I recently purchased the Ground Force #9987 kit for my 2012 HD F150. I was wondering if anybody has replaced their front spring/strut assembly, either lift or drop, and had any tips tricks to make the install easier? Any information would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time and have a good day.

 

you have to remove sway bar end link from the lower control arm to get it to droop enough to get the strut out of the deep walled lower control arm

If you're swapping springs make sure you use a spring compressor before you take the single top nut off the center of the strut.

 

yes definitely. when i installed my level i didnt remove the lower control arm (cause i was trying to avoid taking too much stuff apart to try and keep my alignment in as much as possible) and it was a pain in the ****. getting them back in was even worse.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, with this kit I will just be replacing the springs, probably keeping the factory struts for a while. I did the leveling kit on my 2008, figured it was close to the same, just going the opposite direction.

 

The major PITA is the lower shock bolt. 30MM and torqued very tight.
I installed the Rancho Quick Lift Struts a couple of weeks ago. Ball joint came apart pretty easy.
Tons of torque to get big nut off lower shock bolt.
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/...yfp-t-701&tt=b

 

Installed my Ranchos Quick Lift's last night other than a couple of rusty threads on the ball joints was easy. I took the nuts off the top of the strut and the nut off the top of the sway bar link then unplugged the vacuum lines to the hub and took off the upper ball joint nut. 2 whacks with a hammer and the ball joints were unhooked. dropped the lower control arm and pulled the lower shock bolt. Used a pry bar to raise the upper control arm and removed the strut. Putting it back together I put the strut in and slid it in the top and started the nuts on. then raised the lower control arm to slid the sway bar link in place and started the nut on it. Then installed the lower shock bolt and torqued it down. Once the vacuum lines and everything else is back in place I raised the lower control arm and reinstalled the upper ball joint. On the ground with a jack took about 2 hours for both sides however I also spent some time cleaning rusty threads and took several breaks. I am sure I could do them again tomorrow in under a hour.

 

I pulled the bolts from the inner lower control arm mounts. What you see in the pics is what I disconnected. They fell right out..... No prying, or cussing....