1999 Land Cruiser - 260k mi
I’m taking my first plunge into working on cars beyond oil changes and tires. Swapping out worn out Bilsteins from the previous owner for OEM Toyota shocks. I’m doing the fronts and letting the shop handle the rears and a few other suspension related items.
Everything was going smoothly until I found that the Bilsteins only had three metal retainers on the rubber bushings. I was expecting 4 total per shock from the videos I’d watched. You can see in the attached pictures what I’m talking about. Like a top bun missing on the bottom rubber sandwich lol.
The OEM Toyota shocks do not come with the metal retainers. Just the rubber bushings. So the plan was to reuse the existing retainers. Do I need to track down a 4th retainer? Or just install it how the Bilsteins were installed, with three? I can’t really find video or images of how OEM shocks are supposed to look in regards to the bushings and retainers. My mechanic mentioned that the suspension was not valved correctly during an inspection a few months ago, and maybe this is what he meant by that?
The retainers seem difficult to track down, so I’m in a bit of a pickle. I want to get this done in the next couple days, so don’t really want to wait on shipping if I can’t find it local in Portland, OR.
What do yall think? I guess the real question is: 3 retainers or 4?
I’m taking my first plunge into working on cars beyond oil changes and tires. Swapping out worn out Bilsteins from the previous owner for OEM Toyota shocks. I’m doing the fronts and letting the shop handle the rears and a few other suspension related items.
Everything was going smoothly until I found that the Bilsteins only had three metal retainers on the rubber bushings. I was expecting 4 total per shock from the videos I’d watched. You can see in the attached pictures what I’m talking about. Like a top bun missing on the bottom rubber sandwich lol.
The OEM Toyota shocks do not come with the metal retainers. Just the rubber bushings. So the plan was to reuse the existing retainers. Do I need to track down a 4th retainer? Or just install it how the Bilsteins were installed, with three? I can’t really find video or images of how OEM shocks are supposed to look in regards to the bushings and retainers. My mechanic mentioned that the suspension was not valved correctly during an inspection a few months ago, and maybe this is what he meant by that?
The retainers seem difficult to track down, so I’m in a bit of a pickle. I want to get this done in the next couple days, so don’t really want to wait on shipping if I can’t find it local in Portland, OR.
What do yall think? I guess the real question is: 3 retainers or 4?
