Bilsteins and spring seats...

[Thunderbirdsport]

So earlier I started to put the new Bilsteins on my '11. Once I got the old shot to hell stuff out, I went to (try to) knock the spring seat off and realized it was welded, integral to the shock tube. No idea what brand the damned things are, but now I kind of have a dilemma. I did a quick search and found out this isn't a new thing, there's a couple of threads from 2 or 3 years ago where the owners ran into what I just did.

So....is there a source for JUST these springs seats? (one of the other guys mentioned that toyota 4 runner spring seats were a direct fit but I can't find any of those either.

It looks like my option may be to just buy motorcraft shocks and simply knock the spring seats off (if they come off) or just use the damned things if they don't, and in the mean time, enjoy my nice new bilsteins sitting there in their boxes doing absolutely f*ck-all for the Expy..

I'd hazard a guess that a previous owner replaced the originals with one of those quick strut kits and tossed the ones that had the removable spring seats.

Advice or tips? many thanks.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Go to a junkyard and pull off some shocks. I’m guessing it’s the rears that you ran into the problem.

I ran into the same problem on mine. I didn’t realize I had the self leveling shocks on the rear. The self leveling shocks are much thicker in diameter than the Bilsteins. I made sure to pull shocks at the junkyard that were the same diameter as the Bilsteins.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

I did a check of the pick n pulls nearest me...the closest JY with an '07 up is in st louis, MO, that's a 6 hour trip both ways and that's not counting the time spent pulling the shocks. And then I could run into the same thing as I did with mine...someone replaced the original stuff with a quick spring kit...I suppose I could just order motorcraft shocks, run them till they go bad then swap the seats onto my bilsteins..

Thanks for the quick reply. As soon as I made the post I looked up the junkyards that have inventory shown online. None close...damn it.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Unless I can harvest the spring seats from Gen 2 trucks......hmmm. I'll have to check and see if the shock tube diameters are the same, or if they even had the same stuff, for that matter..

 

[sjwelds]

I have the same problem, only I realized it before I ordered bilsteins or pulled everything apart. On mine, some idiot swapped in a monroe quickstrut on ONE side.......

So odds are that you'd need the top mounting brackets as well, as whatever is in there now could be different.

I'm leaning towards kyb strutplus complete units.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

I have the tops for the rears, at least. I just ordered a set of motorcraft shocks. Guess I will either run them, or else take the spring seats off and run the bilsteins and sell the motorcrafts or keep 'em for spares. Damned expensive set of "spares" though...

I watched 3 different vid of a 2nd gen Expo strut replacement, looks like the springs, seats, and a lot of the other stuff is different. So probably a no-go on that.

 

[sjwelds]

Where did you buy motorcraft shocks?

Do they come complete, springs and all?

How much did they set you back?

 

[07navi]

I wouldn't be too brand loyal if it's going to cause you grief. It's not like one is 10 times better than another............probably won't even notice a difference.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I wouldn't be too brand loyal if it's going to cause you grief. It's not like one is 10 times better than another............probably won't even notice a difference.

‘cuz there’s no silver bullet. All shocks are the same. Right?

 

[oldpaddy]

‘cuz there’s no silver bullet. All shocks are the same. Right?