cinti25

>>> easy smeasy: i know you said it only for 2011, but are we 100% sure >>>of that? im getting close to ordering my 2.5"

Personally, I'm not sure of anything. It does seem to strike 2011 trucks fairly often, but there are threads of 2009, 2010 owners having a similar issue, even without a leveling kit installed. It seems to usually set in before 5,000 miles, and a leveling kit install is prone to trigger the problem.

My untrained opinion is that the issue is actually mechanical. I turned my truck off, put it in neutral, and rolled it down a hill. I still had the exact same rattle. I have trouble believing a fried computer chip or relay will cause a truck to rattle when rolling in neutral with the engine off.

At the minimum, if you have a 2011, don't count on disconnecting power to the epas alone to prevent this problem.

easy smeasy

ok thanks, i have a 2010 with 14,000 miles on it. its only a fx2 but i was wanting to level it and put some all terrains. after reading this it made me start thinking about lowering the back to level it, when i really wanted to lift the front....hmmm what to do what to do

whitetruk

Installed a level kit on my 2010 as well as other 2010 ford trucks and no problems so far.

cinti25

easy,

As long as you're careful with the steering components you'll probably be fine. If you do have a problem with the steering rack, it was probably going to happen eventually anyway, might as well do it while under warranty.

While installing my 2nd leveler, I noticed that I was able to remove and reinstall the strut without disconnecting or even touching the steering linkage (after beating on it for 10 minutes it wouldn't budge...). If you disconnect the ball joint completely and pry the upper control arm up, you can remove the strut. Add your spacer of choice. Then loosely bolt the strut back into the top of the housing.

The bottom of the now larger strut won't have clearance to fit in its base, so loosely reattach the ball joint for support. Next remove the 2 bolts at the base of the A-frame, which will drop (support each side with a jack). With the base of the A-frame lowered, you can fit the strut back in completely. Jack the A-frame base back up and put the bolts back in.

Make sure to re-tighten the sway bar link when the truck is back on the ground.

Or just pay a shop to do it so someone can help fix anything that may go wrong.

easy smeasy

thanks for the help man, ive actually put the spacers on 2 other trucks before, but when i read the problem for 2011s, it made me nervous. now i gotta decide on 2.5" or 3". i really want it to be dead level, but 3" sounds a little much to me.

blonde5b

does it matter whether or not its a 2.5 or 3 in level kit to trigger the problem?

TopGun

my expeirence so far...alright so i just picked up my 2011 f150 4wd supercrew yesterday from the dealer, i had all the tools and decided to install my 3 inch level myself, everything went great until it was time to put the strut back in, alot of others say to use prybars and hammers so thats what i tried, for 5 hours! i was so frustrated i ended up actually damaging the sway bar link and possibly really scewing up the alignment and factory settings as i tried to remove the lower control arm from the steering knuckle. wish i would have just removed the 2 large bolts from the A frame. anyways i ended up giving up and puttting it all back together(with the bent sway bar link) so now my truck is making noise and the bolt that is holding the steering knuckle to the LCA is basically touching the inside of the stock rims, which i figured would happen due to my carelessness. I drove the truck to a shop and told them what happened and they said no problem they will finish the install and would only take 2 hours, well they had there best mechanic on it and he managed to get one side( he said it was a bitch) and on the other side HE broke a part. So now my day old truck is staying the night at the shop waiting for parts. I've never bought anything so expensive and I can't beleive how wrong everything is going. I'm trusting this mechanic will fix everything and have me in good shape, otherwise I'm going to cry( more than I already have).

whitetruk

Wow it was tuff with a 1 inch level kit it is even harder with a 2.5 inch but a three inch is just insane with out having an a arm relocating cross member.

Augster

Did you try unclipping the brake fluid hose from the steering arm?

Did you remove the axle nut and loosen the axle shaft from the hubs, THEN try pushing down on the LCA, using pry bars if necessary to get the lower strut eyelet into the LCA pocket?

The 3" spacer really makes that strut assembly very long and is a biatch-slap to get popped back in. I actually don't think any reputable company puts out a 3" spacer for the 09+ due to the severe angles it will induce on the various front suspension components, but I may be mistaken...

TopGun

yeah im an idiot prbly shoulda stayed with 2, but im greedy. and i got it off ebay. im picking up my truck from the shop now they said they fixed everything and got the level and blocks installed with my new rims and tires. xd spy 20 inch rims 8.5 inch wide with 18mm offset. tires are grabber UHPs 275/70/20 (34.1 inch by 10.8) should look good. an i disconnected the brake lines but didnt do the axle nut thing...