Well... having stalled on the box move project for the moment, I decided to tackle a very long, outstanding project. 2.5 years ago, I installed the front Bilstein shocks but never the rear. Problem I ran into was, I had read the lower bolt was 9/16" diameter but the sleeves for the shock bushings are 1/2". Removing the bushing would allow it to fit but nothing would prevent the mount from crushing when you tightened the bolt and having the movement of the bushing on the bolt could cause it to turn and possibly loosen. Recently I found that Ballistic Fabrications made weld on reducer bushing, to covert a 9/16" hole to a 1/2". Cool, ordered them and once they arrive, set out to finish this project up. Well what I didn't know is, even though the upper mounting stud has a nut that is equivalent to a 1/2" bolt, the actual mounting stud itself is also 9/16". Well crap.
Looking at the old shocks, the sleeves are the right size for the mounting hardware but would never fit into the shock bushings. Hummm.... I wondered if someone made bushing that would fit the shock loops but have a 3/4" ID. I happened upon Daystar bushings that looked like they might work. Ordered a set off of Amazon and got them the next day. They looked like they should work so I set out to remove the old shock sleeves and removing the Bilstein bushings. Installed the Daystar ones, which fit the loops perfect and pressed in the old sleeves. Bam! Just what I needed.
Weekend came and I set out to finish this up. With the shock bushing/sleeves figured out, they bolted right into the factory mounts and hardware. Yay! Finally done. Took for a test drive and definitely better ride and handles bumps and dips much better.
Difference in bushing ID size
Daystar bushing with old sleeve, Bilstein bushing and sleeve and the Ballistic Fab reducers (which I am not using now)
Daystar bushing and old sleeve installed on one end, still the original Bilstein on the other
Shock installed (hose is nowhere close to exhaust, picture illusion)
