DIY How To: Remove and Replace Suspension with KW V3 Coilovers on Mach-E

[21st Century Pony]

Yeah ditto on realigning that rear shock knuckle... it's a PITA all right!

I actually have never found the need to get back in there to reset compression or rebound settings in well over 45k miles, including towing a camper trailer across most of the USA. It would seem that with the lowered clearance on top of the wheel well, you'd need to put the car up on ramps or on a lift to get to the adjustment wheel on top of the rear shock. Of course the front shocks are far easier to adjust.

How do you like the ride on KWs?

I did go back in last Summer and reset the spring seats to max recommended shock length all around.

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[GrumblesTheDog]

So far it's been great - I ended up softening the compression a few clicks after letting them settle, which really gave a smooth ride (which my wife agreed with, fortunately).

I have developed a rare clunk (ETA: on rebound) on the passenger front strut after about 1000 miles -- anyone with experience have suggestions on what steps to take to troubleshoot? Ride still feels okay, and the noise, if it occurs, is after a particularly bad bump (like a deep pothole or manhole cover). I'm going to go back and tighten everything down again, but is this just typical on bad roads and probably just the strut bottoming out? Still new to this and want to make sure I haven't screwed up my car...

 

[Dannys]

So after 3 months of looking at my KW Coilover kit sitting there in its box, I finally bolted them up onto my Mach E today.

Many thanks to Connoisseur for the thorough OP write-up which greatly helped in organizing the prep and the job.

Although I have done similar upgrades on (at least) three other cars in the past, the Mach E taught me some new tricks. In my prior coilover swapouts the fronts were the hard part and the rears, a fairly easy part. On my Mach E, it was the reverse.

Suggestion, learned the hard way haha: apply anti-seize to the main shock / shock seat threads as the KW shocks just come out of the shipping box, before assembling and torquing the KW assemblies together. Guess how I know

Connoisseur also deserves credit for suggesting a new spare set of tophats (thank you FordPass points ) for the front KW coilovers. Since my Mach E is still pretty new, I figured there's no harm in keeping the still viable OEM assemblies, still assembled, out in the shed. In my previous coilover jobs the OEM shocks were all toast and not worth keeping, so getting spare tophats for the front had not occurred to me. This one suggestion made the front assembly swap pretty easy because I didn't have to mess with de-compressing and re-compressing the front springs.

For DIYers with access to a car lift, a neat way to get the front OEM coilover assembly out is to lower the car-on-lift enough to loosen all three tophat bolts from the top, then raise the car-on-lift and unbolt the bottom stuff: two knuckle (spline) bolts, the top endlink bolt, the teeny brake bracket bolt, and pull off the electrical signal line, and then lower the car-on-lift again, enough to lean over the remaining tophat bolt on the top. Then, roll a floor jack with padding (cardboard etc.) under the brake disc and gently lift the floor jack arm enough to support the wheel hub... then unbolt the remaining tophat bolt and you can lower the whole wheel hub slowly enough to slip the coilover assembly out, without straining the brake line at all. Follow these steps again for the KW assembly - the tophat center nut can be a good guide that you can reach and move with your fingers while you're cranking the floor jack up, and a thin Phillips screwdriver will center the tophat's three threaded holes for their bolts. This trick let me do the job without helpers.

The hardest part about swapping out the rear sets was lining up the big bolts with the holes on the lower control arm, both during disassembly and during assembly. The Mach E's rear lower control arms noticeably twist about their axis when the bolt (coming or going) is only in on one side, and that creates problems in lining everything up. I finally resorted to a pipe wrench with its arm end supported (pushed up) by a transmission jack while the car was up on the lift. The pipe wrench grabbed onto the wide upper flanges on the lower control arm, inducing (or rather, counter-balancing) rotational torsion forces in it, and that did the trick.

I also found that the rear right spring's rubber bottom seat was actually rotated about 160 degrees... obviously a factory assembly mistake. Its high rubber side flange, which is supposed to point to the electric motor (let's say 9 o'clock), was pointed toward the rear mudflap at about 5 o'clock and the OEM spring had made a non-standard indentation in the rubber seat. Once properly positioned, the rubber seat now works just fine with the KW spring.

After 90+ miles on different roads afterwards, I like the result so far, despite the salty price. The front-to-rear pogoing, greatly diminished with Steeda sway bars, is now gone. Road feel is more precise. So far the ride feels both a bit firmer and a bit more comfortable.

I recommend this mod.

 

[Dannys]

Hello,


I’m Danny from Belgium (EU).





I followed your post about the KW V3 on the Mach-E forum, and thank you in advance for the great information.


I’ve installed the set as well now, and I’m very satisfied with the driving characteristics on the factory settings of the KW V3.


However, I’m now experiencing a creaking noise from the front right strut when going over bumps or during quick compression.


So my question to you is: have you perhaps experienced this as well?





Thanks in advance for reading.





Best regards,


Danny S

 

[21st Century Pony]

Hello,


I’m Danny from Belgium (EU).





I followed your post about the KW V3 on the Mach-E forum, and thank you in advance for the great information.


I’ve installed the set as well now, and I’m very satisfied with the driving characteristics on the factory settings of the KW V3.


However, I’m now experiencing a creaking noise from the front right strut when going over bumps or during quick compression.


So my question to you is: have you perhaps experienced this as well?





Thanks in advance for reading.





Best regards,


Danny S

Bonjour Danny!

It's been almost a year since I sold my faithful Mach E after 75,000+ miles, so I am working from memory here to try and answer Your question.

As I remember, the front KW installation and setup was pretty straightforward, unlike the rear installation.

I would perhaps check if the rubber bushing atop the spring or at the bottom of the spring is seated (rotated) correctly to mate with the end of the spring. If it had moved out of its rotational position, that rubber might be compressing against or rubbing against something and would maybe cause the squeak.

One other thing I would check: the wheel alignment. Especially on the front wheels... on full turns or on strong bumps, if the wheel alignment is out of specification, the new KW shock column might rub intermittently against the tire's inside wall. One way to see that is to check the KW shock column on that side for an obvious shiny rub spot.

Good Luck!

 

[Dannys]

Bonjour Danny!

It's been almost a year since I sold my faithful Mach E after 75,000+ miles, so I am working from memory here to try and answer Your question.

As I remember, the front KW installation and setup was pretty straightforward, unlike the rear installation.

I would perhaps check if the rubber bushing atop the spring or at the bottom of the spring is seated (rotated) correctly to mate with the end of the spring. If it had moved out of its rotational position, that rubber might be compressing against or rubbing against something and would maybe cause the squeak.

One other thing I would check: the wheel alignment. Especially on the front wheels... on full turns or on strong bumps, if the wheel alignment is out of specification, the new KW shock column might rub intermittently against the tire's inside wall. One way to see that is to check the KW shock column on that side for an obvious shiny rub spot.

Good Luck!

 

[Dannys]

Bonjour Danny!

It's been almost a year since I sold my faithful Mach E after 75,000+ miles, so I am working from memory here to try and answer Your question.

As I remember, the front KW installation and setup was pretty straightforward, unlike the rear installation.

I would perhaps check if the rubber bushing atop the spring or at the bottom of the spring is seated (rotated) correctly to mate with the end of the spring. If it had moved out of its rotational position, that rubber might be compressing against or rubbing against something and would maybe cause the squeak.

One other thing I would check: the wheel alignment. Especially on the front wheels... on full turns or on strong bumps, if the wheel alignment is out of specification, the new KW shock column might rub intermittently against the tire's inside wall. One way to see that is to check the KW shock column on that side for an obvious shiny rub spot.

Good Luck!

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