I bought some rancho rs5000 shocks and installed them a while back. During the installation I could not get the top bolt tight enough on the front ones. What I mean by this is that the OEM shocks that were in there fit snug, and when tightened properly they did not move at all which I assume is normal lol. The ranchos have maybe a millimeter or 2 of play left and right at the upper eyelet so they can wiggle ever so slightly. They don't seem to move up and down, just left and right (towards either the nut or the bolt head)(left and right when looking at the shock with the tire in front of me)


I used a breaker bar to torque the stupid bolt and got to the point where I don't want to try tightening it any more in fear of breaking the bolt head or something. Has anyone used these shocks and noticed this? Am I supposed to transfer the bushings out of the OEM shocks into the rancho's? If so, is there a efficient way to go about doing that. Or any ideas on how I should resolve this issue? I have been neglecting to do it but now the rattling over every imperfection in the road as I drive around is driving me crazy as I can feel it in the gas pedal and floorboards. I know for a fact it is my shocks rattle since I can grab on to the top of them and wiggle them back and forth, but man those bolts are tighter than a gnats ***.

 

would adding a washer or two on the bolts take up the slack

 

I thought about it but the gap is between the shock eye and the bracket it sits in, so adding a washer outside of the bracket wouldn't help. I have a bunch of random washers I was trying to put in between the shock eye and the inside edge of the bracket and then put the bolt through them both but the gap was too small for the washers I have. Its a really thin gap..


the gap is really small I was also just guessing on the 1-2mm but I don't think it is even more than 1mm. Its basically just enough of a gap so that the shocks aren't snug.


I feel like the shock bushing and the metal insert that the bolt goes through are just not as wide as my factory ones by a tiny little sliver. I would be willing to take them out and swap the bushings and stuff out from my original ones if that was doable, or maybe there is a kit out there for this vehicle that I can buy that would be better. I will try looking for that I guess too.

 

i would either swap the metal sleeves in the bushings( can usually push them through with a socket and lots of oil) or go buy some thin washers/shims from an auto store

 

Is it just an issue of the bolt being too long? Could you try getting shorter bolts?