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This a tapered bushing for the lower end of the front shock of my 2004 Ranger 2.3L 2wd. Thinking about the geometry of the taper in the shock and the bushing, and the fact that the pin has to get squeezed through, how do you put this together?? In what order?? It was easy to take apart because half the old bushing was missing, so "doing it in reverse" doesn't help. I hope someone has some experience on this. THanks,
A follow up in case anyone in the future has this problem.
I thought I could press the bushing in with channel locks without taking the whole shock out of the truck and knew as soon as I started it was a lost cause. I took the shock out. First I pressed the bushing into the shock with a bearing press. I then ground down the sides of the forked section so it could go through the bushing easier and then pressed that into the already installed bushing. Doing it this way was very easy. It took me about 5 minutes.
Even though the lower shock bushings needed to be replaced, that was not the real problem. I have since also replaced upper control arms and wheel bearings. Now my Ranger drives great!
If the bushings are so bad, are they are the only thing you are changing, I would question IF the Shocks themselves are any good.
When I have purchased new shocks, they already have the cross mounting bracket and actually would be a BEAR to install.
The grinding of the mounting bracket... how much did you grind off ?
It is a stamped steel tube, any grinding on it will weaken it, how much, I don't know for sure but once the sides are ground through, they become pieces of sheet metal, no strength there !
