Installed the Rough Country Shackle Conversion Kit. Looks like a simple mod but isn't when the OEM bolts are tight beyond belief. Must be those Ford assembly line robots with super strength.

 

Looks good Dean! 3' prybar?

 

Thanks John. No 3' pry bar this time. Just 1/2" drive 18" breaker bar to get the front bolts to loosen up The rear bolts that sit in the slot were not too bad and thank god because I could only get to it with a box wrench and a rubber mallet to break it free. The plastic/rubber housing came out in one piece and no need to reuse it.

 

After waiting over a month due to COVID shipping delays, finally got the 4 inch BDS coilover lift kit put on! Couldn't be happier. Although I was surprised crash bar trimming was needed.

 

Thinking about the rough county shackle kit

 

 

I put nitrogen in my front shocks. First time for me to ever fill shocks. I have the FACTORY RACE SERIES 2.5 COIL-OVER RESERVOIR SHOCK. The shocks were three years old and seemed soft. One shock was at 160 psi the other was at 200 but I refilled both and they seemed to stiffened up. I put both front fox coil over to 200 psi.
Does the nitrogen get old?

 

If you wouldn't mind please share your tire size and rim dimensions. Looks great btw

 

I wasted over four hours taking it to the dealer today. It was due for scheduled maintenance and I had a couple of things I wanted fixed. The battery has been losing it's charge for some time now and the moonroof tracks needed to be cleaned and re-lubed. There is a TSB for the moonroof creaking sounds so I knew that was a real thing.

The same day the service manager and I scheduled the visit by phone I sent them an email with the TSB attached as a .pdf file. I also gave them the part number for the special grease they would need for the moonroof tracks which was also listed in the .pdf file as well as the part number for the battery.

I spent an hour drive each way and sat in the lounge for over two hours (they also told me they don't have any loaner vehicles) only to have them tell me they didn't have the grease or the battery in stock. I get it that they can't just order stuff based on what some customer tells them but both of those things should be considered regular maintenance items and should have been in stock anyway and if they weren't it would have been a good idea to order them before my visit knowing myself or twenty other customers might need them. When I reminded the service manager of my email his only response was "Oh, I didn't see any of that stuff."

They also told me that the battery was unique to the trim level of my truck and is on "National Back Order" and yet it should be there within the next two days. Really? From my experience, parts that are on "National Back Order" are not even available to be ordered. When I checked another dealer's website where I could order that same battery by part number it listed 56 different Ford and Lincoln vehicles that use that very same part number and each of those 56 vehicles included multiple trim levels and engine options. Seems pretty damned common to me.

Now I have to wait for them to order and get the exact part numbers I had already given them a week ago and then make another several hour trip to have them installed. And, yes, I made sure they were aware of all that before I left.

As far as the scheduled maintenance, all of that was stuff I had already done myself. Change oil - did that two weeks ago. Rotate tires - did that last week. Change air filter - no need - I installed a cold air intake with a re-usable filter months ago.

If the battery wasn't covered by the bumper to bumper warranty I would just order the damn grease and a new Optima Yellow Top and do it myself. They'll probably screw something else up anyway.

 

I got my truck back from the dealer with new katzkin leather seats!