FRONT
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Similar to the rear, the body on the fronts is about 1.5" longer.
Since the body is basically the bump, you're losing that 1.5" straight out of your compression travel at the shock. I measured the wheel hub to be roughly 2X farther from the LCA pivot than the shock mount (you can get the exact number if you want, but I don't need to for my own conclusion), so remember that you are losing DOUBLE that much on compression. I suppose you could cut your bump stop down, but that has other implications that I don't care to mess with. Now, the only way to get that back (without modifying the shock mount) is more droop. I went through the trouble of installing the Gen II shock with the Gen I spring and hat swapped over, and it is very difficult because you have to compress the springs and the shock while prying the LCA down and not breaking the brake and vacuum lines.
I did this to see how much extra droop I could get. The UCA appeared to be the limiter as it was riding the spring. Once again, I used the spring hat brim as a reference. Here are the numbers for the hat-to-eye distance for each:
Gen 1 - 25.375"
Gen 2 - 26"
The datum doesn't really matter. What matters is I was only able to get an extra 5/8" droop and the UCA was riding the spring. Since the spring is not a proper limiting device, let's say I could set my limiting strap to give an extra .5" of droop at the shock. I'm still losing 1" of shock travel and potentially double that at the wheel, and more than that in compression travel.
You can make your own decisions, but for me, this doesn't seem like a good solution if you off road hard. It seemed the people in the other thread that were touting the front swap were also like me in that they had high mileage shocks. If you don't off road hard, I don't know why you would go through the trouble.
General notes:
-All of the Gen 2 shocks seemed a bit softer in than the Gen 1s, so on-road ride may be nicer.
-Ride height in the rear is about .75" lower with the Gen 2s.
-Installing the Gen 2s in the front is not easy. I had to use spring compressors and a ratchet strap to compress the shock itself along with a prybar to push the LCA low enough to push the shock in.
-I've driven with the rear shocks installed, and haven't noticed much difference.
-The rock guard on the rears can rub on the U-bolt perch on the axle. The rock guard is plastic and the perch is steel, so I'll let that sort itself out. May need to re-address later if it makes a hole in the guard.
-I don't know if the front CVs would take the extra angle from the 5/8" droop, but I would think Ford gave a bit of margin there. They seemed to turn fine and would presumably not be seeing much torsion in that scenario (jumping, wheels free-spinning). Figure that out for yourself if you are so inclined.
-The front spring perches are about 1" higher on the Gen 2s which doesn't seem to fully offset the extra length as the spring is almost loose when mounted to the Gen 2 shock
Additional measurements for reference. It's not comprehensive as I was able to draw my conclusions with this. Note that some may not add up quite right because I was rounding to the nearest 1/8" so errors could stack up:
Rear shocks fully extended eye-to-eye
Gen 1- 28.5
Gen 2 - 31.125"
Rear shock travel:
Gen 1 - 10.75"
Gen 2 - 12.25"
Rear Shock Compressed length:
Gen 1 - 17.75"
Gen 2 - 19.125"
Rear Compression travel at ride height (bump pad to brim of bump "cup"):
Gen 1 - 5.875"
Gen 2 - 5.125"
Front Shock compressed eyelet-to-hat distance:
Gen 1 - 18.5"
Gen 2 - 19.75"
Front Shock eyelet-to-hat at max droop:
Gen 1 - 25.375"
Gen 2 - 26"
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