Trick to install rear shocks

If you have difficulty getting the upper part of the rear shock onto the chassis, use a medium sized C Clamp and you can easily compress the shock onto the chassis.

I tried hitting it with a rubber mallet, but the C clamp is the way to go.

 

have never had an issue with it...it just slides right in and you bolt it

 

who has trouble putting on rear shocks? they have no resistance you can compress them by hand....

 

If ou do have an issue you have e warn sized bushings. I know 5100s have two sizes.

 

Assuming you mean sliding the upper bushing onto the mount. If it won't go on easily, hammers and even clamps are not the best way (bushing can tear). Get a little dish soap (Dawn, Palmolive, whatever floats your boat) and grease up the I.D. of the bushing. Slides on like butter, washes off, no brute force needed. Works even better on the lower mounts, when you have the shock somewhat compressed and it wants to fight itself going on the lower mount.

 

They may be not so easy to install if they have urethane bushings! Did mine with an mallet. C-clamp is a good idea.

 

With some muscle and a lil grease, should go on fine.

 

This is what I did with mine when they were a little on the tight side. It made them slide on with little effort.

 

never had an issue before either, but the Bilsteins I received from UPS were the part number called for. They were too tight to push on by hand, but went right on very easily with the c clamp. I did put silicone lubricant on the the ID of the bushings before trying to slide them on.

I do agree that you shouldn't try to force them on with too much pressure or the bushing could tear.

In any case, the ride is much better

 

dish soap.

that is all.

 

I recently received Bilstein 4600 to replace my 15 year old factory shocks, and got them off no problem, but the bushing size on the Bilsteins was significantly smaller than the pin they need to slide onto. I called Summit, because I was sure these could not be the correct shocks, but they assured me that they were. I got the drivers side on with a hammer and quiet a bit of muscle, but the other side doesn't have nearly as much room to work. I was thinking C-clamp, so I'll probably go pick one up today, but I'm definitely holding onto my receipt, in case there are any problems down the road. In any case, does anybody have additional advice?

 

my Bilstein 5125's came with smaller ID diameter bushings originally
then what the Tacoma size requires. (3/4" ID thought it was)

I believe the original smaller bushings were designed to fit a ford or chevy.
Think those were 9/16" ID

I replaced the eye bushings with the correct size/ID... and they fit just fine now.
They can be easily pressed on by hand... tho' a little grease won't hurt.

I'm not familiar with which shocks you are using.
But it's most likely they are not the correctly sized shock eye bushings.

 

I had a little bit of trouble with mine when I did them, ended up taking a wire brush to the mount, after that it went on easy.

 

I used a little bit sandpaper to smooth the posts out a bit. Then my Icon 2.0 rear shocks went on fine. The shock posts were not completely smooth. I didn't have bushings to press in on both sides of the shock eye. They came built into each end of the shock