While looking at my truck this afternoon, on the passenger side I saw a big hunk of yellow on top of the shock inside the coil over. Upon closer inspection of both sides it appears that the black plastic boot that covers it slipped down. I wedged it back up there, and got incredibly dirty in the process. But it appears that there is a crack in the plastic. I looked at the drivers side and saw the same thing, but that boot has never fallen, so I'm not sure if it's a crack, or just a split in the plastic to help it wedge itself up there.
My questions are...
Is this a crack, or merely a design feature?
Is this a problem? It seems that the yellow piece is just the top of the shock where it connects to the coil over and the metal rod is just in between it and the shock. Would it be bad if dirt got in there?
Could this be because of the leveling kit, or the install?
Anybody else ever notice this?
And is this a piece that comes with new coil-over shocks, or is it just someting on the factory shocks? New shocks for all 4 corners on the to-do list in the near future.
Drivers side (top of coil over)

Passenger side (top of coil over after I wedged the boot back up there)

 

Mine are not cracked.. I just looked.

I can see what you mean by getting dirty...

 

Well I doubt it could be from the AS, because it just bolts to the top of the coilover (as in this picture). There is no disassembly of the coilover, so it couldn't be that. I wonder how this happened?
Well I guess my question now is, is this a potential problem?

 

Well... you don't want junk going into the shock... you will wind up with a squeaky shock.

I noticed that there was a FPN on the second picture... just get another set and see what happens.

 

The yellow is the bumpstop that prevents your shock from bottoming out and blowing a seal. It's stock. The cracked piece of plastic is just a dust sheild. I took mine off when I installed my Bilstiens. There are different theories on whether they're a good or bad, it's really personal preference. I just didn't like the way it looked. If the only damage is the cracked plastice then I doubt you have anything to worry about. Have you noticed and change in the ride, oil leaking from the shock, or odd noises coming from the passenger side? If not your probably fine...think of it as a new mod!

 

The ride is a little bit stiffer, but I'll attribute that to the AS and the fact that I now have much larger LT tires instead of the puny P rated tires from the factory. I did not notice any kind of oil leaking though.
I'm going to get some new shocks eventually, so I won't worry about it then. I just think it's odd.

 

NFH is correct... it isn't going to do much... but if you get something wierd in the shock, it could damage it.

But if you are going to get new shocks... but bust it off there with a knife and screw driver. Just keep the FPN handy if you want to get a new one.'

Nothing to really worry about.

 

If I do get new shocks they certainly won't be Ford factory replacements. Maybe some Ranchos or some Blisteins. None of those super fancy expensive ones though. Just the run of the mill replacements, just not from Ford.

 

I highly recommend the Bilsteins. I ditched my 2.5 AS for the 2" Bilsteins and love them. They're a great all around shock. They do a much better job dampening, but do ride a little stiffer. I've been running mine with no dust covers for 15k and the shafts still look like new. That's after trips to the coast, the snow, plenty of dirt roads, and daily driving.

 

My passenger side shock dust boot cracked just like your pics and is now just bouncing around in the spring. Does anyone know of a tool that would fit in the springs so I could cut up the dust shield to remove piece by piece? I don't want to take the springs and shocks apart to retrieve the cover.

jrbhc8

 

It's just hard plastic... just take a screw driver or pick to it... and have a little bit of fun and time to it.

With time you can get it off piece by piece.

I find it funny that they even put them on there... it looks so blah.

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

I never even noticed it until it fell down. I just figured the shocks were all black.

 

I knew about them because I saw it on numerous parts diagrams. Other than that... the usual person would think it was all one piece.

 

I had the same exact thing happen to me. A few weeks after installing the Bilstein 5100 leveling shocks, I noticed that one of my front shock boots had slipped. A few days later the other side slipped. At first the thought that the installer had done something wrong, then after closer inspection I noticed that both were cracked. I am going to pull them out because they rattle a bit when going over sharp bumps.