HoustonRider
where are my KINGS?
Hey, don't post much on here, thought I would post up a bit of what I did this am. I have a 2009 F250 KR Diesel Crew 4x4 with about 33,000 on it.
I spend time on the highway, city (terrible roads) and on 700 acres I have north of here. I knew the stockers weren't cutting it and wanted to get into something more substantial. So I opted for the Fabtech 2.25 Dirt Logic shocks (FTS81075 front, FTS81076 rear). I didn't want to lift/level the front, my front is only slightly lower (3/4 inch) than the rear, so I'm going with it.
THE INSTALL
So, Shocks landed at my house last night and I took a shot (sorry for all these pics, complain to Apple..lol).
I knew the new Fabtechs were gonna be longer to start (as you will notice they aren't strapped right out of the box and longer than the OEM Rancho).
So this am I grabbed a few tools (and my lift, lol) and went to work. I didn't take pics of every detail, just a comparison of the shocks.
I lifted the truck to JUST until the wheels came off the ground to release pressure from the front shocks and pulled em off. 3/4" socket on lower shock bolt and 20mm box/open on top. I used an air ratchet to pull the top nut to save my arm and time.
The OEM Ranchos (33,000 miles on them) were rusted in some spots and more significant was that I could compress them together between my hands with little effort, and they took FOREVER to extend. I couldn't compress the Fabtechs at all unless I leaned on em against the floor. The OEM Rancho rubber mounts were also torn and or cracked too.
The new Fabtechs fit perfectly in the OEM front spots, I slid the top bolt thru the shock tower and hand tightened the top nut. I had to raise the truck body a few more inches to get the bottom shock eye into the mount.
**** Be careful extending the front suspension, the brake line was pretty tight and if I just let it go I'm guessing it would have pulled that line apart.
After I got both fronts bolted in (and torqued each LOWER bolt to 75 ft, top nut until it was snug and actually stopped) I pulled the rears.
To release the rear suspension as far as I needed to I had to unbolt the two links on the rear sway, took about a minute on each. The rears were in the same condition as the fronts (of course).
No pics of the rears mounted, as they are pretty hard to see anyway. The install was pretty straight forward, just need the right tools and a lift that will get the body off the ground enough (like 3ft) to get the shocks on.
THE RIDE
Right off the bat I noticed it was firmer than before. Not a noticeable difference on the highway ( I run the Goodyear MT/R Kevlar 3 ply sidewall). I drove down a few roads that are pretty rough and I noticed a significant improvement. I could feel the bumps, but not as hard/harsh as it used to be. Rebound is super fast. Best hour and a half I spent this week!
I spend time on the highway, city (terrible roads) and on 700 acres I have north of here. I knew the stockers weren't cutting it and wanted to get into something more substantial. So I opted for the Fabtech 2.25 Dirt Logic shocks (FTS81075 front, FTS81076 rear). I didn't want to lift/level the front, my front is only slightly lower (3/4 inch) than the rear, so I'm going with it.
THE INSTALL
So, Shocks landed at my house last night and I took a shot (sorry for all these pics, complain to Apple..lol).
I knew the new Fabtechs were gonna be longer to start (as you will notice they aren't strapped right out of the box and longer than the OEM Rancho).
So this am I grabbed a few tools (and my lift, lol) and went to work. I didn't take pics of every detail, just a comparison of the shocks.
I lifted the truck to JUST until the wheels came off the ground to release pressure from the front shocks and pulled em off. 3/4" socket on lower shock bolt and 20mm box/open on top. I used an air ratchet to pull the top nut to save my arm and time.
The OEM Ranchos (33,000 miles on them) were rusted in some spots and more significant was that I could compress them together between my hands with little effort, and they took FOREVER to extend. I couldn't compress the Fabtechs at all unless I leaned on em against the floor. The OEM Rancho rubber mounts were also torn and or cracked too.
The new Fabtechs fit perfectly in the OEM front spots, I slid the top bolt thru the shock tower and hand tightened the top nut. I had to raise the truck body a few more inches to get the bottom shock eye into the mount.
**** Be careful extending the front suspension, the brake line was pretty tight and if I just let it go I'm guessing it would have pulled that line apart.
After I got both fronts bolted in (and torqued each LOWER bolt to 75 ft, top nut until it was snug and actually stopped) I pulled the rears.
To release the rear suspension as far as I needed to I had to unbolt the two links on the rear sway, took about a minute on each. The rears were in the same condition as the fronts (of course).
No pics of the rears mounted, as they are pretty hard to see anyway. The install was pretty straight forward, just need the right tools and a lift that will get the body off the ground enough (like 3ft) to get the shocks on.
THE RIDE
Right off the bat I noticed it was firmer than before. Not a noticeable difference on the highway ( I run the Goodyear MT/R Kevlar 3 ply sidewall). I drove down a few roads that are pretty rough and I noticed a significant improvement. I could feel the bumps, but not as hard/harsh as it used to be. Rebound is super fast. Best hour and a half I spent this week!
