I am about to put adjustable rancho 9000's on the front of my 2003 3500 4x4,does anyone know if you have to remove the battery trays or is there enough room to pop off the top and slide it out , anyone who has done this lately the info would be greatly appreciated

 

If you are referring to the tri-top mount, I was able to remove the 3 nuts from the wheel well and pull the shock through with out removing anything in the way. I did remove the nut on the shocks from under the hood w/o a problem. My only problem was busting the nut loose on the bottom mount. Them dawgs are on there buddy...

 

Both of the top two shock mount nuts were cross threaded and would not come off on mine.
If I would have had someone to help they could have held it under the fender in the spring to keep it from spinning and break the nut loose but I was on my own. So this is what I did first tried to remove the mount and shock at the same time but the gas charge made the shock to long to remove it and had to re mount the tower then jack the corner of the truck up to compress the shock then use wire to hold it.
After that the tower and shock came out easy together. If I would have had help I could have held the shock then let someone else tie it off. I did not need to remove anything else to do this just take your time getting it out because of the stuff mounted close to them.
Jon

 

Its a very tight squeeze. I removed the batteries, I don't think you have too though. The passenger side is easy, the drivers side shock was very tight. The metal brake lines were in the way, it was a good sqeeze on mine and they didn't drop in. I had to motivate them down to get the bottom bolts in.

 

I replaced mine a couple of months ago (Bilstiens). Left the batteries in. I removed shock top nuts while still in pace and then removed the three tower bolts. The shocks extended. The drivers side is a little tight but you can snake the tower out over the shock. An air wrench makes quick work of the bottom bolts.

Back in, you can put the tower on the passenger side outside the vehicle. The drivers side, go in with shock only, tighten up the bottom, and then mount the tower. A little tight but you can do it.

The toughest time I had was compressing the tower assembly down so the three nuts can get started. Two guys would make it easy, but I was working alone. I finally came up with something to push down on the top of the shock (used a collapsed trekking pole) with one hand, and was able to get a nut started with the other. Not too tough and the ride is better than new.

 

I took the baterries out to make it easier and to clean out. It's too much work to remove the battery trays. It was a bear to get the top nut off. Finally used an impact wrench and it took about a second. Couldn't get a torque wrench on the third tower nut. Cetainly easier that my previous Ford.


Pete