I have some rancho rs 5000 Shocks and on the stock shock their is 2 nuts that i can hold to take it off but only one on the rancho is how do i hold the rancho so that i can tighten the nut on top?

 

if I understand what you are saying. There is just the one on the RS 5000 I just did my truck and my brothers with the RS 5000 and there should be a nut that is actually part of the shock, welded right to the end of the steel rod use this to keep the rod from spinning. Watch it when u start to get tighter the wrench you use to hold may get pinched gotta work it outta there. Hope this helps

 

thats the way my front shocks where but their is no nut on the rod its self.on the back

 

thats odd what Racho Part # are they?

 

rs5236 is the part #

 

well I think I have found one problem that might help solve this whole ordeal.
if you are working on the 2002 f-150 the big thing is it 4x4 or 2 wheel drive if its 4x4 its not the right shock. let me know a.s.a.p. and I will kepp diging or let you know what you need to get.

 

Its a 2wd and thanks any help would be great.

 

I'd ran into the same problem when I installed RS5000s on my truck last year.

It probably isn't the best thing to do, but I finally settled on using vise grips on the shaft just below where it goes through the upper mount.

And before anyone says that it will ruin the seal, think about this. There is no physical way for the shock to compress that far when mounted.

Might it weaken the shaft, I suppose it could. But I'm not particularly worried about it.

 

You could use one of those rubber strap wrenches around the upper shock body. They can't take too much torque, but it should be adequate for compressing the bushings on the shock bolt.

 

both DDan1967 and FrankLee have good ideas I cant figure out how else it would be done if you use vice grips just put a peice of rubber (bike inner tube)between the teeth and dont compress real hard just enough to get a grip and keep iut from turning, try to stay tword the top of the shaft. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for all the help ill give it a try.

 

On the top of the threaded part that goes through the top shock mount there isn't a little rectangled spot for a small open end wrench to fit on? -if you know what Im talking about- A lot of shocks I see are this way.

 

All the shocks I have ever seen have this. I just take a small crescent wrench and grab on to that little flat spot and loosen or tighten the nut. No problem, just pay a little attention to detail.

 

This is what I can recall from installing the Bilstiens on my '01.

The nut on the threaded shaft would just turn, unless you held the top square section.

There are sockets that are made for just this, but the cresent wrench is the method I used.

Here is a picture of an actual Shock Absorber socket, just to give you an idea of what I am trying to describe:



This would be a faster way to get them installed, but I did not have one at the time, and just turned the snot out of an open end wrnch, holding the top square pin.