Rebuilding Fox shocks

Discussion in 'Suspension' started by Jeff D, Jun 1, 2018.

  1. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    Yep. She's seen the east coast, west coast, Canada and Mexico. Been a great truck!
     
  2. Greg

    Greg Full Access Member

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    Was this a common thing on the V1? Were there a lot of folks that had to rebuild their shocks? I hadn't heard about it till I read this thread
     
  3. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    Guess you’d have to qualify your expectations. Those who chose to keep the original performance specs of the shocks rebuilt them. I believe one of the forum members reported he got 186k out of his and going strong. Not sure how close to original spec and performance those shocks were performing at.
     
  4. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    Cost to rebuild all 4 shocks from Fox was $1050 plus shipping
     
  5. Greg

    Greg Full Access Member

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    How did that work exactly? You take to dealer and dealer sends to fox, pick up truck a few weeks later?
     
  6. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    I have a garage with a lift in my case
     
  7. Adam

    Adam Full Access Member

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    You send the shocks to fox to be rebuilt and they ship back correct ?
     
  8. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    That is correct
     
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  9. Vikes91

    Vikes91 Well-Known Member Military

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    Jeff, I assume you have them back and on. Do you notice a better ride or anything for the investment you just put in the truck?
     
  10. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    Great question. Thought I had made a mistake for the first 100 miles after they were installed. Fox had cautioned me there would be a short break in period. Almost as if it happened over night I now have that original ride back! I’d do this again in a minute!! Next up is changing over to stainless brake lines and a tune. I have never been a fan of the OEM brake feel ( sponge like) . Going to change out spark plugs and coil assemblies. Ford recommends this at 100k. I’m not going to wait that long.
     
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  11. Adam

    Adam Full Access Member

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    The RPG's helped the braking for me tremendously but SS brake lines I will get as well. Heard great things about them.
     
  12. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    Posted this borrowed list in another tread. Thoughts???

    I decided to put together a list of stuff that commonly goes wrong on these trucks and that, as enthusiasts, we have to plan for. This should not turn into a thread that complains about Ford’s shortcomings, there are other threads for that. This is just facts in terms of what wears out. I will preface this with the following disclaimer: if you drive like a Camry owner or you don’t pull heavy loads, you may not notice misfires, weak coils, weak BOV diaphragms, Wastegate diaphragms, etc.. You might argue that you can or should get 200K miles out of the truck before messing with this stuff, etc. If you can get 200K miles out of it without doing this stuff, then great. I would say you are lucky and your driving style probably contributes to less wear and tear on your truck. If on the other hand you frequently expect to go full throttleand leave it there without a single hiccup, then all of this stuff needs to be in order.

    Turbos: the CHRA (Center Housing Rotating Assembly): typically turbos get about 100K miles.. in my case I got 108K on the driver’s side before it started leaking oil. The center bearing wears out: .003 clearance is the max clearance, I saw .008 on the driver’s side and external leaks, .005 on the passenger side and not leaking. You can take off the turbos and have them rebuilt for $700 (turbo rebuild only), get reman Ford OEM turbos for $1400ish, or jump to Ford GTturbos for $2400.

    Coils: The Coil on Plug Ignitionsystem is great, provides plenty of performance, but they don’t last forever.

    Plugs:
    gap them to .028, and if you need to replace them every 10K miles do it, seems ridiculous but that is what it takes for some of these trucks. Hopefully you are getting 30-50K miles out of them but in a small engine making this much power, you can’t expect 100K miles.

    Throttle Body:
    The sensor detecting throttle blade angle goes bad and sends erratic readings to the ECU/computer. The ECU dumps boost(thinking the throttle is in fact shut or there is an error and it doesn't want a "run-away" truck) and may or may not leave your truck with excess fuel in the cylinders, fouling the plugs.

    Catalytic Convertors:
    Some of us experienced them going bad a few times in < 100K miles. OEM calibration strategies use excess fuel to cool the cats, when that strategy goes too far, the excess fuel burns and melts the cats. If you have excessive misfire events, that unburned fuel goes downstream to the cats and does the same thing. You can buy a backpressure tester which screws in place of the upstream O2 sensor and measure back pressure. Compare one side to the other. You can also drive next to a wall and listen for what sounds like an air hose blowing off as a large volume of exhaust air tries to make its way through a tiny passage. OEM cat's retail for $1200, think about aftermarket catted downpipes for a little savings as well as good increase in power. Not to mention the OEM's are harder to remove/install then aftermarket.

    BOV Diaphragm: (aka Diverter valve)
    On the 2011-12, there were two BOV’s and they were mounted on the turbo. On the 13+ models there is a single BOV mounted on the Intercooler. Vacuum is used to open the diaphragm when you lift off the throttle and to divert air from slamming into the closed or closing throttle blade, and it gets recirculated back to the inlet side of the compressor. On the 11-12, you can buy the diaphragm only and repair a torn diaphragm. The 13+, I believe they integrated the Solenoid that opens the valve, and the valve itself, into one unit. The diaphragm in that unit I do not believe is serviceable so when the valve goes bad you have to replace the whole valve and solenoid. It is a wear item, the turbo crowds know this, it is just part of what we have to deal with.

    Wastegate Diaphragm: Each turbo has a Wastegate operated by vacuum to pull it open and dump excess exhaustgas rather than spin the turbine past what the engine needs for boost. Same idea: that rubber vacuum diaphragm can tear and you can lose boost because the wastegate is prematurely opening (or fluttering).

    BOV/Wastegate Solenoid
    : Both the wastegates and the Blow Off valves are operated by a vacuumswitchsolenoid that is controlled by the ECU. Part number BL3Z-9K378-A. When required, the ECU sends a signal to open the solenoid; that allows vacuum from the engine to pull on the diaphragm of the BOV or the Wastegate. The wastegates are T’d off a single solenoid that is mounted on the intakemanifold.

    BOV Solenoid (same as above):
    The 11-12’ F150’s had individual BOV solenoids (2 total) each mounted at the turbo next to each BOV. On the 13+ the BOV solenoid is integrated with the BOV vacuumassembly and is not serviceable separately. For the 11-12 trucks use the same part number as the Wastegate solenoid (BL3Z-9K378-A) they sell for about $25 each.

    Productive thoughts/comments/edits welcome. Just trying to help the community out.
     
  13. Adam

    Adam Full Access Member

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    Great stuff Jeff, thanks a lot bud.
     
  14. Jeff D

    Jeff D Full Access Member

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    The Fox warranty on the rebuilt shock is 90 days.
     
  15. breauxjam

    breauxjam New Member

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    Just want to warn everyone that I have had an extremely negative experience with Forged Offroad, and almost no customer service at all. 2 shocks not working in first week, and no solution.

    Here is a list of the problems I have experienced with FO
    :
    1. The retaining clips for the coil perch mounts were stretched out from being removed and put back on, and do not reliably seat in the grooves. They came from Forged Offroad not properly seated and set-screwed, and required a good bit of PITA work to seat. They put their new aluminum wrap (which looks great) right over the perch grooves and do not trim it away, further reducing the chance of a good seat. Why?
    2. 1 rear shock lost nitrogen first day. 1 front shock lost nitrogen first week. I have currently swapped back my 90K+ miles shocks in their place, which work. Pretty funny, but not fun. Less funny when I have to swap new ones in a third time.
    3. After the rear shock went out on the first day, I started calling and emailing for a solution. 5 days later after 5 calls and 2 emails, I was able to get a tech to answer the shop phone after bombing it for 17 calls in a row. He was apologetic and said he would relay my problem. I finally received an email from Mike 2 days later, which has been my only contact from him at any point, despite reporting the 2nd blown shock and sending multiple emails over 5 weeks.
    4. In Mike's only email, he claimed to have never seen the retaining clip problem before, and questioned my installation without looking for any further detail and clearly without looking at the photos I sent him of the problem. He promised to send a new rear shock, but did not address damage to the graphics on one shock due to the clip slipping out and the perch dropping down. 5 weeks later I have had no response, no new shock, no attempt to address the second blown shock, no word on the damage to the graphics.
    I ordered this set of rebuilt shocks with almost all of the options 9 weeks before a bike trip to Moab, thinking that would give me plenty of time to install and even work out any kinks. Took that trip last week and had to stay off of the 4WD trails, thanks Mike. Forged Offroad still has over $1700 of my money at this time. Would you choose to order your rebuilt shocks from these guys? You bet your ass I would never do it again.
    I suspect Mike will have a response now...
    If anyone has suggestions for a better route under $2000 or a better company to rebuild, please share. Thank you
     

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