New struts...how to extend them??

Nick

Nick

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I have brand new front motorcraft struts in the box waiting to go on my car. I can not figure out how to make them extend. They are compressed in the box for shipping purposes and they have to come out somehow. I have tried pushing in and turning each way and nothing happens. Dealership couldn't answer this either...help please!! 00 ls if it matters
 
the car takes shocks, not struts. that said, you do not "extend" them. have you removed the old spring/shock assembly? You need spring compressors and you compress the spring...you don't extend the shock.
 
i dont care what they call it...shock or strut. When you open the box and pull the strut out of the box, there is only about 4 inches of the shaft sticking out of it. The shaft is down in the tube for shipping so the box isn't 3 feet long. There has to be more travel than this. I know how to change them...but i know 4 inches of travel can't be all that it uses.
 
once you install them in the spring and release the compressors they will expand to the correct length. the ls has very little shock travel, somewhere in the range of 2" IIRC
 
oh and that 4" is full length. you can push real hard in on them and they'll collapse but the 4" shaft is all there is IIRC
 
I roll with that and see what happens. I have never seen one that short and I have sold tons of struts.
 
again struts are VERY different than shocks...I've done shocks on the ls and thats really it...very little travel. IT'll work:)
 
i`ve been meaning to ask. the shocks that are on the lsk website (the oem ones). is it 80 bucks for the pair? or is it per shock?
 
Well, it's the only game that isn't, ahem, lackluster (Monroe) or outrageously expensive (Ledas).
 
Look at your old shocks and see how far they are extended and compare. I agree...4" doesn't sound like much. But it can depend on the geometry that was designed into the suspension. I haven't looked...so I can't help you with that.
 
Sh!t I just noticed how brain dead I was last night,

CORRECTION
it is NOT, repeat NOT a pair it is Each.

But even that is not bad since OEM is 'really' the only source for our shocks.

Sorry gang,
I blew it on this one.
 
As mentioned above the LS uses coil-over shocks. There are only about 4-5 inches of travel on the shocks so don't think that you are getting cheated. When I had my shocks replaced the guy that did it was amazed that the shock had that little of travel.
 
i hear that.. will still survive. :D but do some people just order one shock?:rolleyes: hmm...just used to seeing them in pairs.
 
black_lincoln said:
i hear that.. will still survive. :D but do some people just order one shock?:rolleyes: hmm...just used to seeing them in pairs.
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They may have ordered them in pairs... but I've never seen them come two in one box (not including aftermarket kits).
 
black_lincoln said:
i hear that.. will still survive. :D but do some people just order one shock?:rolleyes: hmm...just used to seeing them in pairs.
Click to expand...
Ford sells them as EACH and that is how we sell them.
 
Hey Guys,

I know this is an older thread, but was exactly what I was looking for. I needed to have one of my new shocks replaced as it was leaking fluid. My mechanic just called me and said that the new replacement shock is about an inch shorter than the one he took out. He said he wasn't able to get it to extend any further. He has not put the coil and shock mount on it yet.

Am I going crazy here, or is what was posted true about not needing to extend the shaft prior to putting on the coil and mount? I didn't do that when I first installed the shock. I am having him do it because I needed my lower control arm changed at the same time, and didn't want to deal with that and compressing the coil.

He seemed very skeptical that this was right (the short shaft), and I usually trust him on his word, but I don't think he's worked on the Lincoln LS suspension before, so it just might be different from everything else he has seen.
 
What they look like (motocraft) in the box is just how you install them. They don't need to be extended.
 
Last edited:
G-RELL said:
sounds like a sh!tty mechanic
Click to expand...

Not sure how this makes him s***ty. I'm almost positive I am the only Lincoln LS that he has worked on, so he obviously doesn't know all the idiosyncrasies of our vehicle. He's done things at cost, or even free for me in the past if it was something small or quick. Him and his dad has treated my family well for over 20 years.

It's a part that I ordered myself and brought to him, after doing it myself the first time. A s***ty mechanic would just put it on and say, well that's what he wanted. He called me to make sure that was right. He has worked on many cars, and he mentioned on some you have to extend the rod before installing. He went on past experience, and to him, only seeing 2" of travel for the rod caused him to think that what was needed. When it couldn't be extended he called.

s***ty? Not in my eyes. I just came here to confirm what I had thought, to give me piece of mind when I told him to continue on.

Thanks Hawk, that was what I thought.

And 02LincLS, that looks to be the rear, and I know the rears that I had bought did not have the retainer clip, and was already fully extended like the second picture.
 
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