Hello fella's - just had the stock Rancho shocks changed out of my F150 and now it rides an inch or so lower than before. I told my mechanic this and he said, no way a change in shocks could do that.

I think he's bs-ing me. What say you? On the plus side, it does ride smoother but I liked the height it was at before.

Thanks for looking.
Joe

 

If it sits lower and it rides smoother than obviously they are softer shocks.. Do you like em ? What kind ?

 

Don't know what brand shock they are - can tell you they are yellow in color though. I do like the way they ride but dislike the lower appearance of my truck. Also, now when I drive into my garage with it, the side view mirror smacks the side view mirror of my wife's car whereas it use to clear the top of it.

 

Whats more important , that it rides smoother or that it sits higher ?

 

With a few exceptions, shocks do not change the ride height. That is controlled by springs/torsion bars. The exceptions are shocks like the Bilstein 5100s for the the 04 up and air shocks. And the exceptions would make the vehicle higher, not lower.

 

My backside says "rides smoother" but my eyes and the truck's sideview mirror say "rides higher". Will be heading out to camp with it this afternoon. That will tell me a lot about the shocks as the "road" into camp is nothing more than a jeep trail for the last half mile.

 

Shocks won't change the ride height on the 97-03's. You could take the shocks completely out and while it would ride terrible it wouldn't drop more than a 1/8-1/4" at most.

 

Build a bigger garage....at least wider, so you don't have to park soooo close to the wife's car. Then you don't have to worry about the door mirrors hitting sorry couldn't resist.

maybe....the installer didn't install the lower rubber grommet? or in the past someone had a extra thick one in there?? doubt that would make a 1- 1 1/2" difference though.

tires are low on air pressure???...again that would be super obvious.

Did you have new shocks or bigger tires installed on the wife's car too??

 

Yellow is kyb, right?

 

It would not matter how the installer mounted the shocks, it still would not affect ride height at all.

 

A normal shock is not designed to lift the suspension. It is designed to resist the oscillations when the springs compress and rebound. An air shock is designed to also lift part of the load placed on the suspension. So if your suspension compressed when the shock was removed then the shock was holding up the suspension. The weight of the vehicle is a critical part of designing a shock. Get that wrong and the shock will not be stiff enough OR TOO STIFF and it will not function properly. You may well have had an too stiff shock and it was holding up the suspension.

 

Are they yellow and a blue plastic or rubber boot? Could be bilstein 4600's. Since you are FX4 you can control the height of your vehicle by adjusting two bolts under your truck. There is one on each side of the vehicle and they should be just a little behind the front seat. Tighten them to raise the height of your truck or loosen to lower. Most people say get an alignment after you do this, I did not but eventually will when I get a few more parts on her.

 

I never knew that. What do they call those adjusting bolts? Are they calibrated in any way so that I don't end up raising one side higher than the other? Thanks.
Joe

 

Torsion bars. And nope, either count the turns as you go and try to do the same on the other side or get a tape measure and keep checking as you go.

 

Does adjusting the torsion bars raise both the front and back of the truck?