 2WD with 186000 (all mine). Usual maintenance things done over the years. It's my daily drive to work car.

Well there is one thing never done - shocks.

I decided to do them myself. I purchased Rancho RS5374 RS5000 Series for the front and Rancho RS5185 RS5000 Series for the rear.
Rancho has a promotion on now until June 30, 2015
http://www.gorancho.com/downloads/promotions/rancho_suspension_magic6_rebatepad.pdf

Started with the front driver side. Took me about 1 hour.
Front Passenger side - 15 minutes (amazing when you know how to do it)

Next came the rear driver shock. OMG - 4 hours. This includes a trip to the local Home Depot to purchase a Flex Ratcheting Wrench Set with a 13mm wrench.. I started out with jacking up the rear and takeing the tire off. Just thought it would provide more room. I think this is a mistake. Now that the Sport Trac is raised, your arms are reaching further. Boy do you get tire doing that. I still have one bolt that isn't properly snug. Bet you can guess which one. I will tackle that tomorrow.

Passenger Rear took about an hour. I was tire, getting dark and cleaning up.

Gained about 3/4 inch in the front and 1 inch in the rear.

Haven't driven it yet.

Hey Rancho I would have paid more if the boots were already on the shocks. Those rear ones were a pain in the butt.



Next project is body mount bushings. Front ones look okay. The back three are pretty much gone.

Need to replace my cluster lights (one behind fuel gauge is out)

Probably paint my trim. Rear bumper cover needs replacing (someone rear ended me years ago- just pushed my bumper down). I could try to heat it can get the dent out.

Lift shackle. Bigger tires and probably black wheels. Nothing crazy. No off roading.

Have I found a new hobby?

And to think my wife thought I was going to install bathroom tile this weekend.

 

[TGtrac05]

Having a body lift makes a world of difference in replacing the rears. My bigger concern after I replaced the shocks is how to take the damn spare tire off, because apparently that's a step I skipped when installing the body lift. But you'll enjoy those shocks and congrats on getting bit by the mod bug. It's an expensive disease haha

 

[Kjhadfield]

If your rear bumper is sagging then there is a write up on that in the projects section of mysporttrac.

Replace all the dash lights same time so you don't have to open it up every time one blows. If 1 is gone the rest aren't to far behind

 

[rxrider]

On the rear above the spare tire did you have anything in your way? I had what I found out later was a vapor canister that went from frame rail to frame rail in size... flipping huge. Once I removed that I could reach up and get to the top nuts to remover old shocks. I used KYB performance gas-charged replacement shocks... great price on Rockauto...just a little more than half the price from what O'Reilly's wanted. Like you it took almost an hour for the front... and once I took that vapor canister off from the rear the shock replacement went FAST.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I hate removing extra parts to do a job, but dropping the spare and unbolting that vapor canister are essential to reaching that top nut on the driver's side rear. So is having the right wrench.