The left front is the difficult one. I ended up buying a deep socket and then grinding it down to a height that would fit. The deep socket is necessary because the threaded rod of the shock sticks up above the nut too far for a regular socket. Also there is not enough room to swing a wrench and very little to swing a ratchet. I ended up turning the shock rod when it could be done. Patience helps but it requires a lot of concentration.
Virgil
When to Replace Shocks??
Moderator: bfadmin
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Virgil and Anne Dutton
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:59 am
Yes, I did remove the tire and wheel. I'm trying to jog my memory about all the details of how I did the shock R&R, so I went down the hill to my shop and got the socket I used. I now have it here in my hand. To be more specific about it, it is a 5/8 inch spark plug socket with a 3/4 inch external hex at the top so a wrench can be used to turn it. I believe I may have used a wrench on that hex to turn it instead of a ratchet in the top square drive. I ground the socket down to an overall length of about 2 3/8 inches. By the way, the E350 and the E450 are identical in that area. The only difference is the coil spring wire diameter and the spring rate.
Virgil
Virgil
2006 22 ft BFT diesel
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liginbf
I first installed the HD Bilstein,after 1 trip switched to the Koni's which are adjustable.The Koni's are not cheap,but I was pleased with them.
As for install, I soaked the old shocks with PB Blaster the day before. What worked for me, on the left front was to remove lower nut, jack-up left front,remove tire, put 2 jack stands under frame,lower left susp., you can now put a flex ratcheting gear wrench on the top mount nut and grab the shock body and spin the shock loose,pull shock off lower mount and it will drop straight out. The hardest part of all this,getting oem rubber bushing out of frame mounts,I cut out w/sawzall. Also the Koni's bushings fit better than Bilstein. Good luck.
As for install, I soaked the old shocks with PB Blaster the day before. What worked for me, on the left front was to remove lower nut, jack-up left front,remove tire, put 2 jack stands under frame,lower left susp., you can now put a flex ratcheting gear wrench on the top mount nut and grab the shock body and spin the shock loose,pull shock off lower mount and it will drop straight out. The hardest part of all this,getting oem rubber bushing out of frame mounts,I cut out w/sawzall. Also the Koni's bushings fit better than Bilstein. Good luck.
Not sure if this is common knowledge, but there is a service/access hole in the driver side kick panel (covered by a black, round plug/grommet). Pull back the carpet and you'll see it - remove it.
Not a huge hole by any means, but it allows feeding a wrench through to reach the driver side upper shock mount's nut. I used a Sears Locking Flex Ratcheting Wrench (such as these: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... ckType=G33). It worked well in the limited space, as it has a fairly small 5-degree ratcheting swing arc. I keep forgetting the wrench size; either 17 mm or 19 mm metric if I remember correctly.
Still no walk in the park, but it allowed me to untighten and remove the old nut and then re-install the new shock's nut. Just be patient.
By the way, I installed Koni FSD on both axles and I couldn't be happier with them. Doesn't transform the E-450 into a Formula 1 racer, but provides for a much better controlled ride.
--Detlef
Not a huge hole by any means, but it allows feeding a wrench through to reach the driver side upper shock mount's nut. I used a Sears Locking Flex Ratcheting Wrench (such as these: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... ckType=G33). It worked well in the limited space, as it has a fairly small 5-degree ratcheting swing arc. I keep forgetting the wrench size; either 17 mm or 19 mm metric if I remember correctly.
Still no walk in the park, but it allowed me to untighten and remove the old nut and then re-install the new shock's nut. Just be patient.
By the way, I installed Koni FSD on both axles and I couldn't be happier with them. Doesn't transform the E-450 into a Formula 1 racer, but provides for a much better controlled ride.
--Detlef
Detlef & Ursula
2007 BF26RSB - painted
2007 BF26RSB - painted