Ford Falcon Shocks for a Ford F150 - Install & Review

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
About a year ago I was able to visit Teraflex in West Jordan, UT and spend a few hours with a couple of their Engineers going into detail about the coming line of Falcon Shocks for trucks. (As of now, not only does the Falcon shock line cover Jeeps, they also offer shocks for the Ford F150, Chevy Silverado 1500, Dodge Ram 1500, Toyota 4Runner and Tacoma. I have heard that other trucks are in the works.) After walking thru the Falcon shock production line, seeing the shim stacks and valve tuning, hearing about how the negative spring stops harsh bottoming out on full extension, the shock bump stop gets rid of harsh bottoming out under full compression and the entire line of very high quality parts that go into building the Falcons, I was impressed.

The next thing we did was take the Falcon shocks Ford F150 Ecoboost truck for a drive.... on the road it's very stable, even predictable when you throw it into a HARD turn. They found a big, empty dirt lot that was ROUGH and proceed to push this this Ford F150 HARD offroad.... and it was incredibly impressive. The truck was stock other than Falcon shocks, Raceline wheels & BFGoodrich KO2 tires. The Falcon shock engineers were hitting rough ruts, pot holes, mud puddles, etc at speeds up 65 MPH and the truck was handling it all with stride, it was totally controlled and planted, resisting hard bottoming out.

The engineers mentioned that during R & D testing, they've broken wheels, blown out tires and the suspension components are surviving without issue. The ride on the road was impressive, offroad was amazing... considering it was a otherwise 'stock' F150, the truck was capable of incredible speeds over ROUGH terrain.

After running Falcon 3.4's on my Jeep, I've been a huge fan of these shocks. They changed my Jeep for the better, on road and off. When we bought a Ford F150 for my wife's DD and my weekend tow rig, I decided we wanted a more stable towing experience, better off-road performance and a better all around ride, the choice was an easy one. We choose the Sport Tow/Haul Leveling system for our needs. I wanted to upsize the tires to 285's and make the truck not look so stock, so we set up the shocks to level the front end. The Tow/Haul shocks have a 3 stage setting, Comfort & Control, Moderate Tow/Haul, and Heavy Tow/Haul settings. Far as technical specs, the Falcons are built as follows;

• 2.25” shock body provides optimal performance
• 6061-T6 aluminum alloy shock body resists wear & protects internal components while providing superior heat dissipation
• Smooth honed internal shock body surface for long-term performance
• Largest shock body that will fit w/out modifications
• 3/4” induction hardened chrome plated shaft resists rock damage & corrosion as well as prevents shaft buckling
• Maximum shaft diameter allows for more precise tuning
• Hard anodized billet piston



Here's photos of the Falcons, the build quality and finish is very high-end! Each box of Falcons comes with a card signed by the guys that built your shocks, in Utah.

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The install was pretty straight forward, Teraflex has made a install video that walks the installer thru all the details. I watched the video, then went into the shop to put them on. The front end took a few hours, the rear shocks were easy, even with adding the Falcon bump stop & strike pad. There is also a roost guard for the rear shocks that bolts in place, protecting the shock shaft quite well. Rather than deal with compressing the front coil springs, removing them for the factory shocks and then installing them on the front Falcons, I choose to take them to my local 4x4 shop, Barney Brothers in Grand Junction, CO. I've had them do quite a bit of work for me and I'm always happy with their work.

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I test drove the truck last night, but haven't really spent much time with the Falcons on yet. I will say that the truck and it's suspension feel so much more sporty... the truck just begs to be driven hard. The suspension is compliant and allows the truck to work, but it just feels way more planted than stock. We need to put some miles on the truck and eventually get it offroad for a real test and that will come soon enough. I'll be updating this thread as time and miles go on!
 

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
DAMN!!!! Wish I'd known they had shocks for my 4 runner. The truck looks great Greg.

Edit: Looks like they only offer a shock for 5th gens.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
DAMN!!!! Wish I'd known they had shocks for my 4 runner. The truck looks great Greg.

Edit: Looks like they only offer a shock for 5th gens.

Yeah, it looks like they're working on current models first... not sure if they'll add to the lineup with older models or keep expanding to other vehicles.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Alright, first REAL offroad test for the Falcon Sport Tow/Haul shocks! I took the Ford F150 out to White Wash sand dunes in Utah, not far from Moab. The drive out was chilly and it was quite foggy on the way in. I made my way down to the big wash that runs around the dunes, aired down the tires to 20 PSI and started to feel out what the truck was capable of. The wash is wide and plenty open, but there are a few places where it's whooped out and there are decent sized transitions... you have to be cautious, to a degree. I was pushing the truck harder and harder and it was completely composed and stable and almost any speed. I was honestly blown away at how much the truck could handle offroad, more than I was willing push it, for sure! It was easy to push the truck in turns and get the rear-end to slide around and it felt totally predictable. This truck simply ROCKS bombing around offroad!

After playing in the main wash, I headed into the sand dunes and played around. Again, the truck handled everything I threw at it.... even fully extending the suspension, then compressing it fully when coming off a dune made for a comfortable ride. Bottoming out wasn't harsh, you can tell you've hit bottom but it's not a solid, jarring hit.

I worked my way around the North side of White Wash, playing around in the wet gully with quite a bit of speed. The truck again soaked up all the bumps & jumps, feeling completely composed and stable. It's amazing how well rounded this F150 is.... capable of towing, off-roading and daily driver duty. The Falcon Shocks, BFGoodrich KO2 tires and Method wheels helped totally transform it! I'm not sure how I could be any happier with the all around performance of the truck with Falcon Shocks. Now I need to hook up the trailer and do a proper towing test.

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UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
I'm really interested in the towing review. I have a Ram 1500 and I tow HEAVY with it. I removed my rear axle bump stops to install axle to frame airbags. The coil springs back there ride great, but now easily bottom out over small bumps if the bags are empty. I feel the truck handles my boat okay, but you definitely feel it back there. Maybe these shocks will give me the little bit more confidence I'd like and help stop the bottoming out?

But $1500? Ouch!
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Well, the tow test is in the books! Sooner than I expected, due to an unplanned breakdown of my JKU while driving home from work last night.

For some information and numbers... the trailer is a 16' + 2' dovetail tandem axle, I'd bet it weighs close to 2,000 #'s. My JKU is quite piggy, I'm pretty sure it weighs every bit of 5,500#'s as it sits. So we had almost 8,000 #'s behind the truck, I think that's sufficient for a proper tow test of the Falcons!

First off, I picked up the trailer empty and drove about 25 miles around town and on the freeway, at speeds up to 75 MPH. I left the shocks on their #1 position, or the normal "Soft" setting that you'd use for daily driving. With the unloaded trailer and the Soft setting, it felt great... very controlled, no trailer weight bouncing the rear of the truck around. Even on dips and bumps on the freeway at speed, the shocks allowed the springs to work, then control the bounce and stop it from continuing and upsetting the truck. This seemed like a good sign, early on!

Once we loaded the Jeep on the trailer, I set the Falcon Tow/Haul shocks to the #3 setting, "Firm" and drove about 25 miles on the freeway, then in town to get the Jeep back to my home. This was my first time towing a real load with the F150 and I started in a winding canyon with 60 MPH roads. I eased up to the speed of traffic, feeling the truck out thru the corners. The first thing I noticed was how 'tight' the rear end of the Ford felt with a load behind it. Even on dips and bumps, the rear suspension felt very controlled. Honestly, it's a little hard to put into words and describe accurately.... but it was so much better than stock shocks. The rear suspension simply felt ideal for towing.... and I never felt like I needed more dampening from the front shocks or any kind of adjustment up front to go along with the rear. The rear Falcons on the #3 Firm setting controlled the load and bumps to the point that the irregularities in the freeway weren't an issue.

It was honestly hard to tell the trailer was back there, as far as the truck and suspension reacting to the road and weight of the load. I've had some trucks that bounce all over the place when towing, the back-end starts to loose control over the load and it ends effecting the front-end, causing you to slow down to regain that control. That didn't happen with the Falcons at all... if anything, the amount of control with a load was very confidence inspiring. I do believe that the adjustable Falcon shocks make the F150 a towing hero, it's that big of a change.

It blows me away that a set of shocks can change a truck so drastically and increase it's performance on the road doing daily driver duty, hauling around a fairly heavy load on a trailer and then also turn the truck an offroad beast when you want to go play in the dirt. I couldn't be any happier with the Falcons, they're truly impressive.



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