I took Bilstein 4600 HD shocks to the dealer to install while swapping out winter wheels. They got the rears okay but couldn't figure how to remove coil spring tray from the OEM fronts to move to the Bilsteins, so they bagged it. This forum was great telling me to just tap the top cap off to remove the spring supports, so I am planning to finish the job myself.
Will I need spring compressors to remove/install the front shocks? I'm guessing that raising the front off the ground will unload the springs and possibly I can use the jack to raise the new Bilsteins high enough to get the top retaining nut started. Thanks for any advice.

 

yep... if you search, there are threads that have pics, pricing, etc. theres 2 threads on the first 2 pages of 2009+ right now.

you need to pull the whole assembly to do it. I hope it wasn't a Ford dealer (or any other for that matter) that couldn't figure it out.

 

It can be done but it's gonna be pretty pain to line it up w/ jack. Probably easier/quicker to using spring compressor.

 

Those other threads are for the Bilstein 5100s for leveling. I just need the straight shock swap and I don't think that involves removing an assembly.
And it was the dealership that had never dissembled front shocks before. I did find instructions for an older F150 that did not have coil springs over the shocks, but that doesn't fit my situation.

 

Does your 4600 hd comes w/ lower perch? if so you don't have to reuse stock lower perch but it doesn't have it, you have to reuse stock lower perch which require disassembling your stock shock assembly.

 

Yes, I believe so but will check it again.

 

After reading your first post, I'm certain that you don't have lower perch on bilstein otherwise tech at your dealer could have install without any problem(I would hope lol). Pretty straight forward installation other than that. You can rent spring compressor @ local autozone. Post up if you have any issue, we can walk you through the process.

 

The problem at the dealer was that they didn't know how to remove the tray/perch from the old shock. I misunderstood your post and thought the perch was a place for the tray to sit on, but I think perch and tray are the same. So the Bilsteins require that the perch/tray be removed from the OEM and installed on the Bilstein. The tray doesn't slide off because the cap on top of the shock prevents it, but you can tap that off, but they didn't know if that would ruin the OEM or not. Hardly a rousing endorsement of the service department I know, but I think the Ford front shocks come with the tray installed. Hell, the parts department didn't even have the SP-528 spark plugs for the EcoBoost. I wanted a set so I could just put new ones in when I check the gap.
Anyway, I'll just rent a spring compressor and try it out.

 

Yeah, they are idiots.

Replacing these are the same as replacing OEM front shocks.
Yep, there's an app for that. Lol. They have manuals they can read to do it.

The spring tray comes off the shock with a quick hit, same as the OEM.