steering damper installation

[fordman17]

I was going to install the new steering damper and per inst with it from Bilstein it said to turn the steering wheel to the left to full lock and turn off ign.
With the shock at full extended how will I be able to pull the new one out that far?
mabey i'm missing something but have not changed one before.

[fordman17]

I replaced the old Ford OEM steering damper this afternoon,old one came off easy and new one installed ok and all looks good,about 45 mins to do it all.
I'll take it out on the road tomorrow.Thanks for the info from all of you.

[fordman17]

Thanks and the instructions said to make sure it had full travel and wasn't hitting anything.

[ron_dittmer]

I heard that installing "any" brand steering damper has pretty much the same challenges. Once installed, make sure the steering wheel still has full travel.

[fordman17]

Thanks,i wasn't sure it was easy to extend,good idea on measuring the distance on both sides.

[Stefonius]

It extends pretty easily. It's not under any spring pressure like a strut. It's just designed to provide a bit of resistance to movement so that your steering doesn't bounce or wander. You should be able to pull it at both ends and extend it.

I'd definitely recommend turning your truck wheel to full lock both right and left and measuring the distance between ends both ways to ensure you have the right damper before you start. Do it with the old damper removed, in case the old one wasn't right.

[fordman17]

Hmm now not sure how I will attempt to install it,will it not be hard to extend or is there a tool needed .I tried to get Gateway tire people to do it but since they couldn't put it on a rack they wouldn't do it.

[Stefonius]

I wish I had followed that advice when I replaced the damper on Truckasaurus. The new one that the parts look up said would fit ended up being too short. I could turn much tighter to the right than to the left, and I couldn't figure out why. I had the truck aligned, checked over the entire front end and found nothing wrong. I was about to replace my steering box when I pulled off the damper on a whim and suddenly my problem was solved.

Lesson learned: If you cannot install the damper with the wheel turned left to full lock, the damper is too short.

[fordman17]

Thanks,that's what I was thinking as leaving it fully extended didn't seem correct.

[tropicdad]

I recently replaced mine with a Bilstein but I had the wheels in normal position. I didn't have any problems replacing it and it works fine.

[Kit_Carson]

I replaced all shocks and the steering dampner with Bilsteins. I purchased from e-shocks.com and had a local shop install for $25.00 each. Thought that to be a good deal.