"sonicgabe" (gabeloewenberg)
04/27/2016 at 09:07 • Filed to: Ranger Life
5
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"sonicgabe" (gabeloewenberg)
04/27/2016 at 09:07 • Filed to: Ranger Life | 5
| 5 |
The Ranger’s front shocks are done. Difficulty factor: 3.5 on a scale of 10. Pain in the ass factor: 17 on a scale of 10.
I ran point on this one. The driver’s side wasn’t too bad. Got to the top nut from above. There’s enough room to get a ratchet in there with space to really move it. These were the original shocks, so the nuts and threads on the top had 21 years of grime, rust, and whatever all over them, but it came off about as easy as you could hope. After cutting off the old bushing, the new bits when on with ease.
The passenger side... The cowling in the wheel well blocks access from above, not that you can at the nut from above anyway. There’s no clearance above the mounting stud to get a socket and ratchet on from the wheel well with the cowling. So off comes the cowling. And the mud flap, which bolts on over part of the cowling. Why? Because. And there’s still not enough clearance. But without the cowling, there’s enough room to get a wrench in and work it a quater turn at a time. Except this one was stubborn. Really stubborn.
I had to get Lady SonicGabe out to hold the shock in place while in gave that little bugger everything I had just to move it a hair. Well, she wasn’t really holding it in place, I had her rotating it counter to the top nut to help speed things up. With both of us literally using about every muscle in our bodies, we could hardly get it to turn.
Eventually, with patience and lots of cursing, it came off. The bottom bolt came off without a fight. The shock’s mounting stud didn’t want to drop out of the bushings. It took a little work to get it to drop l. I suspect the stud may have been ever so slightly bent, which would explain why the nut did not want to unscrew. Lady SonicGabe threw that bastard away before I could check for a bend. Oh well, not worth fishing it out to find out. The new one went on with no problems and the cowling went back up perfectly in place.
I hurt all over from this. But, she rides smooth as a Rolls Royce. Not really, but it’s a huge improvement.
new shocks > 21 year old 250,000 mile old shocks
CalzoneGolem
> sonicgabe
04/27/2016 at 09:34 |
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Oh man it’s gonna ride like a whole new truck. Were they clunking like crazy?
Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
> sonicgabe
04/27/2016 at 09:34 |
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Try this.
Rears: No sweat. Had them both done in half an hour. Hardest part was compressing the new ones.
Fronts: @$*(@#$%*@)(. I worked for about 5 hours on the shocks. I spent half an hour on the rears. Do the math.
Step 1, remove fender liner. Step 2, insert Allen key into top of shock. Step 3, strip the inside of said Allen hole. Step 4, cut off shock bolt with zip cut tool. Step 5, remove bottom bolt (easy part). Step 6, insert new shock and somehow wedge it so you can get the nut on top without it falling down again. Step 7, go find someone to help you by jamming in the bottom nut while you compress the new shock into the mount. Step 8, get said helper to torque the bolt dolt. You can undo it yourself, but you can’t do it up again. Step 9, repeat on the other side.
That said, if I’d just taken the wheel off it may have been easier, but not much. I’d still have had to cut the shock out. Anyway, that’s one of the best things about trucks—you down need a jack or ramps to work on them!!
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sonicgabe
> CalzoneGolem
04/27/2016 at 10:55 |
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No, but the truck had a lot of roll. Felt like you were on a large boat in high seas. She rides great now.
Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
> Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
04/29/2016 at 16:39 |
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Step 1, remove fender liner.
Yeahhhh, I didnt do that when I did mine. I just used a box end wrench. Probably wouldve made my life easier if I had though
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Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
> Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
04/29/2016 at 18:29 |
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I tried without, and had to use a box end wrench anyway.
At least, I still would have had to use one if I didn’t cut them out, and I used one to install the new ones...