KYB or Bilstein?

[afpj]

Fless, I ordered the kyb kg5040 for my fronts as well, having my an oem pair up front now. When I took off the oem, it has some plastic collar for the top mount, and the oem bushings have a larger hole to accommodate that collar. The kyb bushings don’t have that. Kyb bushings have this little extra lip that I guess is suppose to fit in the upper shock mount hole in the frame? That lip was too wide diameter to fit in the hole, I wasn’t sure how that setup was going to keep the upper shock in position. Hope that made sense. 2002 Yukon with zw7/g65. I couldn’t find a front oem replacement on rock auto or Amazon. the rears replaced with nivomats again already. Any advice appreciated, hopefully this helps the OP too, but maybe everyone is just smarter than me.

 

[Fless]

Fless, I ordered the kyb kg5040 for my fronts as well, having my an oem pair up front now. When I took off the oem, it has some plastic collar for the top mount, and the oem bushings have a larger hole to accommodate that collar. The kyb bushings don’t have that. Kyb bushings have this little extra lip that I guess is suppose to fit in the upper shock mount hole in the frame? That lip was too wide diameter to fit in the hole, I wasn’t sure how that setup was going to keep the upper shock in position. Hope that made sense. 2002 Yukon with zw7/g65. I couldn’t find a front oem replacement on rock auto or Amazon. the rears replaced with nivomats again already. Any advice appreciated, hopefully this helps the OP too, but maybe everyone is just smarter than me.

I'm having a hard time picturing your setup, but it seems like it should be the same as mine. These shocks' top mounts have standard bushings over and under with the metal cups to support each one, with the truck mount sandwiched in-between.



If you have a pic, post it. I'll see if I can get one of mine later on today.

 

[afpj]

Hopefully you can see the screenshots. I took these off rockauto and these upper insulators are what the oem setup has. There's a rigid collar that sits in the bushing. The kybs don't use anything like that collar. The stem of the shock sits inside the collar.

 

[OR VietVet]

If the shock stem is a tight fit, just use the bushing but if not, the metal collar should be used. If the collar fits the stem of the new shock, I would use it, but if not, just use the bushing. Are you 100% on the shock application?

 

[Fless]

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but here are two pics from the KYB instructions. The bushings they provide don't have a metal sleeve which is not uncommon.

When you assemble the bushings on the shock, put the metal cup (necessary to support the bushing) on first, then a bushing with the flat side to the metal cup (might have to kind of screw it on since it will probably be tight). Then stick the threaded shock shaft through the mount. Put the top bushing on the shaft, then the metal cup.



Here's mine so you can see the top bushing and cup. The bushing under the mount is hidden, of course, by the shape of the mount.

 

[afpj]

The metal/plastic oem collar won't fit the new kyb bushings, as the latter's hole will just fit the shock stem, not the collar. The OEM setup is such that the stem sits inside that collar, and the collar sits inside the bushing, as well as the mounting hole. Sorry, wish I am able to show pictures better. I'm just not understanding how the new bushings center the stem. In one of the pics you supplied, it shows the bushing sitting in the mount hole, with a part of that bushing just fitting into the frame hole. The bushing i got has an extension for that purpose, but it's just a little too wide to fit into that mounting hole. I hope that made sense.

 

[Fless]

Use the KYB bushings. Each bushing should have a flat side and a side that has a small protrusion -- for lack of a better term -- that mates with the mount.

 

[Fless]

The protrusion on the bushings mates with the hole in the mount and centers (and buffers) the shock mounting stem so it's not hitting the sides of the metal hole. Once the stem is tightened down the bushing should be fully contacting the mount surface, with the protrusions fully inside the mount hole.

 

[afpj]

I understand now...that's what I was thinking...I guess those protrusions squish in the hole once I tighten down. I was thinking they should at least fit in the hole without tightening first, and was actually contemplating dremeling down the radius a little to fit. Well gents, another closed case, no thanks to me being just an idjut.

TYF FTW!

 

[Fless]

The bushings should fit into the hole, maybe snugly, without any trimming. Are you sure the mounting point hole is clear, no rust, etc.?