Bilstein 5100 front dust boot cover

So I've had my truck back for a little over a month now and noticed my dust boots on my new 5100's (front) have slid down the shock shaft. The shaft is now exposed and I can wiggle the boot back up to the top (where it was when I bought them) but no idea how it's suppose to stay up there. Anyone know about this issue I'm having? Does it really matter? I assume it would keep mud and salt etc off the shock shaft and out of the seals. But no idea why it's fallen down.

I can take pictures tomorrow, but it's pretty self explanatory what has happened

 

I actually would not mind to see some pictures of it is not too much trouble. I just got my 5100's today and am going to put them on Friday. I opened the box tonight and saw the dust boots and not sure whether to use them or not??

 

There is like a groove that goes around the top; the rubber boot pops into that groove and stays there; kinda hard to describe but if you look at it you'll see it.

>[]<

Something like that lol; the rubber boot top part goes in-between those grooves.

 

I found a thread in the 1st gen section that shows the washer with the groove in it. The rubber/plastic boot snaps into that groove. Mine lasted a few weeks before it fell out. So short of a time that I just thought it was how it was suppose to be (shock shaft exposed) until a co worker pointed it out to me. I'll jack the front end up tomorrow to widen the gap in the coils to better fit my fingers in there to try and push it back up. I got the boot up to the top just now, but couldn't muster enough push to snap it back in place. That and its 10:40 here on the north east coast of Canada. At least it's not -20 anymore!

 

Just out of curiosity, if you had the install to do over again, would you even bother using the dust boot/cover? I'm seeing some guys use them and others don't.

 

If those boots slid down, there is likely something wrong. I would guess that you're missing the washers that go on the top of the shock (under the top hat bushing).

This is the order of parts:

 

I had them installed at Toyota while the frame was replaced. I'll have a closer look today, but it's pretty hard to see what's up there while they're on the truck. I can't see the mechanic leaving parts out. I've been reading about this happening to a lot of 5100 shocks (dust cover falling down)

 

Ya, I know this reply is a little late and not the exact same but I bought 3rd gen stock TRD OR Bilstein 4600s for my 2008 on eBay. One of the shocks came with the dust boot off the collar and slid down. After searching everywhere here but finding nothing promising, I was beginning to give up hope on getting it back in to place cheaply (full teardown or boot tear off). I took my time and carefully but firmly reseated the boot back on to the collar by making sure it was centered on the collar. Just had to push very hard, deforming the boot while pushing up. It ended up looking fine once seated.