1999 Ford Explorer without Adjustable Suspension Front Driver & Passenger Side 2 Piece Shock Absorber Set TRQ SBA60197

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In this video we're going to be working with our 2001 Ford Ranger 4.0-liter four wheel drive. We're going to show you how to remove and replace your front shock absorber. We're working on the passenger side, but this process will be exactly the same on the driver side.

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Here are the items you'll need for this repair: flat blade screwdriver, wheel lock key, 10-19mm socket, ratchet, socket extension, 10-19mm wrench, hammer, breaker bar, torque wrench, jack and jack stands

Using a taped flat blade screwdriver, locate the relief cuts in the hubcap. Stick the screwdriver in, and pry out to release it from the wheel. This particular truck has a wheel lock on it, so we'll need the wheel lock key in order to remove it. Otherwise, the rest of the nuts come off with a 19 millimeter socket and breaker bar. Simply crack them loose for now. Then raise and support your vehicle, and remove the lug nuts the rest of the way. Remove the wheel from the vehicle.

With the wheel and tire removed, you can fold up the skirt on the inside of the inner wheel well and see the 14 millimeter nut, as well as down here on the cap of the shock is a 16. Now, that can be pretty tight, so you may need to use a hammer to tap the wrench onto those flats. Just tap the wrench into place. You'll need to pair up a 14 and a slightly larger wrench for some extra leverage. Put the boxed end over the stud, and break the nut loose. Once the nut has been broken loose, if you have a ratcheting wrench, now is a great time to utilize that to finish removing the nut. Otherwise, you can remove it manually with a regular wrench. Once you've removed the nut from the top of the shock, you'll also need to remove the washer and the top bushing. Remove your wrench, and this should be even easier if you're replacing a shock that's already failed. You pull down and compress the shock. Once the stud comes out of the opening, go ahead and place it off to the side.

Place a 10 millimeter wrench over the bolt on the top side of the lower control arm and loosen up the 13 millimeter on the bottom. Remove the bolt from the top, and repeat this process with the opposite bolt. Move the top of the shock. Release the bottom. Slide the shock out of the upper control arm. You may have to compress it a little to help get it out, or you may just want to drop it out of the bottom, whichever is easiest.

Here we have our old shock that we removed from our vehicle and our new part from 1AAuto.com. As you can see, these parts have the same height, diameter, the same bar pin at the bottom where it will bolt on to our lower control arm with a nice new bushing as well as the same cap on the top of the shock to hold while we tighten up the stud here. It comes with a nice new set of top bushings and washers, one for below the bracket, and one for above, as well as a new nut, and a new set of nuts and bolts for the bottom. What your shock absorber does is control the up-and-down travel of your vehicle. Bad shocks will make the ride feel harsh or bouncy because it's not controlling the rate at which the suspension travels as well as the number of times the suspension can travel up and down.

If your vehicle has a poor ride quality, is harsh or bouncing when hitting bumps, a new set of shocks from 1A Auto will go in direct fit just like your original equipment, get your vehicle writing nice and smooth, and fix you up right. Install your washer and bushing onto the stud of the shock. Set it up into the control arm. Through the opening in the shock bracket, place the bottom over its holes, set the top bushing and washer over the stud, and tighten up the nut at the top, a few threads by hand. Install the 10 millimeter bolt for the base of the shock, start the 13 millimeter nut on the bottom. Tighten up the nuts and bolts with a 10 millimeter wrench on the bolt head and a 13 millimeter socket ratchet and extension at the bottom. Once you've tightened one bolt down, go ahead and do the other. Hold the top nut of the shock in place with your 16, and tighten down the top with a 14 millimeter.

Reinstall the wheel and tire and start your lug nuts by hand. That's to 100 foot-pounds in a cross pattern. Reinstall your center cap, and you're good to go.

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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

In this video, we're going to show you front shock replacement on this Ford Explorer Sport Trac. It's the same for the Sport Trac as well as a lot of Explorers, Mountaineers, and Rangers. We show you the left side, but the right side's the same procedure. You'll need new front shocks from 1AAuto.com, penetrating oil, 10 to 14 millimeter wrenches and sockets and ratchets, and you may need a reciprocating saw if your shock is in rough shape, although we avoid using it in this video.

Okay, we were checking some other things on the suspension of our truck. As we come under here, if you look at the shock, you can see it's got some oil down below that section, and that is a sign that your shock is either bad or it's wearing out and will soon be bad. To replace it, we're going to start spraying down the top of the shock there. We can see it's in pretty good shape. If yours was pretty rusty or old, you may want to use a reciprocating saw and just cut the bolt and the top of that shaft right off. It can be a lot easier sometimes but, again, ours look to be in pretty good shape, so we'll lock a set of pliers onto the top to hold the shaft from spinning. Then it's a 14mm bolt on this shock. It could be different on yours. Remove that nut. Once it starts going, we'll just fast-forward here. Once we get to a certain point we can take the lock pliers off and then the nut comes off the rest of the way. Also remove the top washer and bushing.

Underneath the shock's held on by two bolts. I have it up on a lift just to make it easier to show you, but the two bolts you can see here. I'm going to spray them down a little bit on the bottom, and then you need to hold them on the top as well see one up there. I'm using a wrench to put it on the bolt at the top and then a socket and ratchet with an extension to remove the nut on the bottom. Once you have both nuts off, you can pull one of the bolts out pretty easy, but the other one kind of stays in there. You have to force the shock up, compress it a little bit, and then pull it back and out. Take your new shock from 1A Auto, you want to put a washer on top first, and then one of the rubber cushions. Then put the shock up into place. You're going to have to kind of force it up in, compress it some once you put it up into, obviously where it goes, the shock mount at the top, you'll have to force it up and then into the mount at the bottom.

Once you have it in place, you're going to start the nuts and bolts on. On some shock designs it may be good to put a bolt into place first. If the shock kind of has an open end to the bolts and sometimes if the shock has a closed hole for the bolts, you'll want to put a bolt into the shock first and then install it into the car. Now tighten up both lower bolts; again, you're going to want to have a wrench at the top, hold the wrench, and then tighten up the nuts nice and firm. Don't over-tighten them; you don't want to break the bolts. Back up top, you want to make sure that the lower bushing's lined up in the center of the hole. Put the upper bushing on and then the washer and then thread the nut on. We'll fast-forward as I tighten up that nut. You want to tighten the nut until those two bushings compress and are basically the same diameter as the washer. You can see that they're a smaller diameter than the washer now. You compress them down and they kind of get basically smooshed out until they're the same diameter as the washer.

The particular shocks I'm installing come with a second nut that goes on. You tighten it down onto the other one to lock them in place. Here I'm just putting an adjustable wrench on the bottom one and then tightening up the top one down onto it. Repeat everything for the other side.

Thanks for tuning in. We hope this video helped you out. Next time you need parts for your car, please visit 1AAuto.com. Also check out our other helpful "how to" as well as diagnoses videos.

Thanks for tuning in. We hope this video helped you out. Next time you need parts for your car, please visit 1AAuto.com. Also check out our other helpful how-to and diagnosis videos.