Bilsteins installed on my 17 Limited

[Black]

Did not get to call King or get my spark plugs changed.
Once again 3 days off work passed with getting absolutely nothing done I had planned. Thanks to a busted garage door!
So it will be Tuesday at the earliest before I get to call King.

I am going to pick up some transfer case fluid tomorrow at NAPA I will see if my guy can get the specs on the OEM shocks from his Motorcraft guy.

 

[Black]

NAPA guy wasn't able to get the specs for the Motorcraft parts.

Talked to the folks at King today for a little bit and need to get a couple more dimensions for them and then they'll work up a price.

Anyone happen to know the rear shock bolt diameter?
Or the distance between the bolt holes in the front strut lower mounting plate?

I can grab them Thursday when I have the thing up in the air to change my fluids but thought maybe someone might know them off hand.

Was kind of getting the idea this is going to be more costly than I was hoping. So at least I know I have the Bilstein fallback.

Though I am kind of eyeballing the Bilstein Coilover. It reuses the top housing from the OEM strut so I do not see why it won't work.
https://www.stage3motorsports.com/4...-4WD-Bilstein-B8-6112-Front-Coilover-Kit.html

Gains one a much larger shock tube as well as height adjustability.

 

[NASCAR Mike]

The only concern I would have with the Bilstein coilover is that it is substantially firmer than the stock ford shocks. If you have super firm in the front and not so firm in the rear, would vehicle handling be affected in cornering or emergency maneuvers?

Now if you were installing coilovers on all four wheels that might be a different story.

 

[Black]

I plan on installing Bilsteins in the rear as well if I use those.
More I think about it even though I really want something more than just the Bilsteins like you did I think that is likely the best route at the moment.
Since this is our main kid moving rig and just don’t have a ton of time to have it down to be positive everything is right.

 

[NASCAR Mike]

Ours in the long distance family hauler and for Walmart shopping days. I have 4 kids so I need all the room I can get.

I had an 2005 Excursion 6.0 diesel which was great on space but too many problems with the turbo and injectors in the latter years. It only had 76k miles when I sold it in 2017.

I wonder if there is a way to compare the rear Bilstein specs vs the Nivomat specs for the compression and rebound rates. The Nivomat shocks are firm.

 

[Black]

Been awhile but was finally able to order my rear Bilstein Shocks and have run into an unfortunate problem.
It would seem that NAPA uses a larger shock body than OEM and Bilstien.
Fortunately all is not lost as NascarMike has shown we can still use our factory perches it just takes a bit of extra work to get them off.
Ohh well at least the perches only cost me like $25.

 

[Steve Beckman]

I'm looking to replace my struts on my 2015 XLT as well. One question I have is on those bolts/studs that are going vertical on the bottom of the strut. It appears that you cannot order those separately from the Ford strut. Were you able to reuse the existing stock bolts? It looks like I can order replacement nuts but not the pin.
Thanks!

 

[Black]

I'm looking to replace my struts on my 2015 XLT as well. One question I have is on those bolts/studs that are going vertical on the bottom of the strut. It appears that you cannot order those separately from the Ford strut. Were you able to reuse the existing stock bolts? It looks like I can order replacement nuts but not the pin.
Thanks!

The stock lower control arm bolts are pressed into the OEM shock mount.
The Bilsteins come with new hardware.

 

[16plati]

The stock lower control arm bolts are pressed into the OEM shock mount.
The Bilsteins come with new hardware.

You can easily remove these bolts that are pressed in. I did so when installing my Readylift 3/2

 

[Black]

True but Bilstein is kind enough to provide new hardware so no need for the extra step.

An update on my venture I ended up going with the adjustable Bilstein 5100 instead of the 4600 with a spacer.
The top notch for the 5100 equates to a 2” lift on the F150s. With the different spring between the Expedition and F150 it equates to a 4” lift on the Expedition.
Needless to say that is way too much lift on the rest of the stock components and really can feel it being over extended on larger bumps.
So I will be pulling the fronts and dropping the snap ring down 2 notches and hopefully be at 2”