ReaperHWK

Installing the bilstein 5100's today, ran into a problem. Rears are done, easy as pie.


Anyway, for the front the lower bolt that secures the shock to the control arm is impossible to get out. Looked at the manual, it has to be torqued back to over 400 ft-lbs! I called Midas and sts auto around me, they won't install the shocks because it's a customer part, they don't install just parts.

My bro has an impact driver, so I could probably get it off if I go to his house. Question now is, how the hell do I tighten it back to the torque spec of 400 ft lbs? I can't just drive it in with an impact it is not accurate.....

Right now I just am done with the rears until I figure out the front, I put it all back together......

Any suggestions?

izzysplace

I just looked at the Factory spec for an 06 and it says the torque on the lower bolt is 351ft lbs. You will need one bad *** torque wrench to torque it back to spec (just like the hub/rotor bolt on the 2WD)

By the way here is a post with the suspension specs listed

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/85...spec-list.html

ReaperHWK

I have an 18" breaker bar, and I'll get a pipe. I just need to go to the store to buy the right socket, I don't have a 30mm socket laying around. I need to also jack the truck up pretty high so I have room to use this long contraption I'm using, maybe 36" I'll need.

I'll let u know how this goes.

ReaperHWK

Got it, lots of liquid wrench, and a breaker bar with a 3ft pipe, so had about 4.5ft of leverage, about 100lbs of me pushing, so that's 450 ftlb torque.....

ReaperHWK

Finished the passenger side, it was a PITA. The OEM shock had the bolt strip on the top, and I spent and hour or so cutting at it with a dremel to finally get it out. Took me 4 hours, I should stick to my day job.

I still have to do the driver side tomorrow!

KYBuckeye

I cut the tabs on mine. Took 3 minutes with a Dremel.

donk_316

Did you find that length of the 5100 was shorter than the factory unit?

I set mine to 2" lift (2005 XLT 4x4) using new springs and hardware.

i took the old strut - spring out. put the new 5100 - spring in and it was much easier to install. didnt need to pry bar the bottom strut connection into the a-arm like the stock one.

It seems the 5100 is shorter? does the shock "extend" once it has a load on it? little concerned i have the wrong strut even though everything went together perfectly.

ReaperHWK

I believe mine was slightly longer, because when I reinstalled the strut I had to remove the sway bar end links and loosen the upper control arm bolt and really pry the new strut in there. The part number I installed for the front shock was 24-122986 (F4-BE5-C298-H2).

donk_316

The front struts i have are 24-239363 which are correct for 04-08 XLT FX4 and so on 4x4... Very strange

Mod (Ret.)

I assume you folks live in an area with harsh winters and road salt. I had the front strut assemblies off and new ones in within about an hour and a half. Yea, that bottom bolt/nut took a few wacks with a BFH to loosen, and I used the same BFH to snug it back.
2WD are much easier to get off as well; no need to drop the lower A arm, but the steering rod does have to come off the lower A arm to allow the strut assembly to clear.