2021-2023 F-150 Ford Performance Leveling Kit (by Bilstein) is released

[D40]

@D40 Do your springs have Bilstein printed on them? If so, where is it positioned now, towards the front or rear of truck?

The driver side is facing the rear, the passenger side is facing the front.

I wonder if the shop aligned two of the bolts and drilled a new hole for the third..... I don't have that extra hole on the left of the rightmost bolt/nut in this picture. The bolt/nut on the left looks like the hole is elliptical even.....

It is elliptical. There is another hole behind the rearmost bolt as well.

Ok, thank you, I checked and the top hat can be clocked while keeping the rubber isolator/spring in any position... I thought it might be fixed to the position of the top hat which would confirm the shop likely loosened the top center nut and turned the top hat and spring to align with the truck..... nvm @D40

NP

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[LevittownFordParts]

We had a customer with a similar issue in which the bottom of the shock mount was not orientated correctly. After contacting Ford Performance the approved corrective action here was to rotate the bottom of the shock.

- Benny

 

[93dpscoupe]

We had a customer with a similar issue in which the bottom of the shock mount was not orientated correctly. After contacting Ford Performance the approved corrective action here was to rotate the bottom of the shock.

- Benny

What he said. Slide the upper studs in the holes and loosely install nuts. Grab strut body with your man-hands and rotate to align the lower mounting.

If you need leverage, use a crescent wrench on each of the lower mounting tabs to help.

 

[TexasTruck]

What he said. Slide the upper studs in the holes and loosely install nuts. Grab strut body with your man-hands and rotate to align the lower mounting.

If you need leverage, use a crescent wrench on each of the lower mounting tabs to help.

Yep, what they said - ha! I just spoke to Ford Performance Tech line. When they are assembled, the assembler will not position the top hat to align with the top and bottom attachment points on the truck; totally random. The fact that the stickers align is just a coincidence. He did advise loosely mount the top first then turn the shock body to align with the lower control arm. Do not use large channel locks or a pipe wrench to turn the shock body because you'll mess up the sticker JK He suggested renting a spring compressor to take a 1/2" of spring tension off the spring then use your "man-hands" to align the bottom mounting pin to the lower control arm.

I watched a bunch of Ford coil over install videos and never saw this minor detail mentioned Ford Performance has very detailed instructions for this kit too. Maybe they can add a note about this detail too.

Whew, I feel good now!

 

[D40]

I suspect a rotational force with a tool on the strut body itself is what caused the damage to my stickers.

I have no idea where the extra holes on mine came from (second owner so they could have been there) or how/why my Bilstein logos are pointing in opposite directions if the strut body could simply be rotated. If the caps were turned to match the OEM holes, their directions might make sense or their natural position was opposite each other prior to rotating the strut.

Or, they could have thrown the kitchen sink at mine and did any combination of drilling and/or rotating before calling Ford. IDK.

Whatever the case, mine functions fine, is mounted securely and was installed by an ASE certified place for warranty purposes, which was my biggest concern. Hopefully you guys get a clean solution.

 

[TexasTruck]

Whatever the case, mine functions fine, is mounted securely and was installed by an ASE certified place for warranty purposes, which was my biggest concern. Hopefully you guys get a clean solution.

Thank you @D40 and everyone else for helping us out! Moving forward with the install tonight!

 

[BlueKnight]

We had a customer with a similar issue in which the bottom of the shock mount was not orientated correctly. After contacting Ford Performance the approved corrective action here was to rotate the bottom of the shock.

- Benny

That was me. Thanks.

 

[Heathen]

Mine are going on Monday by my local Ford Dealership. Thanks for everyone’s input, will be sure to enlighten the install tech.?

 

[Heathen]

Thank you @D40 and everyone else for helping us out! Moving forward with the install tonight!

Keep us posted……Please.

 

[BlueKnight]

I’ve installed the drivers side and everything went very nice! ‘‘Twas easier than I thought turning the lower shock a 1/4 turn till it lined up with lower bolt holes. I used a large adjustable wrench on the eyelet.

 

[JohnMcClane]

The Santa that drives the brown delivery truck dropped mine today, looks like I’ll have to let ‘em know when they go on.

 

[TexasTruck]

I’ve installed the drivers side and everything went very nice! ‘‘Twas easier than I thought turning the lower shock a 1/4 turn till it lined up with lower bolt holes. I used a large adjustable wrench on the eyelet.

That's great! Glad it worked out for you! Maybe this will help others too. I don't know why it didn't seem obvious, and now I feel really dumb at how easy it was to turn it

 

[TexasTruck]

I'm installing the kit at home. They say we need to get an alignment when alls said and done. Will I be able to drive say 10 miles to the alignment shop or how does that work?

 

[GIjoe]

Might as well through some camber bolts on while your in there. The part everyone forgets to tell you is that most shops won’t/can’t adjust camber without them.

 

[BlueKnight]

I'm installing the kit at home. They say we need to get an alignment when alls said and done. Will I be able to drive say 10 miles to the alignment shop or how does that work?

I don’t see a problem with that. From what I’ve heard alignment is not off by much after install.

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