can't be too hard right?
Well, thanks to this thread, and the excellent write up at the beginning, I was able to replace all four shocks on my 2001 Explorer Sport with Monroe Sensa-trac's...37122 in front and 37035 in the back. Most difficult part was removing the original 18MM lower nuts on the rear shocks. They were pretty well rusted and I only had regular straight wrenches and el-cheapo ratchits to do the job with. I used a hammer on the end of the wrench and banged away until the nut moved then did the rest by hand. The upper nut, and lower nuts on the front shocks were a bit sticky as well, but with the help of some PB blaster, a hammer, and some grunting and swearing they came off. Of course, it took me 45 mins to get the spare tire off as well since my truck is missing the original spare tire removal tool and Ford wanted $80 just for the bar. I ended up reaching up from underneath the tire and getting a bolt through the small holes on either side of the horn shaped piece where the regular bar goes in through the hole in the bumper and turns the cable winch. I was able to turn the assembly a quarter turn at a time until the tire was hanging loose enough for me to turn the thing by hand.
I fashioned a bar to turn the spare tire winch so getting it back on was far easier.
Once that beast was off, I had much more room to work and the actual removal, and refit of the new shocks took about 2 hours due to the difficult lower nuts. Once I got the lower nut off and the bolt out, I put them in a bath of PB blaster for about 20 minutes. They were very rusted and corroded. I treated the original nut and bolt with a wire brush, and lots of PB blaster and WD40...I wanted to be able to get the nut back on the bolt with little trouble since you have to reuse the original lower bolt and nut since monroe's don't come with a new one.
I had a bit of a time compressing the rear shocks up into place since I put in the top bolts first...but again, a little elbow greace got the job done. I didn't have to remove that canister dealio from behind the drivers side rear shock, but positioned myself to be able to reach the nuts on the top of the cross member.
Wear a hat and possibly some safety glasses for these ones since dirt and crap falls down on you the second you touch any part of the undercarridge. Unless your truck's underside is squeaky clean, unlike mine!
Another thing I noticed was on the drivers side front shock. The top nut wouldn't tighten all the way down while the front drivers side was jacked up. Once I put the tire back on and dropped the truck back down, the body lowered, the shock compressed and I was able to tighten the top nut all the way. The passenger side didn't have this problem and I was able to tighten the top nut all the way before lowering the truck.
My final advice for anyone who thinks they can't do this job themselves, is that if a totally blind guy, and I do mean that in every sence of the term, can do it, IE me, then anyone can do it.
I've got enough mechanical understanding and know how, that I managed everything by feel and feel compitent about doing other DIY stuff on my X. I don't drive it myself, but I do ride it all the time and like to know what's going on mechanically.
Next project is rear shackles and 4door leaf spring pack.