2012 F150 3.5 EB, 4wd, 130k miles

Well, I did another "oops" while bringing this new to me truck up to maintenance levels I keep my cars at (my first post lists some work done). I noticed rear shock was leaking so I decided to replaced all shocks with Bilstein 4600s. As a side note OPINION - Ford factory shocks are weak and just don't last.

I installed the Bilsteins in the front yesterday and also had to replaced the driver side upper control arm. During installation I paid no mind to when to torque the control arm bolts. I simply put the strut back in, put ball joint stud into the knuckle and torqued the control arm bolts (arm was in the far down position so as to reach the knuckle). After both sides were done I dropped the truck back down and went for a short drive. The truck just doesn't seem to sit right, now.

Do you all think with the truck on the ground I can just reach in above the wheel, loosen upper control arm bolts and the lower shock bolt, and then re-torque? Is there a better way of doing this at this point?

 

If you can do it, that's the best way. You can also jack it back up, remove the wheel, and put a jack under the knuckle to push it into the correct position before final torquing. That's what most shops do since they do work on a lift.

 

Hi Spiky. I just finished up. I was able to do it with the tire on. Lesson learned. Hopefully others doing this will find this thread before making same simple mistake.

Thanks again.