Shock upgrade - ideas/cautions - 2023 XLT Tremor

[ScubaDan]

I'm looking to upgrade the shocks on my 23 tremor and was curious if anyone else on the forums had done so as well. I drive a lot on unpaved, poorly maintained, or generally non-existent roads as well as mild to moderate difficulty trail riding. Has anyone upgraded to one of the major performance brands such as Fox off-road, Old Man Emu, or Icon? If yes, did you run into issues with special adapter plates being needed beyond the hardware kit? The goal is to keep the same front end height as I do now with the 2 inch level on OEM shocks, or at least close.

Backstory on my truck is it has the factory fox shock kit, and I had a fordrangerlifts 2 inch level put on the front. Which looks great and rides pretty good.

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[lariat]

I have a 22 Lariat, so it should be the same as yours, but I installed the Fox Performance 2.0 kit a year ago and it's the best thing you can do for your truck, followed by the Ford tune, but the Fox kit is mandatory in my book.

Works amazing on and offroad and will give your truck a more profound ride and feel on any surface. The fronts raise your truck by 2 inches, but you are already raised. I'm not sure how much difference in ride quality there is between your kit and the Fox 2.0, but I love it.

Regarding your question; no special adapters were needed. Just bolt on and go.

 

[MechanicalBob]

I'm sort of surprised you want to upgrade the Tremor suspension. It's already a LOT better than the non-Tremor setups. Is there a specific problem you're trying to solve?

 

[ScubaDan]

I have a 22 Lariat, so it should be the same as yours, but I installed the Fox Performance 2.0 kit a year ago and it's the best thing you can do for your truck, followed by the Ford tune, but the Fox kit is mandatory in my book.

Works amazing on and offroad and will give your truck a more profound ride and feel on any surface. The fronts raise your truck by 2 inches, but you are already raised. I'm not sure how much difference in ride quality there is between your kit and the Fox 2.0, but I love it.

Regarding your question; no special adapters were needed. Just bolt on and go.

I went down the rabbit hole looking through different threads and documents. I found the differences between a XLT FX4 and XLT Tremor, specifically to the suspension. The two biggest differences appear to be the shocks and UCAs.

The Fox shocks are a special SKU built just for the tremor, they are a Fox 2.0 shock assembly, but will a few different parts and I believe are preloaded as well.

The UCAs are slightly different as well, another post talks about it, I don't have the post URL on hand but I believe the change was done to correct the suspension geometry due to the lift from the preload on the shock. But I'm not 100% sure so someone correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

 

[ScubaDan]

I'm sort of surprised you want to upgrade the Tremor suspension. It's already a LOT better than the non-Tremor setups. Is there a specific problem you're trying to solve?

After doing a lot digging last night, I think I better understand the current limits and where I would have to go next to actually upgrade the suspension. The shocks from factory are just a Ford specific Fox 2.0 SKU, they just seem to be slightly less capable than the normal SKU, but I'm not going to do a front end suspension job just increase travel by .5 inch, just not cost effective ya know.

As far as factory suspension, I guess it would be considered a stage 2 kit since the UCAs are different then stock, and usually a stage 2 kit they recommend you change the UCA to prevent suspension geometry issues. Which if I wanted to upgrade would then be going to a stage 3 or higher kit. But that level of upgrade comes with a serious price tag and possible other upgrades.

 

[NerkyMohawk]

I recently changed out my 2023 tremor front coilovers for some fox 2.5's. I also had a 2 inch level from ford ranger lifts. The ride is noticeably better and I can fine tune it. I'll consider replacing the rears when they needs servicing.

The 2.5 really soaks up bumps when going fast.

 

[ScubaDan]

I recently changed out my 2023 tremor front coilovers for some fox 2.5's. I also had a 2 inch level from ford ranger lifts. The ride is noticeably better and I can fine tune it. I'll consider replacing the rears when they needs servicing.

The 2.5 really soaks up bumps when going fast.

That's good to know as far as the improvement in ride quality verses the 2.0 shocks. For the install did you move the leveling kit to the Fox 2.5 or was there enough adjustment in the shock to eliminate the need for the level? Also, did you have to change UCAs?

 

[NerkyMohawk]

That's good to know as far as the improvement in ride quality verses the 2.0 shocks. For the install did you move the leveling kit to the Fox 2.5 or was there enough adjustment in the shock to eliminate the need for the level? Also, did you have to change UCAs?

No need to use the 2 inch level anymore. The 2.5 was adjusted for 2.5 inches of preload to level. I did get new UCA, but it wasn't needed.

 

[jflogerzi]

honestly if you want some extra clearance do 1.5inch in the front spacer for the stock and 1 inch shackle lift in the rear. easy and you don't need to mess with UAC or anything

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