Originally Posted by LWoodard

Strut assembly removed.

Top hat, spring, and lower mount marked for reassembly orientation.

Shankly Spring Compressor Tool.

I have a 2019 SuperCrew Lariat 4X4 with the 2.7 EcoBoost and I installed the rear Bilstein 5100 shocks last weekend and just finished installing the Bilstein 5100 front leveling shocks. I used the middle setting and I have between 3/4 to 1" of rake. To anyone who is considering doing the job themselves here is the procedure I used along with a few photos. As you can tell from my procedure I don't just tighten bolts - I torque them to factory specs..

I bought the Shankly Spring Compressor on Amazon for $55.
Ratchet box wrenches will make the job much easier.

After the front shock install you will need to get your front end realigned.
You will also need to readjust your headlights if you raised any.

BILSTEIN 5100 FRONT SHOCK INSTALLATION

1. Jack up truck.

2. Remove wheel.

3. Remove brake line brackets, (2) 10mm & (1) 8mm sockets. Reinstall bolts.

4. Remove sway bar from lower control arm. 18mm & 8mm wrenches.

5. Remove nut on outer tie rod & remove tie rod. 21mm & 10mm wrenches.

6. Remove (2) 18mm nuts on shock bottom & cut off as much of the studs

as you can (1/2 to ¾”) with an abrasive cutoff wheel. This way I did not have to

loosen the (2) 21mm nuts on the lower control arm.

7. Loosen, but do not remove nut on upper control arm. 21mm & 8mm wrenches.

8. Hit upper control arm with a dead blow to break loose.

9. Finish removing upper control arm nut and move hub assembly out of the way.

10. Remove (2) 18mm upper strut nuts, leave one loose to hold assembly up. You
can also access the nuts from the engine compartment.

11. Gently pry down control arm, remove strut nut, and remove strut assembly.

12. Mark springs, top hat, and lower spring mount for reassembly orientation.

13. Top shock nut – 41 ft. lbs.



INSTALL

1. Install assembly & (3) top nuts loosely –gently pry lower control arm down.

2. Install (2) lower shock bolts – 66 ft. lbs.

3. Jack up A-frame and connect upper ball joint and tighten – 46 ft. lbs.

4. Install and tighten lower ball joint nut – 76 ft. lbs.

5. Install tie rod & tighten – 76 ft. lbs.

6. Tighten top (3) strut bolts – 52 ft. lbs.

7. Install sway bar to lower control arm – 59 ft. lbs.

9. Install brake line brackets – 22 ft. lbs.

10. Install wheel -150 ft. lbs. dry torque or 130 ft. lbs. wet torque (anti-seize).



If you had to loosen the lower control arm to get the strut assembly out, it torques at 258 ft. lbs.

Originally Posted by LWoodard

I have never read about anyone having to adjust there adaptive cruse control radar.
If you do, just park on a level surface, pop the cover off, and use an alignment square (level) to adjust.

Originally Posted by LWoodard

I have never read about anyone having to adjust there adaptive cruse control radar.
If you do, just park on a level surface, pop the cover off, and use an alignment square (level) to adjust.

Originally Posted by Gillie Dog

Very nice write up, thank you.

How much rake did you start with?

I talked to one shop/installer who commented they always checked/adjusted the radar. Interestingly nobody else, three quoted/talked with, commented on it including a dealer.

GD

Originally Posted by LWoodard

1-3/4" of rake to start.

Originally Posted by avalnch77

Ford Performance Fox 2.0 Kit installed by my dealer, Coastal Ford. Hats off to Chris and Cody there for hooking me up with good pricing and excellent service. I gave them specific instruction that they followed to the letter and the install came out great. Per Fox's Off Road Service tech, I lowered the front coilovers by 1". Every 2 turns equals approx. 1/4" of adjustment. So, I asked the shop to turn down the coil perches 8 turns and to make sure that they measured left-to-right to get both set the same.

Stock height:
LF: 37" LR: 39"
RF: 37" RR: 39.5"

Fox 2.0 height:
LF: 38" LR: 39"
RF: 38" RR: 39"

So, 1" of rake, which is exactly what I wanted. From my experience with my autocross 2010 Camaro SS, a vehicle's stopping and handling suffers when you level the car. A slight rake shifts the weight forward allowing the front to dip during hard braking and cornering, loading the front tires and providing more traction up front.

The ride experience has vastly improved. My stock (non-FX) shocks felt gittery and produced a harsh ride over uneven surfaces and pot holes. The Fox 2.0 are firm and make the ride a lot smoother. There's also less body roll in corners. One caveat though, the firmer Fox shocks coupled with the light weight of the 2.7L Ecoboost makes running over large, peaked, asphalt speed bumps challenging. When the front end crests these speed bumps, the lightness of the front end doesn't provide enough weight to compress the shocks firmly, so it feels and sounds like the front is riding off a curb. I hope I have explained this well. My old Chevy Avalanche could run over these speed bumps very quickly cause the heavy cast iron 5.3L V8 weighted down the front end. My new Lariat skips over these speed bumps and feels like the front tires are not fully planted, so it kind of slams down. Taking these bumps at a more moderate speed is fine, just don't try to jump them.

I ran across a GMC AT4 today running 275LT65/20 GY MTRs and took some pics to co,pare. (Sorry, don't have before pics)