Better shock bolts

[Dennis Garrett]

I've been plagued with the rumbling, rattling noise since day one, coming from the sloppy bolt fit on the lower front shocks. I put on my 3rd set of new shocks, and like a fool, bought new, original "Dodge" bolt's & flag nuts. Well that was last week, and today I threw all that crap away & fixed them for good. (I hope) I bought some grade 5, 3-1/2 X 9/16 fine thread bolts, some 1/8" hard flat washers, nuts & lock washers. These bolts are smooth sholdered, whereas Dodge's are threaded almost to the head. The smooth ones I got fit through the lower shock bushing much better, and I was able to tighten them as far as I could with my impact wrench without stripping the nut. I also found some thin, flat shims that fit around the steel shock bushing, up against both sides of the rubber gromet, to take up the slack in the channel the shock fits into. When I tightened them up, the channel pulled up tight against the shims & rubber. I also replaced all 4 of the rear bolts with the same size stuff, and took it for a spin,... ... BIG difference. I'd done this with shock set #2, but wanted to put orignal bolts back in, what a mistake that was.

 

[azcummins]

Dennis-

What shocks were you running and did you try torquing them down after you noticed the rattle? I have the same issue with my truck but I'm going to try to just tighten them down first.



Also-how did you get by without the flag nuts? They are super helpful on the front and the uppers on the rear.

 

[Dennis Garrett]

I didn't torque them, just put my 1/2" impact wrench on them. I actually felt the flag nut start to strip on one side, that's when I got discusted & took all new bolts out, & threw them as far as I could out into the field. It's not hard to get the nuts started with out the flag, just stick it up into the opening with your fingers to get it started, I had it jacked up enough to get the tire off, and had pleanty of room go get my open end wrench up in there to hold the nut. I just put on a set of Monroe sence-a-trac or what ever they called them, supposed to be a step up from the LT shock. Had pretty good luck with them last time, I think it was I was hearing rather than feeling in the truck that made me change them out this time.