Fox 2.0 Coilovers & Fox 2.0 Rear Shocks Available for Pre-Order!

Vermonster

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Yes, they come preset at 3" and there was still a good bit of thread left to rotate the collar. I would imagine you could go up at least another inch if you wanted.....
I was able to put about 750 miles on my fox set up over the last dew days, along with my new Falken AT3W's. I had everything aligned post lift, and tires balanced. On the first leg of our trip, I acquired a slight shake in the steering wheel, mainly at highway speeds of 50-80mph. I immediately suspected a poor balance job on the tires, had them re-done with another shop and indeed, all were out of balance. When we departed for the second portion of the trip, it seemed better to start, but by the time 5 hours of driving went by, the shake/shimmy in the steering wheel was back. I have checked all suspension components and wheel lugs and they are torqued correctly. There is no other issues with the ride, just this shake which is pretty minor, but still not completely right.

Anyone have some input on where to go with this next? Do I try a 3rd balancing on the wheels (the last included a road force balance)? How do I figure out if I have a tire that is out of round? And last question- Would it be possible that the alignment is off again if the suspension settled in a bit over the last few hundred miles? Would a slight alignment issue from settling cause a shake?

Looking for any thoughts or input. Still very happy over all, but I do want to sort out the minor shake in the steering wheel.

BTW, Ecoop, do you have a measurement from hub center to the bottom of the fender flare? curious if we ended up with the same lift overall (I too forgot to measure stock numbers!)

Thanks!
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Cape Cruiser

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I was able to put about 750 miles on my fox set up over the last dew days, along with my new Falken AT3W's. I had everything aligned post lift, and tires balanced. On the first leg of our trip, I acquired a slight shake in the steering wheel, mainly at highway speeds of 50-80mph. I immediately suspected a poor balance job on the tires, had them re-done with another shop and indeed, all were out of balance. When we departed for the second portion of the trip, it seemed better to start, but by the time 5 hours of driving went by, the shake/shimmy in the steering wheel was back. I have checked all suspension components and wheel lugs and they are torqued correctly. There is no other issues with the ride, just this shake which is pretty minor, but still not completely right.

Anyone have some input on where to go with this next? Do I try a 3rd balancing on the wheels (the last included a road force balance)? How do I figure out if I have a tire that is out of round? And last question- Would it be possible that the alignment is off again if the suspension settled in a bit over the last few hundred miles? Would a slight alignment issue from settling cause a shake?

Looking for any thoughts or input. Still very happy over all, but I do want to sort out the minor shake in the steering wheel.

BTW, Ecoop, do you have a measurement from hub center to the bottom of the fender flare? curious if we ended up with the same lift overall (I too forgot to measure stock numbers!)

Thanks!
Stock or aftermarket wheels? if aftermarket did you use hub centric spacer? Maybe wheel weight fell off?
 

Vermonster

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Stock or aftermarket wheels? if aftermarket did you use hub centric spacer? Maybe wheel weight fell off?
Thanks Cape Cruiser. They are stock wheels.

I can’t see where any weights have fallen off, but it is possible. I guess another trip to get them balanced will sort that out.

Any other input or ideas is very welcome!
 

Randy2400h

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If you have already rotated and re-balanced the wheels/tires I suspect you have an alignment issue. Do you have the alignment sheet? They may have pushed something out of spec to get your positive camber back to zero. I put a 2 inch leveling kit on my FX4 and I run the same Falken WildPeak AT3W tires. My off-road specialty alignment shop said initially they could fix the positive camber issue on my vehicle by putting the caster or toe out of spec but that “I wouldn’t like the result! Go get some aftermarket upper control arms and come back, in the meantime the slight positive camber shouldn’t eat up your tires too badly if you rotate them every few thousand miles.” Being the OCD person that I am, I went on the hunt to replace the UCAs as soon as I could. I landed on using ICON’s tubular UCAs, now everything is back in its happy place.
 

Vermonster

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If you have already rotated and re-balanced the wheels/tires I suspect you have an alignment issue. Do you have the alignment sheet? They may have pushed something out of spec to get your positive camber back to zero. I put a 2 inch leveling kit on my FX4 and I run the same Falken WildPeak AT3W tires. My off-road specialty alignment shop said initially they could fix the positive camber issue on my vehicle by putting the caster or toe out of spec but that “I wouldn’t like the result! Go get some aftermarket upper control arms and come back, in the meantime the slight positive camber shouldn’t eat up your tires too badly if you rotate them every few thousand miles.” Being the OCD person that I am, I went on the hunt to replace the UCAs as soon as I could. I landed on using ICON’s tubular UCAs, now everything is back in its happy place.
Thanks. I do have the alignment sheet, which I’ll post here. It looks like everything came back into tolerance, but maybe someone with more knowledge can add more input from the numbers. Otherwise, I guess I can re align and re balance, and if neither work, then UCA’s? A little frustrating if I have to throw another $700 at it to make it work.

As always, I appreciate any thoughts and input!
Thanks.

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Vermonster

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One other thing you may want to consider is checking your sway bar end links for proper torque/possible damage from your install.
Thanks Jason. I took some time this morning and double checked all torques on the install, and everything was just as tight as the day we installed it and was to spec. No issue with the end links either. I had my wheels/tires road force balanced yet again, and they did find one was off about a 1/2 oz, and corrected it. I still have a very minor shimmy/shake and I can't seem to find the issue. It looks like I will go back for a second alignment as well to see if anything slipped or settled at all.

The only thing I noticed visually is the camber/caster bolts... Passenger side they are almost centered, looks like a very minor adjustment. On the drivers side, they were shifted almost a full 90 degrees or maximum adjustment. It seems odd to see such a difference side to side. That said, I thought the alignment numbers I posted above looked pretty darn good overall. I could try UCA's but I honestly would prefer to not invest another $800 in the set up simply "hoping" it corrects an issue.
 

Randy2400h

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Thanks Jason. I took some time this morning and double checked all torques on the install, and everything was just as tight as the day we installed it and was to spec. No issue with the end links either. I had my wheels/tires road force balanced yet again, and they did find one was off about a 1/2 oz, and corrected it. I still have a very minor shimmy/shake and I can't seem to find the issue. It looks like I will go back for a second alignment as well to see if anything slipped or settled at all.

The only thing I noticed visually is the camber/caster bolts... Passenger side they are almost centered, looks like a very minor adjustment. On the drivers side, they were shifted almost a full 90 degrees or maximum adjustment. It seems odd to see such a difference side to side. That said, I thought the alignment numbers I posted above looked pretty darn good overall. I could try UCA's but I honestly would prefer to not invest another $800 in the set up simply "hoping" it corrects an issue.
That is definitely weird, I think you might have a possible red flag there. I would recommend asking your local 4x4 shop who they recommend taking a look at your alignment again. I agree that your alignment numbers look good. I have a little bit of road feedback with my hand on the wheel at the 12 o’clock position but I have zero feedback at the 8 o’clock (or 4 o’clock) position. The truck had that feedback in the wheel from Day 1 with stock equipment and alignment. It is noticeably more than any newer car or SUV but that’s to be expected with a truck. You might be hypersensitive now that the issue has been put on your radar; I have that problem sometimes because I’m constantly analyzing every sound and vibration. The other day I thought I had a vibration under the driver’s side floorboard and then the song changed on my stereo and it went away; the bass from subwoofer was traveling all the way up to my feet. Ask another mechanically savvy friend to drive your truck, ask them to judge the alignment (i.e. does it drive straight) but say nothing about the vibration and see if they can find the issue without your suggestion.
 

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The alignment looks fine. The alignment is not causing the shimmy. Try rotating the backs to the front. If they were road forced and balanced what was the road force measurement. I suspect a bad tire.
 

fusseli

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. I suspect a bad tire.
FWIW, I have seen a bridgstone dueller AT that had a smooth lump on the inside of the tire in the middle of the tread... straight up defect not damage.

Especially since the Falkens are cheaper, maybe the QC isn't as good.
 

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Lariat FX4, 18inch wheels with Hankooks:

I have a 1500 mile, mostly interstate hwy, trip planned this week and want to evaluate how much I really like the overall stock ride and handling. After the last trip, about 1000 miles on I-40 with no significant load in the bed, my impression was generally good but I noticed some sway and instability especially when passing on curves (maybe just not being used to slightly looser/twitchy handling and the constant small corrections needed). Is this normal handling for this truck? My old 05 Ranger Edge was harsher riding but seemed more stable at highway speeds.

I don't go off road much or need a lift/ level but have been considering the Fox kit set for 0" lift in the front or a rear sway bar. Also, a tire upgrade might have some impact. I just raised the tire pressure from 30 to 32. Highway trips I take are mostly with very light to about 300lbs. in the bed.

What do you guys think I need to do to evaluate the on highway handling?
 
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Lariat FX4, 18inch wheels with Hankooks:

I have a 1500 mile, mostly interstate hwy, trip planned this week and want to evaluate how much I really like the overall stock ride and handling. After the last trip, about 1000 miles on I-40 with no significant load in the bed, my impression was generally good but I noticed some sway and instability especially when passing on curves (maybe just not being used to slightly looser/twitchy handling and the constant small corrections needed). Is this normal handling for this truck? My old 05 Ranger Edge was harsher riding but seemed more stable at highway speeds.

I don't go off road much or need a lift/ level but have been considering the Fox kit set for 0" lift in the front or a rear sway bar. Also, a tire upgrade might have some impact. I just raised the tire pressure from 30 to 32. Highway trips I take are mostly with very light to about 300lbs. in the bed.

What do you guys think I need to do to evaluate the on highway handling?
Twitchy handling is fairly normal for the newer Fords. There's just not a ton of weight on the rear axle, and the stock shocks aren't valved for keeping the rear end under control. It's really bad in the 2015-2019 F150s and not great in the Rangers.

As much as you probably won't regret a Fox kit purchase, it might be a bigger hit in the wallet than what you're looking for, especially if you're not looking for any sort of ride height gain or off-road performance.

If I were you, I'd probably be looking into the Eibachs or holding out for when Bilstein comes out with 5100s or 4600s for the Rangers (which I'm assured will come sometime this century).
 

Johnpenn

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Thanks Jason.

I got a great deal when i bought my Lariat FX4 considering that it kept my options open if I decided to do any serious off-roading. I wanted a 4x4 this time anyway.

Would off-roading give the Foxes a big advantage over the others either on or off road? Are there any other major advantages or disadvantages of the Eibachs or Bilsteins considering their lower cost?

I'm assuming you have first hand experience with all of them and I keep this truck at least 5 years. I'm not in a big hurry to do something and maybe prices will come down with competition.
 
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I don't have a ton of experience on the Rangers as of yet, but I've been in and helped put together so many F150s it even makes my head spin.

Off-road, I wouldn't say there's a huge gulf between the Fox 2.0s and a strut assembly like the Eibach Pro-Trucks or the Bilstein 5100s, but the Fox 2.0s are a bit more capable and comfortable thanks to their larger diameters, new spring, and aluminum bodies that don't suffer from as much fade as the steel-body struts.

On-road, there's not really a ton of difference between the the Fox 2.0s and either the Bilstein 5100s or the Eibachs. They perform and ride in a very similar manner. I might give the slight edge to the Fox 2.0s on-road, but it ain't much.

The only other disadvantage of a leveled strut setup is that they reuse a lot of the stock strut hardware, so if your stock upper mount and spring seats are in bad shape, then the Fox 2.0s are probably a better idea.

Really it comes down to how you're using your truck. If you're predominantly on-road with a once or twice a year camping trip thrown in, then the Eibachs or potential Bilsteins are definitely your more cost-effective option. If you're going to be off-road more regularly than that or you're hitting tougher forest roads and trails, then you should probably go with the Fox 2.0s.
 

Johnpenn

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I don't have a ton of experience on the Rangers as of yet, but I've been in and helped put together so many F150s it even makes my head spin.

Off-road, I wouldn't say there's a huge gulf between the Fox 2.0s and a strut assembly like the Eibach Pro-Trucks or the Bilstein 5100s, but the Fox 2.0s are a bit more capable and comfortable thanks to their larger diameters, new spring, and aluminum bodies that don't suffer from as much fade as the steel-body struts.

On-road, there's not really a ton of difference between the the Fox 2.0s and either the Bilstein 5100s or the Eibachs. They perform and ride in a very similar manner. I might give the slight edge to the Fox 2.0s on-road, but it ain't much.

The only other disadvantage of a leveled strut setup is that they reuse a lot of the stock strut hardware, so if your stock upper mount and spring seats are in bad shape, then the Fox 2.0s are probably a better idea.

Really it comes down to how you're using your truck. If you're predominantly on-road with a once or twice a year camping trip thrown in, then the Eibachs or potential Bilsteins are definitely your more cost-effective option. If you're going to be off-road more regularly than that or you're hitting tougher forest roads and trails, then you should probably go with the Fox 2.0s.
It sounds like you have a lot of related experience with Ford truck suspensions. The new 2wd F150 I had on loan from my dealer for a couple of days was terrible when compared to my Ranger. I've had sports cars including a C4 and C5 corvette for 50 years so my expectations for good handling are unrealistic for a truck. The Ranger handling on the road isn't bad for its size, weight and target use. I'm getting used to it but a little improvement would be great. for me.
Thanks for your insight.
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