UPDATED: Replacing Rear Shocks: Reducing the rear end bounce.

[azerik]

I ordered a second set of the Vikings so I can send them down to you unless I get them before I leave for Phoenix on Monday then I can bring them with me and we can meet up to get them.

Sounds like a plan! I 'm curious about how the bump stop is with the vikings. I'm not seeing it in the offraod baffle. On my shocks the bump stop needs to be opened up somehow. Or I might have to get another bump of a sort. The piston rod is huge 16mm huge. I appear to have time to start this swap today.

I'm putting the paint correction on hold and switching to suspension. I dropped my kid off this morning at school and the wavy-ness of the backend is driving me nuts. Had to run my wife to the airport yesterday so I couldn't tear into it for the last couple days. Kid and wife in the back and no one complained, but I can't say I wasn't holding my breathe just waiting for someone to say something lol.

With the dual adjustable shocks, it would be interesting to try turning compression all the way down and rebound all the way up. That might be a really smooth ride, but there could be traction issues as the wheel might not be touching the ground for a while after a bump.

:THAT:
Along with added body roll, that stays, possibly like a trophy truck. Currently every car we're looking at testing these on has Steeda bars. But lucky me, I have my factory bars. But no desire to put them back. I can set the rear to lowest which is only 50lbs harder than factory but without the wonky rubber pre-loading. It won't be 'back to stock' but pretty dang close.

I really think we're in the double adjust range to really create a fix for the suspension. My Lightning on 22's with 30 something series tires and QA's at 5C/14R soaked these roads up. I couldn't come up with a dual for the front as it had nearly a 8 inch drop in the front. But I had travel in the rear, lots even with a 9 inch drop (Full frame notch). With the Vikings being all of like $40 more than the factory rear shock from Ford it's a no brainer. And it's user adjustable which works across the board for those with nice and those with war zone type streets

Since the Vikings are more adjustable they might be the better choice and since only 2 are needed for the back not a terrible cost for most people. Of course assuming they help

They might be. But I bought qa1 singles. So they will be tested and maybe kept.

Viking warranty is 2 years. They are completely rebuildable and customizable in case you want to have the valving changed. By the way, they are not gas charged shocks which by design will give a better ride.

Any chance they sell a rebuild kit? Shock work isn't a new thing to me.

triple adjustable with a quad adjustment coming soon.

Take my money. high speed and low speed compression with rebound. Done. and Done.

Sponsored

 

[markboris]

Sounds like a plan! I 'm curious about how the bump stop is with the vikings. I'm not seeing it in the offraod baffle. On my shocks the bump stop needs to be opened up somehow. Or I might have to get another bump of a sort. The piston rod is huge 16mm huge. I appear to have time to start this swap today.

Any chance they sell a rebuild kit? Shock work isn't a new thing to me.

The Warriors do not come with a bump stop, only the Voyagers and I'm not really interested in testing out the Voyager's if the Warriors will do the job. I don't want to go full on caddy ride without any sportiness. I would rather have a sport shock like the Warrior and dial some comfort in. What are your thoughts on that?

I use the stock OEM bump stops on all the shocks even though the piston rod is a different size on all of them. Makes no difference to the bump stop if it is loose on the rod or snug. I know the piston rod size might not have a lot to do with what we are doing but I would think it would be more robust if it was larger? The Bilsten B6 Rod is 11mm, Koni Yellow Sport is 12mm, Bilstein B8 is 14mm and the Vikings are 16mm.

I have no idea if they sell rebuild kits. I have not contacted them yet as I want to see how they work out. I have too many other things going on right now to be conversing with a company that I'm not sure I will even be using.

 

[azerik]

I would rather have a sport shock like the Warrior and dial some comfort in. What are your thoughts on that?

I use the stock OEM bump stops on all the shocks even though the piston rod is a different size on all of them. Makes no difference to the bump stop if it is loose on the rod or snug.

Sport shock with comfort dialed in is the way to go. Can always go softer, can't always go firmer.

My only thought with the dust boot on the Viking is it'll probably end up cut eventually when the bump stop hits the top mount. For testing it'll be fine.

I do plan on clipping off close to an inch of the factory bump stop once I get one off and can probe the density. (funny enough these bump stops look to be the same size as my Fox 3.0 off road shocks. So.... I have more available and possibly cheaper from SDHQ

 

[markboris]

Sport shock with comfort dialed in is the way to go. Can always go softer, can't always go firmer.

My only thought with the dust boot on the Viking is it'll probably end up cut eventually when the bump stop hits the top mount. For testing it'll be fine.

I do plan on clipping off close to an inch of the factory bump stop once I get one off and can probe the density. (funny enough these bump stops look to be the same size as my Fox 3.0 off road shocks. So.... I have more available and possibly cheaper from SDHQ

Ok Erik, now you are making me explain things in more detail. I try to keep things simple as to not get a ton of questions (which happens anyway). ?

I was purchasing the bump stops from Ford and removing the bottom 3/4" off to shorten it giving us a bit more travel especially for those with lowered cars (like mine). Then I started buying them from Steeda at $34 for the pair and they were already cut. Yes you can get cheaper ones but these are identical to the ones on the Mach-E and not that expensive so figured I'd stick with them.

There is no problem with possible damage to the Bilstein dust boot (I have gone through several to find one that fits properly) I am using on the Viking's since the bump stop butts up against a large washer (I installed) at the top of the piston rod travel. When the dust boot is on, the bump stop easily fits inside without contacting the boot. With a rod thickness of 16mm on the Vikings, the Ford bump stops to not move and stay at the top.

Bump stop bottom 3/4" removed

Steeda bump stops

Bump stop assembled on the Viking with Bilstein dust boot behind.

Are there any other photos you would like to see?

 

[azerik]

The problem with using that washer for the bump stop is it's cutting off another 3/4 of an inch of travel. The bump stop would normally sit up against the factory upper mount (green arrow). But is being moved down to the washer, (red arrow). For over all testing it'll probably be fine because you cut off that inch of bump probably putting it back to about the factory contact. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a full size bump in there with 3/4~1 inch less travel to it.

You answered the question that I would have asked if you handed me the Vikings.

Right not I'm kind of stuck as I can't manage to get the bottom nut off the first shock I pulled out of the box. Finally got the nut off. I'm buggering up the shock shaft just under the nut which won't matter as the shock doesn't travel that high due to the bump stop. Not sure I can ram the bumpstop over that nut. QA1 used GOBBS of red lock-tite for some dumb reason.

BTW it looks like Viking and QA1 might be sister companies. Everything other than the 'notch' on the shock body looks to be the same.

 

[markboris]

The problem with using that washer for the bump stop is it's cutting off another 3/4 of an inch of travel. The bump stop would normally sit up against the factory upper mount (green arrow). But is being moved down to the washer, (red arrow). For over all testing it'll probably be fine because you cut off that inch of bump probably putting it back to about the factory contact. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a full size bump in there with 3/4~1 inch less travel to it.

Right not I'm kind of stuck as I can't manage to get the bottom nut off the first shock I pulled out of the box. Finally got the nut off. I'm buggering up the shock shaft just under the nut which won't matter as the shock doesn't travel that high due to the bump stop. Not sure I can ram the bumpstop over that nut. QA1 used GOBBS of red lock-tite for some dumb reason.

BTW it looks like Viking and QA1 might be sister companies. Everything other than the 'notch' on the shock body looks to be the same.

The shocks I am using have 1" more travel to begin with than the OEM shocks. I did this on purpose so lowered cars like mine would have more travel. Right now, I just measured my OEM shocks while the car is on the ground at ride height. From the center of the lower mount to the center of the upper mount is 19". I have exactly 2" of rod travel between the bottom of the bump stop to the top of the shock body. I just checked the Viking setup I have on the bench. With the shock measuring the same 19" length between the center of the upper and lower mounts I have 3" of rod travel.

By the way, in that photo you pointed out, I do not have nut above the large washer, just the stem. I took that photo before I finalized how I wanted it to work.

Yes, I think QA1 and Viking are extremely similar in that they are either sister companies or the same with different names and a slightly different product. Vikings are not gas charged, are the QA1's? Also, I had the same problem removing the stem off the top. I put the nut in the vise and removed the stem which they did also use red lock-site but very little so not difficult to remove.

This is what the top end looks like before mounting the upper support. You see I have a 1/2" spacer on the stem on before the support then I add another one on the other end of the support before adding the end nuts. This give me room under the support to hold onto the stem while tightening the top nuts. If you want to add another 1/2" of travel to the rod, you don't have to use that spacer but then it is a little more difficult to tighten the top nuts. The top stem might also be a bit too tall this way and hit the body of the car just above the support. I have not tried it like that yet but might because I would like to get as much travel as I can. Again, all a work in progress while entertaining my out of town friends...... not that easy to do. ?

And without the 1/2" lower spacer on the stem

 

[azerik]

Yep that 1/2 inch spacer is going to be my next trip to the hardware store right now. I got 1 on and had to get 2 washers for the bottom bolt. I'm not sure if it is the bottom bolt just not quite tight enough, or if the top stud bolt is hitting the car. I had a bunch of noise in my shake down over speed bumps and dips in the area. I had it set to 8 but it felt stiffer on that side than the stock shock. I just started in on taking the spacer off the second shock and that dang nut again...
I threw the doughnut on top of the mount and kind of cranked it down in hopes that the bolt wouldn't move, but from the sounds of it it was. Or it's the hex on the top stud hitting the inside of the mount.

I modified the bump stop with a oscillating tool and saw blade as hitting the cut bump is a bit more harsh than the factory end because of those fingers. The bump was put back in the factory spot, but in my test run I don't appear to have hit in in 1 to 1.5 inches of travel. But I was taking it easy as it's a mismatch shock set up and I wasn't sure if anything would hit.

I will say it's going to be a bit of a pain to attempt to adjust the duals. It's hard to get my finger in there for just the 1 knob in the middle. It can be done but I'm going in through the top of the suspension to get to it.

Just those fingers seem to get the work done.

I'm not terribly happy about this angle they built in.

At this angle there isn't pressure applied, but putting the mount in causes the lower bushing to be at an angle. I'm not 100% this wont shift and rub the lower arm. That was part of the reason for the shakedown run.

 

[markboris]

Erik, you do need washers on the sides of the lower mount so that bolt will tighten up to 81 ft lbs. as per the repair manual. I have tried all the shocks on the car for fitment and drove it around for noises and have had none. I make sure that the shocks I am fitting replicate as close as possible to the size and mounting of the OEM shock. Anton has had the Koni's on his car a few days and I know he hasn't had any issues at all. I have been working on this for almost a month so I do have quite a few washers, spacers, etc here to choose from. I bought quite a bit of stuff prior to starting this project.

On that top stem, if you don't use the locking nut at the bottom by the flat washer, put some lock-tite on the rod threads before you install the stem. Then right at the top of the rod, under the bump stop, I put a towel around it and used vice grips to hold the rod while tightening the stem. This wil not damage the rod at all and the bump stop is always covering it anyway. You can get it tight enough for sure and the lock-tite will keep it that way.

That QA1 looks identical to the Viking except the label sticker.

 

[kennethjk]

Erik, you do need washers on the sides of the lower mount so that bolt will tighten up to 81 ft lbs. as per the repair manual. I have tried all the shocks on the car for fitment and drove it around for noises and have had none. I make sure that the shocks I am fitting replicate as close as possible to the size and mounting of the OEM shock. Anton has had the Koni's on his car a few days and I know he hasn't had any issues at all. I have been working on this for almost a month so I do have quite a few washers, spacers, etc here to choose from. I bought quite a bit of stuff prior to starting this project.

On that top stem, if you don't use the locking nut at the bottom by the flat washer, put some lock-tite on the rod threads before you install the stem. Then right at the top of the rod, under the bump stop, I put a towel around it and used vice grips to hold the rod while tightening the stem. This wil not damage the rod at all and the bump stop is always covering it anyway. You can get it tight enough for sure and the lock-tite will keep it that way.

That QA1 looks identical to the Viking except the label sticker.

I feel like I am watching a movie in a different language

Looks great, just don’t understand all of it

Keep it up

 

[azerik]

tweaks 2:
Modded the bump stop to slip up really darn close to factory. Slit it and ground out the inner plastic piece. Added silicon spray so I could slip the bump up once I've tightened the top mount all down. Loctite was used.
The noise I heard was the strut bolt on the top hitting the inside of the bottom of the upper mount. Got spacer, popped in, lots of room.
On the QA1's I was hitting the bump stop in the shake down run because I just pushed it on to the rod about 3 inches from the mount, I figured the shock would push it up with the cars weight but it wasn't moving lol. Color me amazed. The car, at least over speed bumps, didn't budge the factory stop over the 16mm piston rod.

The top cap pops right on.

I know they say not to, but I drove it with mis-matched shocks and have to say it's looking promising even at 8 clicks. I'll be able to get the other side on later tonight. I do seem to have a clunk from the swaybar now, most likely due to better dampening on the drivers side so the bar is being used more and crookedly.

Found these heavy steel spacers at ACE for $1.90.

 

[markboris]

tweaks 2:
Modded the bump stop to slip up really darn close to factory. Slit it and ground out the inner plastic piece. Added silicon spray so I could slip the bump up once I've tightened the top mount all down. Loctite was used.
The noise I head was the strut bolt on the top hitting the inside of the bottom of the upper mount. Got spacer, popped in, lots of room.
On the QA1's I was hitting the bump stop and it wasn't moving lol. Color me amazed.
The top cap pops right on.

I know they say not to, but I drove it with mis-matched shocks and have to say it's looking promising even at 8 clicks. I'll be able to get the other side on later tonight. I do seem to have a clunk from the swaybar now, most likely due to better dampening on the drivers size so the bar is being used more and crookedly.

Erik, it's funny to see both of us coming up with pretty much the same solutions to get this not only to work, but work better than OEM. More travel than OEM shocks, better damping, etc.

 

[markboris]

I feel like I am watching a movie in a different language

Looks great, just don’t understand all of it

Keep it up

Hey Ken, Erik and I can easily be hashing this over back and forth personally through texts and phone calls like mods I have done with many other members, however, this one seems to be more interesting for everyone to actually see what we are doing instead of getting it done behind the scenes and then coming up with the finished product. I wish I had more time to work on it right now but looks like Erik now has some time. I will be at Anton's on Saturday afternoon (can't go any earlier) to test out more shocks. Also going to show Anton how to replace the shocks on his car so he can test some out since I will be leaving for Phoenix on Monday and will be gone for a week.

 

[kennethjk]

Keep it

Hey Ken, Erik and I can easily be hashing this over back and forth personally through texts and phone calls like mods I have done with so many other members but this one seems to be more interesting for everyone to actually see what we are doing instead of getting it done behind the scenes and then coming up with the finished product. I wish I had more time to work on it right now but looks like Erik now has some time. I will be at Anton's on Saturday afternoon (can't go any earlier) to test out more shocks. Also going to show Anton how to replace the shocks so he can test some out since I will be leaving for Phoenix on Monday and be gone for a week.

keep it up

I love following it and actually learning some stuff

I am on a plane now and looking forward to following you guys for the next few hours, don’t stop

Its great

 

[AlpaChino]

All of you on this project are amazing. You might be solving the biggest complaint of this vehicle, something a legacy OEM isn't doing. That's insane, inspiring, and amazing simultaneously.

Keep going!

 

[RMoore]

Keep it
keep it up

I love following it and actually learning some stuff

I am on a plane now and looking forward to following you guys for the next few hours, don’t stop

Its great

I have to echo Ken's (ed: and JB's--just saw his post) sentiments here. I think this is my favorite thread in almost 2 years here on the forum. I'm learning a lot but I'm also seeing the best of what these forums offer--lots of folks with expertise coming together to solve a problem (and one that Ford should have already taken care of, but that's a different topic). The level of collegiality and generosity with time (and money) is inspiring. On that topic, given how many people are interested in a better suspension, as witness by the popularity of the great 'bounciness' thread started by @bellyer, I would bet many would be happy to make a donation to those working this out. I know I would. Any thoughts of starting a GoFundMe page or some other way to donate to the 'suspension team'?

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