I just finished installing Bilsteins on the rear of my 2000 Ram 3500 Van. What bothers me is that the top bushings are so fat that the bolt doesn't screw all the way thru the nut. It lacks about an 1/16 inch of being level with the nut. Its torqued down as tight as it can go, the bushing is squashing out all around. After I did the first one, I compared the bilstein bushings with the old OEM shock bushing and it was obvious that the new ones were much larger. I looked at the second old one before I took it off and the bolt was just barely level thru the nut. I did a lot of research first on the net and found comments to the effect of "don't trim the bushings". The Bilsteins instructions even cautions not to tamper with any part. I even inspected the work afterwards with a flash lite to make sure that the saucer washers were turned the correct way. I'm sure I have the correct shock because Bilstein only has one shock listed for the dodge van from 73 up. The only option I can think of now(other than nothing) is to take them back off and trim down the bushings, but I am hesitate to do all that work all over. Question: Does anyone think that its unsafe to leave as is. Any Ideas? Has anyone else had this problem? Tanks , Bill
- posted
18 years ago