[Dmaxducker]

Bear with me as this is my first shock installation. I jacked up the front left, removed the tire and front left shock. Installed the new Bilstein shock F4-BE5-6081-HO - this should be correct for 2003 Dmax 2WD. Got the bottom torqued down. I start tightening down the top nut and got it down to where the top bushing is bulging a little but the lower bushing below the frame is loose - why? I notice on the old shocks there was some type of spacer between the upper and lower bushing am I supposed to reuse this?? Totally lost now and I thought this was going to be easy - Thanks for any help you all can provide.

 

[Joe E]

I don't think you can reuse that bushing if you wanted - it won't fit on the Bilsteins, iirc. I think you just need to tighten the upper bolt some more, so that both bushings are bulging, and I don't think the bottom will be loose anymore.

 

[Dmaxducker]

You know what, I was hoping I could've deleted my post before someone read it and discovered how stupid I am.... anyway I replaced the tire , lowered the jack and now am about to tighten down the top nut. Problem solved......ok - I'm going away now ...thanks Joe E

 

[rtquig]

Did the same thing when I first installed them. Later in the week I backed off on the top nut a little. I think I had them squeezed too tight.

 

[Victory Red]

Ducker,


Not to worry, it's guys like you that keep guys like us from making similar mistakes. It's all how you look at it. Think of yourself as a frontrunner

 

[Dmaxducker]

I got them on and rotated the tires while I was at it. Looking forward to the drive to work tomorrow. As always, thanks to all who post info on this site, kinda gives me courage to tackle things I might otherwise not do.