Replace Fox shocks with same thing or go with something else?

[Lone_Star_Ranger]

I have 40k miles on my truck and drivers front shock is bad. 4k miles out of warranty and Ford won't cover it. was quoted $1,100 to replace it by Ford. Of course they said shocks should be replaced in pairs. for $2,200 I can do a full set of something else, and just do it myself.
I did the lift myself on my old tacoma so it's nothing new to me. I just thought it would be cheaper than what ford quoted. I think they were wanting $700-$800 just for the strut assembly. I can do a full Bilstein setup for half that price for all four corners and still pay someone to do it and only be at the cost of the 1 Fox. And get a better warranty than the 1 year on the Fox. I haven't even done any real offroading in this truck.

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[Joeiconic]

I think the Fox shocks are rebuildable?

 

[Wolfman00]

I think the Fox shocks are rebuildable?

absolutely!

 

[deleriumtremor]

Fox does factory rebuilds on their shocks. Just google Fox shock rebuild and one of the first few hits will be their service website.

 

[1pt21gw]

Something else.

Something else.

Something else.

Bilstein or ICON if the pocket allows.

 

[Frenchy]

In a way I am surprised that a Fox shock failed already. It's up to you on what you do. If you want to keep it stock then I say go with Factory. If you wasn't to modify the truck then might I suggest either Old Man EMU BP-51'S or take a look at Dobinsons.

I don't have personal experience with Dobinsons myself, but @Wes Siler does and can give input. They have replacement shocks and Springs available.

 

[CO2Ranger]

I have 40k miles on my truck and drivers front shock is bad. 4k miles out of warranty and Ford won't cover it. was quoted $1,100 to replace it by Ford. Of course they said shocks should be replaced in pairs. for $2,200 I can do a full set of something else, and just do it myself.
I did the lift myself on my old tacoma so it's nothing new to me. I just thought it would be cheaper than what ford quoted. I think they were wanting $700-$800 just for the strut assembly. I can do a full Bilstein setup for half that price for all four corners and still pay someone to do it and only be at the cost of the 1 Fox. And get a better warranty than the 1 year on the Fox. I haven't even done any real offroading in this truck.

You could do Fox 2.0s at all 4 corners for like $800 and keep the springs you have, right? You shouldn't need to buy the Ford Fox's if I'm understanding your predicament correctly... Labor to swap them out of the fronts is going to be the worst part unless you're comfortable doing that yourself and have a spring compressor

 

[CO2Ranger]

I think the Fox shocks are rebuildable?

Yes, but the process is ridiculous. He'd be without a ride for a good while and would still need to pull the struts apart. Nearly cheaper to just buy new shocks after the hassle

 

[jflogerzi]

do you have the tremor fox shocks. These are basically non adjustable versions of the fox 2.0s. which shocks are done? is it the fronts only? if so no need to replace the rears. I would just buy the standard fox 2.0s and have them match the ride height of what you want/need.

 

[EJH]

TLDR: Just buy the standard Fox 2.0 front coilovers and have them installed as is.

OP sounds like you have the Ford tuned by Fox shocks on your truck? I would go the easiest route and just buy a set of front Fox 2.0 coilovers (standard Fox, not the Ford tuned ones) and have a shop mount those you. As long you don't need the height of the Fox 2.0s changed, you could probably get it all done for ~$1,200.

If you need the height adjusted from Fox's stock setting, it gets more costly. The Fox 2.0s pretty much have to be test fitted (installed and removed) to determine how much to move the shock collar. Then you compress the spring and adjust the collar. Then you install them for good. I just went through this today, as I did not want the full 2" level the Fox's are set at (I requested about 1" front lift from stock). However, if you have the Ford Foxes now, they are already set to 2", as are the standard Foxes, so just do a simple swap.

As for 40k miles and going bad. I don't think that is unusual, although it does depend on your driving. Fox states their shock rebuilt interval is 50k miles for 100% street use and 10k miles for 50/50 street and off-road. If you do some dirt roads and rough roads (weekend warrior), 40k miles seems right in line with Fox's estimated life. I expect about 40k miles for mine.

Yes you can rebuilt them for about $150 each plus shipping. You will be out of a truck while you wait a couple weeks. You could swap temporary shocks in place (like free take off FX4s that are all over) but that means an extra shock replacement. Probably not worth it. What does make sense, for those of us that need to rebuilt our Fox shocks, is to actually have two sets of coilovers. You rebuilt one when you take it off and keep it in storage for a few years until the ones on the truck needs maintenance.

 

[Gdub]

That is one of the problems with Fox shocks. They do require a rebuild periodically to function properly. Bilstein shocks are very durable with few exceptions. If I end up getting a Tremor, I will run the Fox shocks until they start to fade and will install Bilsteins.

If I don't get a Tremor I will most likely end up with an FX4 and install Bilstein shocks ASAP. I have run Bilstein shock on every vehicle that I own that Bilstein made shocks for since around 1975. I think Fox shock may be a slightly better shock but I don't like the idea of having to rebuild every few years.

I get at least 150K miles out of Bilstein shocks. The one exception was the Ford tuned Bilstein shocks that came on my 02 FX4 from the factory. At 100K miles the were getting too soft. I thought they were softer than I prefer for off-road when new.

 

[bentroia]

Call fox for support. They may warranty or recommend a great altrrnative and cover some cost.

Their products and support are top shelf.

On my Tremor i will go one up in the fox line, when-if the oem units fail, to add a little more dampening.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

This question is a very subjective one. It depends on so many factors. If you like the way the Fox's feel and handle, just replace them with the same thing.

If you think they don't do "something" well enough, get something different.

I have found Shock Surplus's youtube channel to be super helpful to understand the true differences in the different shocks that are out there. icon, king, dobinson, eibach, fox etc etc etc

They have some videos that are ranger specific, but they also have just educational videos on the differences in the shocks.

https://www.youtube.com/@ShockSurplus

example of a recent ranger video:

They reply to comments on youtube, so I can only imagine if I picked up a phone to call them they would be super helpful.


EDIT: When I end up replacing my fox's I will probably end up with a set of King's.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

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