Suspension Advice

[SailorKane]

2003 170K miles. non-air suspension. Want to keep it for some years; engine strong, transmission rebuilt not long ago. Skittish on the hiway. A little grinding noise at full steering lock in parking lot.
Thinking shocks. Currently targeting Gabriel ultras, based on nothing special. Maybe sway bar bushings. What specifically to look at, replace? Hate going to a mechanic for these things. Would like to buy and replace myself in driveway. What is most likely areas to work on?

 

[Jb14]

I know this was posted awhile ago but here is a little advice from what I did and would do differently, also may differ if you have 4wd. I replaced pretty much everything in the front suspension wheel bearings, shocks springs, mounts, ball joints, upper A arms inner and outer tie rod ends, sway bar ends and bushings., I had over 170 when I did mine. I did not replace the lower A arm. You will find that they do not make many if any aftermarket upgrades for 2nd gens. I went with Ford Balljoints, Timken Bearings and the rest Moog (not K series) Shocks are Bilsteins, constant rate springs and mounts Moog. If I were to do it over (which I am going to change soon) I would go with Rancho shocks complete with springs, plus would have replaced the entire rack and pinion, a complete rack comes with inner tie rod ends. The Bilsteins are valved to hard so any pothole or rough road hits way to hard.

Most of the bushing at 170 will be worn out so if you are going to keep for awhile its good to replace. Our trucks are a little picky so some parts better to go OEM which a lot you can find discounted on the web.

Best of luck

 

[1955moose]

I've tried 3 different brand shocks on my 2000 4x4. Started with motorcraft, thinking they were like oem, wrong! Then Bilsteins, horrible cold or warmed, then after hunting far and wide found oem Ford units. Worked great the first 10 minutes, then bouncy crappy after that. Now with only 15k on shocks and brand new tires, rides bad cold or warm. Oh yeah put new oem Ford rear coil spring's too. Getting tired of swapping out! Think I'll just Pogo stick along for awhile!

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