Earlier in the year, I changed my spark plugs (yeah, I know, I'm awesum, right?) then the fuel control module above the spare tire. Then just a few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and had the dealership change that leaking exhaust manifold on the passenger side (they comp'ed me the manifold, only charge me labor!Hmmmm....). Been a really interesting year.Today, my buddy is showing me his broken front coil springs. He had the part in the bed of his truck. It broke the bottom coil right off at the spring seat on both sides. I thought I'd check to see if they changed the design from his ('04) to mine ('07), so I crawled under mine to look. What do you think I saw? Thaaaaaaat's right....Funny part was, two weeks ago we were riding the rails to trails on our bikes and when we left, we piled in the truck and just about the time I was going to start it, we heard a BANG! and the truck sort of lurched. I thought a tire popped. we all got out and looked a bit but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I wrote it off as parking break chatter. Sometimes when I set it too lightly, it will creep under load and groan a little. Turns out, the front passenger spring broke right at that very moment, while we were sitting still! Amazing! I just put two and two together today when I realized what happened.He's got 104K on his Screw short bed and never towed nothing. I have 109K and tow at max GCWR about 10 trips a year. I smell a rat! Anybody know if there's a recall or service bulletin on this? I'm checking tomorrow, but don't know if the dealership will get the job. He paid his local mechanic $600 for both sides and non-OEM parts. I'm betting FoMoCo will want double that. Merry Christmas to me!

Hi Moss, sorry about your luck. The front struts/springs on an F-150 are easy to replace. Took me a day to do a leveling kit, had to pop off the struts and find a strong enough spring compressor, but it's really straight forward if you want to save the labor. When I owned my 2010 F-150, I bought parts from Tasca since that was the best place locally and on the web that I could find decent parts prices. Re-did my leveling kit and changed from the daystar spacers to Bilstein 5100's (much better improvement, had longer range of articulation and more taught handling). Looks like the coil spring alone is anywhere between 55 and 85 bucks depending on which one you have. Pretty cheap part. So this could be a good time to change out your front struts as well since you'll have it apart anyways to swap the spring.Only thing is that after you re-assemble everything together, you'll need to get it aligned. But you can get close with a measuring tape and dial it in well enough to drive for a week or so until you can get it into the shop.

jus2shy wrote:Hi Moss, sorry about your luck. The front struts/springs on an F-150 are easy to replace. Took me a day to do a leveling kit, had to pop off the struts and find a strong enough spring compressor, but it's really straight forward if you want to save the labor. When I owned my 2010 F-150, I bought parts from Tasca since that was the best place locally and on the web that I could find decent parts prices. Re-did my leveling kit and changed from the daystar spacers to Bilstein 5100's (much better improvement, had longer range of articulation and more taught handling). Looks like the coil spring alone is anywhere between 55 and 85 bucks depending on which one you have. Pretty cheap part. So this could be a good time to change out your front struts as well since you'll have it apart anyways to swap the spring.Only thing is that after you re-assemble everything together, you'll need to get it aligned. But you can get close with a measuring tape and dial it in well enough to drive for a week or so until you can get it into the shop.Thanks for the info. I looked at a few youtube vids and it doesn't look too bad. I have a good jack and stands, air compressor and tools. Might give it a shot. I figure this is a "change them both" situation, especially since my friend had both break at the same time, and putting the old shocks back on seems silly. I'm going to check and see if Motorcraft sells them as an assembled unit. Looking on Ford Parts site they price out about $275 each side pricing piecemeal. My buddy got aftermarket assemblies for $180 ea. I'll need the ones for 8200 lb GvWR so don't know if aftermarket will work.

Sorry to hear about your troubles friend. I will say this though...at least you have a truck to keep maintaining! My older vehicle is a 2000 Lincoln Town Car. Nice car but I'm about to have to replace EVERY front end component due to wear. 154k miles though and it just keeps runningThanks!Jeremiah

mosseater wrote:Earlier in the year, I changed my spark plugs (yeah, I know, I'm awesum, right?) then the fuel control module above the spare tire. Then just a few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and had the dealership change that leaking exhaust manifold on the passenger side (they comp'ed me the manifold, only charge me labor!Hmmmm....). Been a really interesting year.Today, my buddy is showing me his broken front coil springs. He had the part in the bed of his truck. It broke the bottom coil right off at the spring seat on both sides. I thought I'd check to see if they changed the design from his ('04) to mine ('07), so I crawled under mine to look. What do you think I saw? Thaaaaaaat's right....Funny part was, two weeks ago we were riding the rails to trails on our bikes and when we left, we piled in the truck and just about the time I was going to start it, we heard a BANG! and the truck sort of lurched. I thought a tire popped. we all got out and looked a bit but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so I wrote it off as parking break chatter. Sometimes when I set it too lightly, it will creep under load and groan a little. Turns out, the front passenger spring broke right at that very moment, while we were sitting still! Amazing! I just put two and two together today when I realized what happened.He's got 104K on his Screw short bed and never towed nothing. I have 109K and tow at max GCWR about 10 trips a year. I smell a rat! Anybody know if there's a recall or service bulletin on this? I'm checking tomorrow, but don't know if the dealership will get the job. He paid his local mechanic $600 for both sides and non-OEM parts. I'm betting FoMoCo will want double that. Merry Christmas to me!I've heard of Explorers busting coil springs, but not the F-150's. Mine is older than yours though and all 4 springs still are in one piece (knock on wood).

Last 1/2 ton truck I had was a F100, and it had the springing of a Crown Victoria.On SuperDuties, we worry less about springs and more on lower ball joints and tie rod ends. I do appreciate the beef of the heavier duty trucks, however.

Another new F-150 adventure | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

mosseater
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2014
steve-n-vicki wrote:
2004 f150 134k miles and front springs still have black paint on them and are not broken

I'm betting most make it to the bone yard with the springs intact. You'll likely be no different. I wasn't so lucky. Keep your eye on them.
mosseater
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2014
I looked at the part diagram on Ford Parts today and it appears the lower pad I'm talking about comes as part of the shock assembly, so even if it would work, it isn't sold separately.

I talked to Ford Hotline today and expressed my displeasure with this problem. That and $1 will get me coffee at McDonalds. She was real sorry about my situation and wondered if I took it to the dealership to have the problem evaluated. (!) Hmmmm.... there's an idea! And the labor rate to look at it is only $120/hr. :R

I told her here in PA we are mandated to yearly inspections and my mechanic would have caught anything serious in the last 7 years. That and two sets of perfectly evenly worn tires with 50,000 miles on them prove there isn't anything wrong with the front end.

The spring just broke! And so did my buddy's! It's that simple. I filed a complaint with NHTSA too, but we're back to the coffee thing there. *sigh*

As freak occurances go, this one is pretty freaky.
steve-n-vicki
Explorer
Sep 17, 2014
2004 f150 134k miles and front springs still have black paint on them and are not broken
jus2shy
Explorer
Sep 17, 2014
If it's like my 2010, 1/4" would be roughly a 1/2" boost in height. Consider it a level kit if it works out LOL. I know that the lower A-arm differed from 2010 and the previous gen run. The 2010 used a stamped steel unit versus the cast aluminum unit. I always thought the cast aluminum unit was superior though.
mosseater
Explorer II
Sep 17, 2014
Nope, no Ram. I'm going to try and find out just how big this problem is. Everybody, including the guy at the Ford parts counter, says it's pretty rare, and I'm guessing he'd have some idea about that. But I sure find it strange that my buddie's truck and mine both have the same "rare" problem. If it's a bad production run of springs, it went from '04 to '07. That's quite a lot number!

To me it appears to be a design flaw. They use a lower spring perch that mimmicks the pitch of the spring and the support stops right at an edge, which is where all three springs broke. If there isn't perfectly aligned mating between the spring and the perch, it creates a point load. I note on the newer models, there is a lower cushion between the perch and the spring to take up any inconsistancy's in their mating surface. Not sure if they did that because they knew they had a problem or not. I don't know if I could add that to mine or not. They appear to be the same setup and parts, but the cushion would add about 1/4" to the compressed height of my assembly. Prolly not a big deal.
BenK
Explorer
Sep 16, 2014
Always, or at least me, look for the root cause...as whatever that is....is most
likely still there...to do it again...

Might even be a bad production run of coil springs...misalignment of something, etc

Didn't you used to have a ram?
CKNEK
Explorer
Sep 16, 2014
Broken springs on a 2007 with only 109K :E

I would not be impressed, the exhaust manifold would be another slap in the face.
mudfuel07
Explorer
Sep 16, 2014
Look on Craigslist or on a Ford forum. A lot of people just throw their stock springs away when lifting the truck.
mosseater
Explorer II
Sep 16, 2014
Had a "nice" little surprise this week about my pending repair. The spring strut assemblies I bought at NAPA were much lighter than the OEM and not one person could tell me definintively whether they were actually for my particular truck or not. Took them back and returned them. Nobody was sadder than me. Was really hoping to put them on last weekend.

I ordered the parts from Ford and found out the shocks, bushing, and sleeve were all availble in a day, but the springs are back ordered....til sometime about two weeks out! How the heck can they not have any springs in stock sooner than that????? I'm supposed to get them a week before I go on my next trip. Any bets on whether that happens or not? GRRRRRRR! I feel a call coming on.
Bamaman11
Explorer
Sep 12, 2014
Last 1/2 ton truck I had was a F100, and it had the springing of a Crown Victoria.

On SuperDuties, we worry less about springs and more on lower ball joints and tie rod ends. I do appreciate the beef of the heavier duty trucks, however.

Forum Discussion

Another new F-150 adventure

14 Replies

About Travel Trailer Group

Related Content

Crushed F-150

F-150 HDPP?

2024 Truck Camper Adventure Rally

F-150 radiators

F-150 Ecoboost towing