Anyone remove rear blocks?

[Pelican]

Removed the blocks and added a lowering shackle.

Looks nice. Has the ride changed much? I removed mine and the ride seemed too soft so I decided put them back in the next day.

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[Eric12775]

Removed the blocks and added a lowering shackle.

What shackle kit did you use and did you need to modify your bed rails to make them fit?

 

[Charlieben]

Max Trac.

 

[Charlieben]

I didn't have to modify the bed
ribs. I also removed the axle blocks. I did add a 2degree shim after taking out the blocks.

 

[Charlieben]

Looks nice. Has the ride changed much? I removed mine and the ride seemed too soft so I decided put them back in the next day.

Thanks, I think it rides the same.

 

[Pelican]

Thanks, I think it rides the same.

ok. thank you for the reply

 

[Zengineer]

With my 2020 4x4/157WB/FX4 it started life with about 3.5 inches of rake. I pulled the rear blocks which took to around 2.25 inches. But keep in mind that the first time you drive a significant distance with 6 or 8 hundred pounds of stuff in the bed it will likely settle at least another half inch in the rear.

My 2022 has almost 2000 miles but I will pull the rear blocks this weekend and take some good measurements before, after and over the coming months.

If a 40 pound bag of cat food 6 times a year is your max cargo it will still settle some but might take 5 years.

 

[Zengineer]

There are 5 different ways to do this already documented so I'll skip that part. Someone used to tell me that if you stare at something more than a few minutes and don't know how to proceed you should hire someone. This is one of those jobs. If you have the right tools it takes an half an hour if you are in a hurry, a bit over an hour if you aren't rushing.

157 WB 4x4 Lariat, non-FX4, Max Tow, 3.5 Ecoboost.

Blocks are just under 1.25 inches, probably 31mm so the rear wheel well dropped 1.25 inches as it should.

Tip of tailgate in down position is about 66 inches behind rear axle or 223 from front axle. Math says the tailgate should drop around 1.8 inches to just over 34 inches and that's what happened...for me worth the time and effort just for that aspect of it.

Before, rake a bit over 3.25 inches which had settled about 0.25 inches after 2000 miles and not much weight in the bed:

During

After, rake right around 2 inches.

 

[notabot]

There are 5 different ways to do this already documented so I'll skip that part. Someone used to tell me that if you stare at something more than a few minutes and don't know how to proceed you should hire someone. This is one of those jobs. If you have the right tools it takes an half an hour if you are in a hurry, a bit over an hour if you aren't rushing.

157 WB 4x4 Lariat, non-FX4, Max Tow, 3.5 Ecoboost.

Blocks are just under 1.25 inches, probably 31mm so the rear wheel well dropped 1.25 inches as it should.

After, rake right around 2 inches.

Very nice! Did you happen to document pinion angle before and after? I'm doing this eventually but the driveline is soooooooooo smooth right now. My motto is fix until broke, but in this instance that little voice in my head is not whispering, it's screaming.

 

[Zengineer]

Very nice! Did you happen to document pinion angle before and after? I'm doing this eventually but the driveline is soooooooooo smooth right now. My motto is fix until broke, but in this instance that little voice in my head is not whispering, it's screaming.

Pinion-shminion...it drops it less than having your mother in law and her luggage in the back seat and a lot less than towing a moderate weight trailer. I do neither of those.

So, no I did not check it but have removed them on two previous 157 WB trucks. Maybe if it was a 1 pc. shaft on a short bed regular cab I'd check and take it into account.

 

[notabot]

Pinion-shminion...it drops it less than having your mother in law and her luggage in the back seat and a lot less than towing a moderate weight trailer. I do neither of those.

So, no I did not check it but have removed them on two previous 157 WB trucks. Maybe if it was a 1 pc. shaft on a short bed regular cab I'd check and take it into account.

Ty Zman, mother-in-law rides in the bed....

 

[Zengineer]

Pinion-shminion...it drops it less than having your mother in law and her luggage in the back seat and a lot less than towing a moderate weight trailer. I do neither of those.

So, no I did not check it but have removed them on two previous 157 WB trucks. Maybe if it was a 1 pc. shaft on a short bed regular cab I'd check and take it into account.

EDITED after notabot quoted.....
I have to walk this back maybe. The 157 wb has a 2 PC shaft with a mid mount about 60 inches from the rear axle. Rear section of shaft is maybe 45 inches.

The rear axle stays where it is but does rotate to meet the slight 0.45 deg ccw angle change to the springs as they drop 1.25 inches.

The mid mount also rotates ccw for another 0.45 deg of "change".

And the mid mount drops 0.78 inches with the 1.25 inch blocks gone. With the shaft just around 48 inches long we get another 0.91 degree " change".

It's all additive, none cancel out the other.

0.45 + 0.45 + 0.91 = 1.81 deg.

There are a few approximations in all of this but it's close.

So, I haven't noticed any added harshness but 1.5 deg shims (fat end rearward) may be something I should do.

Math will vary for any different wheelbase and 1 vs 2 piece driveshaft.

 

[notabot]

I have to walk this back maybe. The 157 wb has a 2 PC shaft with a mid mount about 60 inches from the rear axle. Rear section of shaft is maybe 45 inches.

The rear axle stays where it is but does rotate to meet the slight 0.45 deg ccw angle change to the springs as they drop 1.25 inches.

The mid mount also rotates ccw for another 0.45 deg of "change".

And the mid mount drops 0.78 inches with the 1.25 inch blocks gone. With the shaft just around 45 inches long we get another 0.65 degree " change".

It's all additive, none cancel out the other.

0.45 + 0.45 + 0.65 = 1.55 deg.

There are a few approximations in all of this but it's close.

So, I haven't noticed any added harshness but 1.5 deg shims (fat end rearward) may be something I should do.

Math will vary for any different wheelbase and 1 vs 2 piece driveshaft.

Thanks for expending brain power on this, much appreciated.

 

[Zengineer]

Thanks for expending brain power on this, much appreciated.

I had to make some corrections to last part....total is more like 1.8 degrees change ...but 1.5 shim still seems like the right choice.

 

[Zengineer]

I need to crawl under the truck tonight when I'm not doing 3 other things at the same time and see if I'm thinking about this correctly.

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