Gen 2 OE rear shocks on gen 1

[ogdobber]

If I understand the question correctly.. Just make sure Everything is completely disconnected from the LCA/Spindle to allow max Droop, (Axles, Tie Rod and sway bar and It should pop in pretty easily.. Jack up LCA/Spindle to attach UCA Ball Joint first while guiding axle back in place.. then the rest which isn't much...

If you mean swapping springs, I brought mine to a shop to have them swapped out..

The reason you have to disconnect everything, specifically the 13mm nut on the axel, is because at that angle the cv's bind, and when you put it all back together, your (cv bind) will be your droop stop.
If you put the gen 2 shocks on the front, you NEED limiting straps.
For those who have done gen2 up front with no limit straps and have used 4x I guarantee your cvs are f'd
If your truck is a street queen, eventually the cvs will take a toll...
I hate to sound like a broken record, but they don't just bolt on (without serious consequences)




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[halojunkie]

The springs I'm comfortable changing. When I've been servicing the old set I haven't had to disconnect the axles I think that will give me the extra droop I will need for the additional length.

 

[nipplesNchowder]

The reason you have to disconnect everything, specifically the 13mm nut on the axel, is because at that angle the cv's bind, and when you put it all back together, your (cv bind) will be your droop stop.
If you put the gen 2 shocks on the front, you NEED limiting straps.
For those who have done gen2 up front with no limit straps and have used 4x I guarantee your cvs are f'd
If your truck is a street queen, eventually the cvs will take a toll...
I hate to sound like a broken record, but they don't just bolt on (without serious consequences)

Lots of people running gen 2 shocks, nobody has has reported any issues. How do you know the CV's will be the droop stop? Are you sure the CV's cant operate at that angle?

 

[halojunkie]

The reason you have to disconnect everything, specifically the 13mm nut on the axel, is because at that angle the cv's bind, and when you put it all back together, your (cv bind) will be your droop stop.
If you put the gen 2 shocks on the front, you NEED limiting straps.
For those who have done gen2 up front with no limit straps and have used 4x I guarantee your cvs are f'd
If your truck is a street queen, eventually the cvs will take a toll...
I hate to sound like a broken record, but they don't just bolt on (without serious consequences)




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Here we go again with this guy. A CV joint's life is 99.9% determined by its continuous operation angle. Which in this mod, is unchanged. All of the empirical evidence aside, the less than almost never-percent of time my truck is in 4x4 at high speed where the wheels are off the ground, the shaft is torque loaded, and I'm turning the steering to max travel, is not a big enough conceptual/theoretical deterrent for me to spend 4X the price on Gen 1's. I won't bore you with the formula for "factor of safety" but it seems no matter how many times you were asked you could never say what the maximum operating angle of the ford CV's (it's 30° from every person I asked on reg F150s) Raptor fronts are longer. All of the CV's I've ever seen broken IRL, were lifted trucks or jeeps that were stuck somewhere cranking the steering back and forth to get out. That means; the shaft was loaded at high rpm and the CO angle was already out of spec. The problem with your argument is that no matter how many times others will have successfully done it, you'll never have to admit that you were wrong and your "guarantee of serious consequences" is meaningless.

Limit straps are probably great idea if you're running Dakar.

Also, if you're interested in the financial math, brand new motorcraft CV half-shaft assembly's are $170, rebuilt is half that, and the repair kit for the joint is $99 all day. Even replacing them five times I'd still be net positive.

I will drive the **** out of mine, and report back results.

 

[Jonny V]

If limiting straps would provide a margin of safety that would make this swap work, I’d be all in. The take off shocks on eBay are half the price of even a rebuilt set of 2.5’s.

So how much do limiting straps cost, and is that the only add-on I would need?

 

[Jonny V]

Just called Fox and asked about this, and after talking to the tech guy I’m no longer going to try it....

“Driveshaft busting good time” he called it.

 

[ogdobber]

Here we go again with this guy. A CV joint's life is 99.9% determined by its continuous operation angle. Which in this mod, is unchanged. All of the empirical evidence aside, the less than almost never-percent of time my truck is in 4x4 at high speed where the wheels are off the ground, the shaft is torque loaded, and I'm turning the steering to max travel, is not a big enough conceptual/theoretical deterrent for me to spend 4X the price on Gen 1's. I won't bore you with the formula for "factor of safety" but it seems no matter how many times you were asked you could never say what the maximum operating angle of the ford CV's (it's 30° from every person I asked on reg F150s) Raptor fronts are longer. All of the CV's I've ever seen broken IRL, were lifted trucks or jeeps that were stuck somewhere cranking the steering back and forth to get out. That means; the shaft was loaded at high rpm and the CO angle was already out of spec. The problem with your argument is that no matter how many times others will have successfully done it, you'll never have to admit that you were wrong and your "guarantee of serious consequences" is meaningless.

Limit straps are probably great idea if you're running Dakar.

Also, if you're interested in the financial math, brand new motorcraft CV half-shaft assembly's are $170, rebuilt is half that, and the repair kit for the joint is $99 all day. Even replacing them five times I'd still be net positive.

I will drive the **** out of mine, and report back results.

Watch the video and make your own conclusions

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[Tx State]

I am not here to argue I am just reporting what i have done. Did a long 5 hour off road in the mountains of PA this weekend. Places a raptor should have never been and i will not be taking it back to the trails i went through. Saying that though the raptor performed flawlessly. For more than half the time i was in 4 low crawling over rocks through ditches and through water. No issues what so ever. No weird noises nothing. The only thing I ca complain about is the 4x4 system but that has nothing to do with the shocks. I drove 2.5 hours home after with no issues. Again i have gen 2 fronts. If i ever do get catastrophic failure i will let everyone here know first.

 

[halojunkie]

I got the driver side on last night. Took about 3 hours. I think I can do the other one quicker because I have a game plan now. For anyone who wants try it, I will attempt to detail the sequence of steps I took. Remove wheel, then steering linkage, then remove the retaining clips that hold the brake and vacuum lines (for extra dangling length), disconnect lower sway bar, then upper control arm. All of the hardware will rest to the side. For new spring removal, I just put a foot on the spring and took the impact to it. Simple. Attached the old spring and top hat assembly to new shock. I loosely attached the shock at the upper mounting point. Take note of the flange orientation on the top of the shock and the tower, you'll only want to do it once. I used widow makers to take about 1.5" out of the length from the spring after mounting. Then I shimmed a bottle jack at the same angle as the shock to compress the shock from the bottom, enough to get inside the LCA. I shoved it in with my foot and worked the lower front bushing with a screwdriver to align it to the hole. The LCA with the sway bar disconnected is nearly the perfect length to run the main bolt thru with little effort. Rested the LCA on a jack stand lowered the truck to get everything back into place. Difficulty 7/10, more hands and a real lift would bump it down a couple pegs. Road test showed that the 3.0 is a far better shock even with just one, than the 2.5s best day. I doubt I will get around to buying the factory race dsc's before I trade the truck off anyway. Profit.

Looking at it fully extended the UCA definitely makes contact with the spring. This is probably the most troubling looking thing post install. Even though I use my suspension for running over shit at high speed, vs jumping it. Honestly, the limit straps wouldn't hurt long-term and for peace of mind. Probably won't get around to it on this set just because I want the satisfaction of demonstrating that under common practical use they're not necessary. I'd also like to see pics of a limiting strap attached to a OEM LCA. (addictive desert lcas with limit strap mount are $2400) Most of the kits I've seen require replacing the main hardware of the front suspension and adding a mounting point to the frame, by welding or otherwise.

Done with the nay-sayers

Here's that https://vimeo.com/user12682001/review/326839238/ed0c6e76a9

 

[nipplesNchowder]

I got the driver side on last night. Took about 3 hours.


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Did you put the gen 1 coils on the gen 2 shocks? I cant really tell from your photos, and im wondering if the gen 1 springs rub on the UCA as well