Leveling Complete
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 77
Likes: 7
From: North Carolina
Leveling Complete
The initial plan:
Replace all 4 shocks (Bilstein 5100s up front and Skyjacker Nitro 8000 out back). 2 inch Heavy Metal spacers in the front and 3 inch blocks with new U-bolts in the rear.
What I ended up with:
Bilstein 5100s up front (clip on second highest notch from the top) and Skyjacker shocks in the rear.
A couple of obseravtions:
First of all I have to say that spring compressors are not for the meek. I rented a set from Autozone only to return and purchase a second set. 2 compressors just did not seem safe on those big springs.
A two ton floor jack is barely up to the task of lifting an F150 high enough to get decent jack stands under the frame.
Directions from both Bilstein and Heavy Metal are not specific enough. When a specific size socket is specified they need to say that it must be a deep well socket, for example. I had to make three seperate trips to the tool store after I thought I had all the tools I needed.
So this is what happened:
I got the truck up in the air and front wheels off with little issue. I had no problem getting all the bolts off until I hit the lower shock mount. My cheap Harbor Freight breaker bar snapped off on the first attempt, this was after I soaked the bolts with penetrating oil. So trip #1 to the auto parts store. I ended up buying an electric impact gun and socket, this turned out to be the smartest thing I did. Should have made this purchase up front as the impact gun made using the spring compressors much easier. The last nut I needed to remove was the sway bar end link and this is where I discovered that I needed a deep well socket. So off the the store again.... At this point my wife had all but given up on my mechanical abilities. I returned with a new socket and had the strut out 10 minutes later. I spent the next 10 minutes reading and re-reading the Bilstein instructions. That done I began to take the spring/strut assembly apart. 20 minutes of wrenching on the two sring compressors with a 19mm wrench was all I could take. Two compressors just wouldnt cut it. So it was off to the store again. By now my wife is swearing at me... At the store I bought not only the additional set of spring compressors but also a 19mm impact socket and a 4 inch extention. With these in hand I had the strut out of the sring in less than 10 minutes.
My plan was to leave the Bilsteins set at their lowest setting so I installed them and bolted on the Heavy Metal spacers. Right away I ran into problems. The pressed in studs on the spacers lined up with the factory studs so I couldnt ever get the spacer tightened down as far as I think they should have gone. With the whole assembly together I began the impossible task of wrestling the thing into the truck... No way it was going to fit. After an hour of this I took the spacers off, pulled the 5100s back out and set the clips at their highest level. Another hour of fighting with the strut assembly I pulled the whole thing apart once again and lowered the clip on the 5100s to the next setting down. This time I took the time to install the top portion of the strut assembly (just the cap) into the truck and mark the center of the dust cover with a red pen. This way I could make sure that I installed the shock in the right orientation. Put it all back together and got it installed in 15 minutes. At this point I knew that I wasnt going to make it to the tire store... I had spent 6 hours just on the drivers front side. I got the passenger front side done in about 1.5 hours. That was it for day 1.
On day 2 I planned to tackle the rear. It only took me 30 minutes to realize that my crappy 2 ton floor jack was never going to get the rear of my truck up high enough to get jack stands under the truck and still have enough room to lower the axle enough to get my 3 inch blocks installed. So I settled for replacing the rear shocks which turned out to be very simple. At this point I was itching to get to the tire store, I made it there by 9:00 only to find a bunch of people in front of me. My tires were stacked in the front so I could look at them for 2 hours before my truck made it on a lift...
I found a place that will do the blocks for me next week. This was a fun and frustrating project. In the end I have a much better idea of how the front end of my truck works. I also think I may need new sway bar end links. Im getting some strange noises from the front when I go over bumps. Also sort of feels like the front is too bouncy, almost like shocks have put to much pre-tension on the springs. All bolts are tight, cant move anything with a pry bar. I can't see any metal to metal contact. So more to folow on this issue but for now I am very pleased.
The measurements:
Front from ground to center of fender well: 37.25"
Rear: 39.75"
After leveling kit (before new tires)
Front: 39"
Rear: 41"
After leveling kit with new 275/65/20
Front: 39.75"
Rear 41.5
Here are the pics:
Replace all 4 shocks (Bilstein 5100s up front and Skyjacker Nitro 8000 out back). 2 inch Heavy Metal spacers in the front and 3 inch blocks with new U-bolts in the rear.
What I ended up with:
Bilstein 5100s up front (clip on second highest notch from the top) and Skyjacker shocks in the rear.
A couple of obseravtions:
First of all I have to say that spring compressors are not for the meek. I rented a set from Autozone only to return and purchase a second set. 2 compressors just did not seem safe on those big springs.
A two ton floor jack is barely up to the task of lifting an F150 high enough to get decent jack stands under the frame.
Directions from both Bilstein and Heavy Metal are not specific enough. When a specific size socket is specified they need to say that it must be a deep well socket, for example. I had to make three seperate trips to the tool store after I thought I had all the tools I needed.
So this is what happened:
I got the truck up in the air and front wheels off with little issue. I had no problem getting all the bolts off until I hit the lower shock mount. My cheap Harbor Freight breaker bar snapped off on the first attempt, this was after I soaked the bolts with penetrating oil. So trip #1 to the auto parts store. I ended up buying an electric impact gun and socket, this turned out to be the smartest thing I did. Should have made this purchase up front as the impact gun made using the spring compressors much easier. The last nut I needed to remove was the sway bar end link and this is where I discovered that I needed a deep well socket. So off the the store again.... At this point my wife had all but given up on my mechanical abilities. I returned with a new socket and had the strut out 10 minutes later. I spent the next 10 minutes reading and re-reading the Bilstein instructions. That done I began to take the spring/strut assembly apart. 20 minutes of wrenching on the two sring compressors with a 19mm wrench was all I could take. Two compressors just wouldnt cut it. So it was off to the store again. By now my wife is swearing at me... At the store I bought not only the additional set of spring compressors but also a 19mm impact socket and a 4 inch extention. With these in hand I had the strut out of the sring in less than 10 minutes.
My plan was to leave the Bilsteins set at their lowest setting so I installed them and bolted on the Heavy Metal spacers. Right away I ran into problems. The pressed in studs on the spacers lined up with the factory studs so I couldnt ever get the spacer tightened down as far as I think they should have gone. With the whole assembly together I began the impossible task of wrestling the thing into the truck... No way it was going to fit. After an hour of this I took the spacers off, pulled the 5100s back out and set the clips at their highest level. Another hour of fighting with the strut assembly I pulled the whole thing apart once again and lowered the clip on the 5100s to the next setting down. This time I took the time to install the top portion of the strut assembly (just the cap) into the truck and mark the center of the dust cover with a red pen. This way I could make sure that I installed the shock in the right orientation. Put it all back together and got it installed in 15 minutes. At this point I knew that I wasnt going to make it to the tire store... I had spent 6 hours just on the drivers front side. I got the passenger front side done in about 1.5 hours. That was it for day 1.
On day 2 I planned to tackle the rear. It only took me 30 minutes to realize that my crappy 2 ton floor jack was never going to get the rear of my truck up high enough to get jack stands under the truck and still have enough room to lower the axle enough to get my 3 inch blocks installed. So I settled for replacing the rear shocks which turned out to be very simple. At this point I was itching to get to the tire store, I made it there by 9:00 only to find a bunch of people in front of me. My tires were stacked in the front so I could look at them for 2 hours before my truck made it on a lift...
I found a place that will do the blocks for me next week. This was a fun and frustrating project. In the end I have a much better idea of how the front end of my truck works. I also think I may need new sway bar end links. Im getting some strange noises from the front when I go over bumps. Also sort of feels like the front is too bouncy, almost like shocks have put to much pre-tension on the springs. All bolts are tight, cant move anything with a pry bar. I can't see any metal to metal contact. So more to folow on this issue but for now I am very pleased.
The measurements:
Front from ground to center of fender well: 37.25"
Rear: 39.75"
After leveling kit (before new tires)
Front: 39"
Rear: 41"
After leveling kit with new 275/65/20
Front: 39.75"
Rear 41.5
Here are the pics:
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Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 77
Likes: 7
From: North Carolina
Wheel well liners are definitely on the list. First I need to figure out what is going on with my front end. I am getting some really strange movement when I go over bumps. Maybe my tie rod end links but Im not sure. I need to investigate more.
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 77
Likes: 7
From: North Carolina
Problem solved, it was not the sway bar end links that was making the noise and causing the strange movement in the fornt end. I did more research here on the forum and decided to take a look at the top strut bolts. They were loose, not sure how it happened as they were definitely torqued down before I re-installed the strut assembly. Either way, I got them tightened down with my impact gun and a long extension, no need to remove them from the truck.
Everything is great now. The truck drives like a dream. Much less body roll in the corners and the floaty feeling when going down the highway is gone. These Bilsteins are fantastic shocks.
All that is left is to have the rear blocks installed. I did notice a small leak of pink fluid under the truck after a cople of days away from home. Came back this afternoon and had a spot about the size of a saucer on the driveway. Never had a leak of this type before. Could the leveling kit have caused a tranny leak?
Everything is great now. The truck drives like a dream. Much less body roll in the corners and the floaty feeling when going down the highway is gone. These Bilsteins are fantastic shocks.
All that is left is to have the rear blocks installed. I did notice a small leak of pink fluid under the truck after a cople of days away from home. Came back this afternoon and had a spot about the size of a saucer on the driveway. Never had a leak of this type before. Could the leveling kit have caused a tranny leak?