"Should I put Bilsteins on my '02 F150?"

Yes. Best $300 I've invested in a long while.

Excellent - truck handling package! What's next poly all around?

Could be arranged, I'm sure...

Well I WAS thinking of a rear sway bar...

$300 nice

Yeah, they're retardedly cheap if all your vehicle has is shock absorbers. I have no idea why strut cartridges should be so much more expensive!

Stupid Ford, though, thinking that a pin mount on the top of the rear shocks was a good idea. The easiest way to change shocks is to remove the box, I think. Getting at the driver's side is a PITA, working between the frame rail and box.

It's pretty easy to build that way, and you're suppose to throw the truck out when the shocks go . I've always marveled at the engineering that goes into building something the easy way and how this so infrequently translates into ease of servicing the same part.

At least the box is mostly plastic... combine that with it only being 5.5 feet long and it shouldn't weigh much!

just manhandle that shit out!

I changed out the factory shocks in my Dodge at ~40K to Rancho 5000's. The dealer thought i was nuts for throwing away such new shocks, the difference in ride and handling was night and day and they're still solid at 272K. Not sure how the Rancho's compare to Bilstein but any upgrade over the factory garbage is a huge improvement, the factory shocks when new were terrible and only went downhill from there.

There was very little compression dampening in the factory stuff, with huge (by comparison) rebound dampening. What would happen is that if a wheel hit a bump, the suspension would compress a ton, the tire would hop off the pavement (relatively), and would take a while to rebound so the truck would get sucked towards the pavement and then come back up. When the wheel hit a hole, the stiff rebound would drag the truck down, but there was no compression dampening to stop it from continuing down as the tire was coming out of the hole... by then the suspension was so compressed that it would blow through the rebound dampening and the truck would skyrocket.

I'm not typically fond of the characteristic Bilstein valving - usually too stiff on compression, too soft on rebound - but in my truck it sure works.

Nice!

I do sometimes wonder where Bilstein comes up with their numbers for some cars.

Seattle has HORRIBLE roads that you drive at high speed...lots of huge steps, expansion joints, potholes and grooved/gravel like pavement. In a phrase: concrete jungle. It does make an excellent poor man's shock dyno though, since you get all kinds of shapes and speeds without too much traffic or traffic lights if you are lucky.

I just borrowed the 744TI and took it on its semi-annual road trip (which involved Seattle) basically to see what would break (and get where I was going of course) to fix it and hand it back. The valving is way too stiff on compression and rebound is wimpy. When you hit an expansion joint that is a big scoop shape upward (picture much scaled down snowboard/skateboard quarter pipe) is where it is the worst...bad ride and hurts handling. The wheel tire-combo is a decent set of summer tires IIRC and 16" wheels in a 50 series...something fairly "mild" but handles decent too.

The 240 bils on the front are MUCH nicer to drive in comparison. My 242 feels fairly stiff on those same roads (some of that is springs, weight, tires and bushings), but it never feels like it is getting thrown upward or wanting to step sideways in front when you hit a big expansion joint that would normally throw you upward and compromise traction some on the front of the 740. The irony is that the 740 as a car is much better suited to highway driving due to NVH and stability. I may yank the bils out of the 740. The rears aren't so bad on the 7 and wimpy on the 2. I almost wonder if they got the bilstein valving numbers for 122 and 240 crossed up...122 rears are crazy stiff and 240 rears are weak. Or just 2 and 7 crossed up in the back (I realize I'm fully ignoring motion ratios and reflected inertia and lots of other important factors for setting up a shock)...

One of the only "mod"s at all I did to a perfectly reliable toyota truck was bils and decent tires. Best money spent on it. I also put metal timing tensioner guides and a nicer clutch in it (common problem areas).

Good to know I'm not the only one with those observations about 240 and 740 Bils, James. My 740 (later, 780) front struts are awfully stiff in compression. I'd say the rebound is close, but the compression is probably 30-40% too stiff. The rears are not terrible in the 700, but the rebound is a bit soft, though I am basing this on a 745 and not a 744. The 240 rears are too soft but aren't "wrong" - just slightly wrong. The fronts were much better on the 240 than the 740, and that makes a ton of difference.

I'm tempted to send my struts back to Bilstein along with a bunch of information to get revalved. The other problem is that I'm using 740 rear shocks in my 780 IRS suspension, and I know they're not ideal (though they're miles better than the "ideal" fronts!)

Well, I had been formulating this observation for a while, but I didn't want to speak or judge too soon. I put various kinds of shocks on 2/7s/850/FWDs on plenty for other people and myself over time. Some of the 850s and V70s feel really great to me with bils.

I still don't think I have enough experience to say 40% too stiff or anything, but I can say qualitatively that the 740 struts are so stiff on compression that they are "too stiff on compression all the freaking time and downright compromising on the kinds of bumps that magnify that kind of thing." As opposed to: "The car shakes downward or upward a bit and isn't quite *perfect* on some bumps (or series of road shapes at a range of speeds), but it might take you a while to notice if you aren't a driving god."

Honestly, when the DeCarbon 240T struts are brand new or very low mile on a 240 with new harder version volvo rubber bushings, they drive REALLY good. It is amazing how quiet and composed they are without any fanfare whatever. A little soft perhaps, but they do have a fair bit of bushing everywhere and fairly soft springs. I've only sampled the r-sport DeCarbons "for race and rally" on one car with the volvo springs to go with, but that is a very good match too. Hard to beat OEM on some stuff. I'd want the stiffer stuff of what volvo sold, but really not a whole lot more for something I have to drive every day, especially where the roads are in rough shape.

In stark contrast, when I put better tires and shocks on and re-did the rear leaf springs on the toyota (common issue) and went away from the OE, everything got better. So much so that it almost felt like a car on braking in that it didn't want to pitch and pick the bed up off the ground and wheels didn't want to compress so easily that it would do exactly like you describe your truck doing. Maybe they did it that way so people could feel more "plush" driving a truck or something. No idea, but I hated it. When driving a truck, I'm ok with it feeling a bit like a truck (plenty of unsprung weight, rather nose heavy and a little "rugged"). No need to make it like something it isn't by mucking up the springs, tires and shocks a bunch.

I think the bils on my 940 are too stiff as well. I wouldn't want to lower it with the current shocks as I couldn't stand the ride to be any rougher.